// OpenAI's general-purpose speech recognition model. Supports 99 languages, transcription, translation to English, and language identification. Six model sizes from tiny (39M params) to large (1550M params). Use for speech-to-text, podcast transcription, or multilingual audio processing. Best for robust, multilingual ASR.
| name | whisper |
| description | OpenAI's general-purpose speech recognition model. Supports 99 languages, transcription, translation to English, and language identification. Six model sizes from tiny (39M params) to large (1550M params). Use for speech-to-text, podcast transcription, or multilingual audio processing. Best for robust, multilingual ASR. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| author | Orchestra Research |
| license | MIT |
| dependencies | ["openai-whisper","transformers","torch"] |
| platforms | ["linux","macos"] |
| metadata | {"hermes":{"tags":["Whisper","Speech Recognition","ASR","Multimodal","Multilingual","OpenAI","Speech-To-Text","Transcription","Translation","Audio Processing"]}} |
OpenAI's multilingual speech recognition model.
Use when:
Metrics:
Use alternatives instead:
# Requires Python 3.8-3.11
pip install -U openai-whisper
# Requires ffmpeg
# macOS: brew install ffmpeg
# Ubuntu: sudo apt install ffmpeg
# Windows: choco install ffmpeg
import whisper
# Load model
model = whisper.load_model("base")
# Transcribe
result = model.transcribe("audio.mp3")
# Print text
print(result["text"])
# Access segments
for segment in result["segments"]:
print(f"[{segment['start']:.2f}s - {segment['end']:.2f}s] {segment['text']}")
# Available models
models = ["tiny", "base", "small", "medium", "large", "turbo"]
# Load specific model
model = whisper.load_model("turbo") # Fastest, good quality
| Model | Parameters | English-only | Multilingual | Speed | VRAM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tiny | 39M | ✓ | ✓ | ~32x | ~1 GB |
| base | 74M | ✓ | ✓ | ~16x | ~1 GB |
| small | 244M | ✓ | ✓ | ~6x | ~2 GB |
| medium | 769M | ✓ | ✓ | ~2x | ~5 GB |
| large | 1550M | ✗ | ✓ | 1x | ~10 GB |
| turbo | 809M | ✗ | ✓ | ~8x | ~6 GB |
Recommendation: Use turbo for best speed/quality, base for prototyping
# Auto-detect language
result = model.transcribe("audio.mp3")
# Specify language (faster)
result = model.transcribe("audio.mp3", language="en")
# Supported: en, es, fr, de, it, pt, ru, ja, ko, zh, and 89 more
# Transcription (default)
result = model.transcribe("audio.mp3", task="transcribe")
# Translation to English
result = model.transcribe("spanish.mp3", task="translate")
# Input: Spanish audio → Output: English text
# Improve accuracy with context
result = model.transcribe(
"audio.mp3",
initial_prompt="This is a technical podcast about machine learning and AI."
)
# Helps with:
# - Technical terms
# - Proper nouns
# - Domain-specific vocabulary
# Word-level timestamps
result = model.transcribe("audio.mp3", word_timestamps=True)
for segment in result["segments"]:
for word in segment["words"]:
print(f"{word['word']} ({word['start']:.2f}s - {word['end']:.2f}s)")
# Retry with different temperatures if confidence low
result = model.transcribe(
"audio.mp3",
temperature=(0.0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0)
)
# Basic transcription
whisper audio.mp3
# Specify model
whisper audio.mp3 --model turbo
# Output formats
whisper audio.mp3 --output_format txt # Plain text
whisper audio.mp3 --output_format srt # Subtitles
whisper audio.mp3 --output_format vtt # WebVTT
whisper audio.mp3 --output_format json # JSON with timestamps
# Language
whisper audio.mp3 --language Spanish
# Translation
whisper spanish.mp3 --task translate
import os
audio_files = ["file1.mp3", "file2.mp3", "file3.mp3"]
for audio_file in audio_files:
print(f"Transcribing {audio_file}...")
result = model.transcribe(audio_file)
# Save to file
output_file = audio_file.replace(".mp3", ".txt")
with open(output_file, "w") as f:
f.write(result["text"])
# For streaming audio, use faster-whisper
# pip install faster-whisper
from faster_whisper import WhisperModel
model = WhisperModel("base", device="cuda", compute_type="float16")
# Transcribe with streaming
segments, info = model.transcribe("audio.mp3", beam_size=5)
for segment in segments:
print(f"[{segment.start:.2f}s -> {segment.end:.2f}s] {segment.text}")
import whisper
# Automatically uses GPU if available
model = whisper.load_model("turbo")
# Force CPU
model = whisper.load_model("turbo", device="cpu")
# Force GPU
model = whisper.load_model("turbo", device="cuda")
# 10-20× faster on GPU
# Generate SRT subtitles
whisper video.mp4 --output_format srt --language English
# Output: video.srt
from langchain.document_loaders import WhisperTranscriptionLoader
loader = WhisperTranscriptionLoader(file_path="audio.mp3")
docs = loader.load()
# Use transcription in RAG
from langchain_chroma import Chroma
from langchain_openai import OpenAIEmbeddings
vectorstore = Chroma.from_documents(docs, OpenAIEmbeddings())
# Use ffmpeg to extract audio
ffmpeg -i video.mp4 -vn -acodec pcm_s16le audio.wav
# Then transcribe
whisper audio.wav
| Model | Real-time factor (CPU) | Real-time factor (GPU) |
|---|---|---|
| tiny | ~0.32 | ~0.01 |
| base | ~0.16 | ~0.01 |
| turbo | ~0.08 | ~0.01 |
| large | ~1.0 | ~0.05 |
Real-time factor: 0.1 = 10× faster than real-time
Top-supported languages:
Full list: 99 languages total
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