Notes pulled from the lecture
Use the AI chat to pull a summary, key terms, or review questions, then verify them against the transcript.
Lecture recordings
Turn a two-hour lecture into study notes.
Record a lecture or upload a recording to get a timestamped transcript with KolWrite.
Live demo
Runs in your browser.
You can search the text for a definition you missed, ask for a summary, and take notes linked to that exact moment in the recording.
- Timestampsjump straight to any explanation
- Searchfind a term anywhere in the lecture
- Summarypull out the main points of a long session
- SRT · Word · PDFexport captions and course material
How a lecture transcript helps
An audio file does you little good if you can't find anything in it. A transcript lets you skim and search the whole class.
Track down what you missed
Look up a specific word or formula and play the audio from that exact spot instead of rewatching the whole session.
Course handouts and captions
Lecturers can export the text as reading material, or grab SRT files to caption their course videos.
How to get a good transcript from a lecture hall
Lecture audio comes with its own problems. Taking a bit of care when you record will save you a lot of cleanup later.
Record close to the speaker
Putting a phone near the lectern, or recording straight from the lecturer's microphone, will beat a phone at the back of the room.
Audience questions
Students asking questions across the room are the hardest part to pick up. Always play back the audio for those sections before trusting the text.
Fix names and jargon once
If you clean up technical terms and proper names in the transcript first, your generated summaries and notes will use the right spelling too.
How to go from audio to study notes
Record or upload
Record directly in the app on your laptop, phone, or Apple Watch, or drop in a file you recorded earlier.
Transcribe
You get a timestamped transcript, plus speaker labels whenever there is a discussion.
Summarize and ask
Have the AI chat pull together a summary, key terms, or review questions, which you can check right against the transcript.
Export
Save your notes as a Word or PDF file, or download an SRT file to caption a course video.
For developers and AI agents
You can also run everything KolWrite does with a recording through our API. Send the address of an audio or video file from your own code or an AI coding agent, and you'll get back the transcript with word timings, speaker labels, and an SRT file if you request one.
Word timings and speakers
The JSON output gives you the start and end time for every segment, plus individual word timings on models that support alignment. Turn on speaker separation to include a speaker label on each segment.
SRT and translation
Pass output_format as srt if you want subtitles directly from the API. If you are using the Oracle models, you can also set translate_to to get the text back in another language.
Built for agents
The API console publishes plain-text instructions for an agent to read before writing code. This includes agent-instructions.md, along with llms.txt, which links to the full reference.
Example request. The key comes from an environment variable, and the console has the full reference.
curl -X POST https://app.kolwrite.com/transcribe \
-H "x-api-key: $KOLWRITE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"audio_url": "https://example.com/meeting.m4a", "model": "oracle", "include_diarization": true, "output_format": "json"}'
# Returns {"jobId": "..."}. Poll GET https://app.kolwrite.com/transcribe/{jobId}
# until status is COMPLETED. The result is the file or the JSON you asked for.Questions
How do I turn a lecture recording into notes?
Once you transcribe the recording in KolWrite, use the AI chat to generate a summary, a list of key terms, or review questions from the text. You can check everything against the original transcript and export your notes to Word or PDF.
Can I search inside a recorded lecture?
Yes. After transcribing the file, you can search for any word across the entire lecture and play the audio starting from the exact second it was spoken.
Can I record the lecture with KolWrite?
Yes. You can record directly in the app on a computer or phone, or start recording from an Apple Watch, and then transcribe the file.
Do I need permission to record a lecture?
Policies vary by school and country. Always check your institution's rules or ask the lecturer before you hit record.
Can lecturers make captions for course videos?
Yes. Once you've reviewed the transcript, export it as an SRT file and upload it to your learning platform or video editor.
Does it work for lectures in Hebrew, Arabic or other languages?
Yes. KolWrite supports over 100 languages and can handle lectures where the speaker switches between two languages.
Try it on your next lecture.
Upload one recording, search for a term in it, and ask for a summary to see how far that gets you.