Start with WAV, MP3, or M4A audio
Use meeting recordings, interviews, voice memos, lectures, podcasts, or other audio you are allowed to process. Clear speech and a clean recording usually produce a stronger starting transcript than distant microphones, heavy background noise, clipped audio, or several people talking at once.
Long files remain easier to manage when the recording has a descriptive name and a known source. Keep the original until the transcript has been reviewed so important wording can always be checked.
Transcribe locally with useful structure
Speech recognition runs on the Windows computer. The transcript can include timestamps and optional positional speaker labels to make navigation and multi-person review easier.
Speaker labels describe turns such as Speaker 1 and Speaker 2; they do not identify a person by name. Add real names only after you have checked who was speaking and whether naming them is appropriate for the document.
Correct once, then use the text several ways
Fix names, numbers, punctuation, and important terminology in the editable transcript. Copy a passage into a document, create meeting notes and action items, or use the timing data to build subtitles.
Automatic transcription is a strong first draft, not a substitute for listening when exact wording matters. Legal, medical, financial, disciplinary, and other consequential records deserve a deliberate review against the source audio.