XTrans
XTrans is a free, multilingual tool for manually transcribing and annotating audio on Linux and Windows.
What XTrans is
XTrans is a free, multilingual tool for manually transcribing and annotating audio on Linux and Windows. Users can divide recordings into turns or sentences, identify speakers, create orthographic transcripts, and label transcript structure. Quality-control functions include speaker identification and segment labels. Virtual Speaker Channels associate multiple speakers or sound sources with one audio channel. An effectively unlimited number of audio files can be opened for simultaneous transcription. Supported audio includes .sph, .wav, .aiff, .flac, and .ogg. Unicode and bidirectional input support languages including Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and Hebrew. XTrans exports tab-delimited TDF transcripts and imports some XML formats, including Transcriber TRS. Its components are written in Python and C++ and use LDC’s QWave waveform display module. LDC describes it for high-quality, high-volume work with real-world data. Linux and Windows releases use GPLv3.
Good
- Supports multilingual and bidirectional text
- Handles several common audio formats
- Virtual Speaker Channels manage overlapping sources
- Simultaneous work across many audio files
- Exports tab-delimited TDF transcripts
Watch out
- Available only on Linux and Windows
- Manual transcription and annotation are required
- Transcript export is tab-delimited TDF
- Free releases are GPLv3 licensed
Who it suits
XTrans suits transcription and annotation teams handling multilingual, high-volume audio collections. It is also appropriate for users who need speaker labeling and structured transcript exports on Linux or Windows.
Verdict
XTrans focuses on detailed manual transcription, speaker organization, and annotation for large audio collections. Its language, channel, and file-handling support make it suitable when structured, multilingual transcript work is required.
Plans and prices
From XTrans's own pricing page, checked 11 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| XTrans | Free | Free; Linux and Windows; GPLv3 |
The facts
Each one read from XTrans's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Audio formats
- Supported audio formats include .sph, .wav, .aiff, .flac, and .ogg.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Audio segmentation
- It supports segmenting audio into smaller units such as turns and sentences, speaker identification, orthographic transcription, and transcript structure labeling.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Export formats
- Tab-delimited format (TDF)checked 23 Sep 2026
- Intended users
- LDC describes XTrans as designed for high-quality, high-volume transcription tasks involving real-world data.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Language support
- XTrans supports bidirectional text input for languages including Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, and Hebrew, and is Unicode compliant.checked 11 Oct 2026
- License and availability
- XTrans is free, and its Linux and Windows releases are under GPLv3.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- XTrans is a multi-platform, multilingual, multi-channel tool for manual transcription and annotation of audio recordings.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Quality control
- The interface includes quality-control functions, including speaker identification and segment labels.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Simultaneous recordings
- Users can open an effectively unlimited number of audio files for simultaneous transcription.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Speaker identification
- Yeschecked 23 Sep 2026
- Technology
- XTrans components are written in Python and C++ and use LDC’s QWave waveform display module.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Timestamp support
- Yeschecked 23 Sep 2026
- Transcript formats
- XTrans outputs tab-delimited TDF transcripts and directly imports some XML formats, including Transcriber TRS.checked 11 Oct 2026
- Use in research
- LDC reports that it and its government, academic, and industrial partners used XTrans to create more than 3,500 hours of time-aligned verbatim transcripts.checked 11 Oct 2026
Money
- Free plan
- Yeschecked 23 Sep 2026
Where it runs
- Overlapping speakers
- Virtual Speaker Channels let users associate many speakers or sound sources with the same audio channel.checked 11 Oct 2026
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