Transcript Status

After you’ve submitted a file for transcription, your transcript has one of the following statuses:

Status	Description
`processing`	The audio file is being processed.
`queued`	The audio file is waiting to be processed. This status is only returned when a job is actually queued, such as when you’ve exceeded your rate limit. Otherwise, transcripts go directly to `processing`.
`completed`	The transcription has completed successfully.
`error`	An error occurred while processing the audio file.

Requests to GET /v2/transcript/{transcript_id} are limited to 60 per minute for each API key and transcript combination. If you exceed this limit, the API returns a 429 response with a Retry-After header. To get notified when a transcript is ready without polling, use webhooks. See Transcript polling limit for details.

Handling errors

If the transcription fails, the status of the transcript is error, and the transcript includes an error property explaining what went wrong.

from assemblyai import TranscriptStatus
from assemblyai.prerecorded.v2 import Transcriber, TranscriptionConfig

# audio_file = "./local_file.mp3"
audio_file = "https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3"

config = TranscriptionConfig(
  language_detection=True
)

transcriber = Transcriber(api_key="<YOUR_API_KEY>")
transcript = transcriber.transcribe(audio_file, config)

if transcript.status == TranscriptStatus.error:
    print(f"Transcription failed: {transcript.error}")
    exit(1)

print(transcript.text)

import requests
import time

base_url = "https://api.assemblyai.com"

headers = {
    "authorization": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
}

with open("./my-audio.mp3", "rb") as f:
  response = requests.post(base_url + "/v2/upload",
                          headers=headers,
                          data=f)

upload_url = response.json()["upload_url"]

data = {
    "audio_url": upload_url, # You can also use a URL to an audio or video file on the web
    "language_detection": True
}

url = base_url + "/v2/transcript"
response = requests.post(url, json=data, headers=headers)

transcript_id = response.json()['id']
polling_endpoint = base_url + "/v2/transcript/" + transcript_id

while True:
  transcription_result = requests.get(polling_endpoint, headers=headers).json()

  if transcription_result['status'] == 'completed':
    print(f"Transcript: {transcription_result['text']}")
    break

  elif transcription_result['status'] == 'error':
    raise RuntimeError(f"Transcription failed: {transcription_result['error']}")

  else:
    time.sleep(3)

import { AssemblyAI } from "assemblyai";

const client = new AssemblyAI({
  apiKey: "<YOUR_API_KEY>",
});

// const audioFile = './local_file.mp3'
const audioFile = "https://assembly.ai/wildfires.mp3";

const params = {
  audio: audioFile,
  language_detection: true,
};

const run = async () => {
  const transcript = await client.transcripts.transcribe(params);

  if (transcript.status === "error") {
    console.error(`Transcription failed: ${transcript.error}`);
    process.exit(1);
  }

  console.log(transcript.text);
};

run();

import fs from "fs-extra";

const baseUrl = "https://api.assemblyai.com";

const headers = {
  authorization: "<YOUR_API_KEY>",
};

const path = "./my-audio.mp3";
const audioData = await fs.readFile(path);
let res = await fetch(`${baseUrl}/v2/upload`, {
  method: "POST",
  headers,
  body: audioData,
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Error: ${res.status}`);
const uploadResponse = await res.json();
const uploadUrl = uploadResponse.upload_url;

const data = {
  audio_url: uploadUrl, // You can also use a URL to an audio or video file on the web
  language_detection: true,
};

const url = `${baseUrl}/v2/transcript`;
res = await fetch(url, {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { ...headers, "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify(data),
});
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Error: ${res.status}`);
const response = await res.json();

const transcriptId = response.id;
const pollingEndpoint = `${baseUrl}/v2/transcript/${transcriptId}`;

while (true) {
  res = await fetch(pollingEndpoint, { headers });
  if (!res.ok) throw new Error(`Error: ${res.status}`);
  const transcriptionResult = await res.json();

  if (transcriptionResult.status === "completed") {
    console.log(transcriptionResult.text);
    break;
  } else if (transcriptionResult.status === "error") {
    throw new Error(`Transcription failed: ${transcriptionResult.error}`);
  } else {
    await new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(resolve, 3000));
  }
}

A transcription may fail for various reasons:

Unsupported file format
Missing audio in file
Unreachable audio URL

If a transcription fails due to a server error, we recommend that you resubmit the file for transcription to allow another server to process the audio.

Why am I receiving a "400 Bad Request" error when making an API request?

A “400 Bad Request” error typically indicates that there’s a problem with the formatting or content of the API request. Double-check the syntax of your request and ensure that all required parameters are included as described in the API reference. If the issue persists, contact our support team for assistance.

Getting started

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API reference

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Guides

Handling errors

​Handling errors

Handling errors