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Transcribe long audio files beyond 25MB limit with FileFlows and OpenAI Whisper

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Created by: Julien DEL RIO || juliendelrio
Julien DEL RIO

Last update

Last update 4 months ago

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Who's it for

This template is designed for content creators, podcasters, businesses, and researchers who need to transcribe long audio recordings that exceed OpenAI Whisper's 25 MB file size limit (~20 minutes of audio).

How it works

This workflow combines n8n, FileFlows, and OpenAI Whisper API to transcribe audio files of any length:

  1. User uploads an MP3 file through a web form and provides an email address
  2. n8n splits the file into 4 MiB chunks and uploads them to FileFlows
  3. FileFlows uses FFmpeg to segment the audio into 15-minute chunks (safely under the 25 MB API limit)
  4. Each segment is transcribed using OpenAI's Whisper API (configured for French by default)
  5. All transcriptions are merged into a single text file
  6. The complete transcription is automatically emailed to the user

Processing time: Typically 10-15 minutes for a 1-hour audio file.

Requirements

  • n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)
  • FileFlows with Docker and FFmpeg installed
  • OpenAI API key (Whisper API access)
  • Gmail account for email delivery
  • Network access between n8n and FileFlows

Setup

Complete setup instructions, including FileFlows workflow import, credentials configuration, and storage setup, are provided in the workflow's sticky notes.

Cost

OpenAI Whisper API: $0.006 per minute. A 1-hour recording costs approximately $0.36.