Online dictaphone
For dictation that runs long: case notes, letters, first drafts, research memos. Pause mid-thought and resume into the same file, then play back at a slower speed while you type it up.
Ready. Press Record and allow microphone access when your browser asks.
Pause is the feature that matters
Dictation is not continuous. You stop to check a reference, take a call, find the right word. Pause holds the take open — press Resume and you continue into the same file, with no gap and no second file to stitch together afterwards. Stop is the one that ends the take and produces the download.
Playback speed is the other half of the job. Every take gets a standard audio player, and the browser's own player supports speed adjustment: right-click the player in Chrome or Edge for playback speed options, or use the built-in controls in Firefox and Safari. Transcribing at 0.75× is far easier than repeatedly rewinding at full speed.
Dictating well
- Speak punctuation aloud if a transcription service will process the file — saying "comma" and "full stop" gives far cleaner output than leaving it to be inferred.
- Announce structure. "New paragraph", "heading", "numbered list item one" all survive transcription and save reformatting later.
- Keep a steady distance from the microphone. Leaning in and out is the most common cause of uneven dictation audio.
- Restate rather than backtrack. Saying the whole sentence again is easier to edit than a half-corrected one.
- Say the date at the start. It costs three seconds and makes the file identifiable months later.
Long sessions
There is no time limit, but the recording is held in your device's memory until you download it, so very long sessions need a little care. MP3 is the sensible default here: an hour comes to roughly 58 MB, against 318 MB for the same hour in WAV. On a phone or an older laptop, download and start a fresh take every twenty minutes or so rather than pushing a single three-hour file.
Dictation is frequently confidential — legal notes, medical observations, personnel matters. Nothing recorded here is uploaded or retained. That is the reason this tool exists in the form it does, and it is verifiable in your browser's Network tab.
- Voice memoFor shorter notes you just need to capture.
- Recording interviewsTwo voices, consent, and transcription.
- Recording meetingsLonger sessions with several speakers.
- Best mic settingsDistance and gain for consistent speech.
Questions
What is the difference between Pause and Stop?
Pause holds the current take open so you can resume into the same continuous file. Stop ends the take and produces the download. If you want one file for a whole dictation session, use Pause throughout and Stop only at the very end.
Can I slow down playback while I transcribe?
Yes. Each take uses the browser's standard audio player. In Chrome and Edge, right-click the player for playback speed. Firefox and Safari expose the same control in their player menus. 0.75× is the usual sweet spot for typing along.
How long can a dictation session be?
No limit is imposed, but memory is the practical ceiling since the audio is held in RAM. Record in MP3 for long sessions and download periodically — an hour of MP3 is about 58 MB, while the same hour of WAV is around 318 MB.
Is dictation confidential?
The audio is never transmitted anywhere — it is captured, encoded and downloaded entirely within your browser. Whether that satisfies a specific professional obligation is a judgement for you or your compliance team, and the technical detail on how it works is written so it can be reviewed.
Does this transcribe speech to text?
No, it records audio only. You would take the downloaded file to a transcription service afterwards. Speaking punctuation aloud while you dictate improves those results considerably.
Can I use a foot pedal?
Not directly. Some USB foot pedals can be configured to send keyboard events, and since the spacebar starts and stops recording here, a pedal mapped to space will work as a transport control.