jobId, then poll until the transcript is ready. Because podcasts rarely ship captions, the transcript is generated with AI speech-to-text from the episode’s audio (resolved from the show’s RSS feed).
Podcast transcription is available on the Plus and Pro plans. A key on the Free plan or a legacy one-time credit pack receives
402 upgrade_required. Billing is 10 credits per audio-hour (rounded up, with a short grace window), reserved when the job is submitted and refunded automatically if the job fails.Step 1 — Submit a job
202 Accepted:
If the same episode was already transcribed (by any user), the API skips the queue and returns
200 immediately with the finished transcript and "deduped": true. Always check status before deciding to poll.Step 2 — Poll for the transcript
PollGET /api/podcast/jobs/{jobId} every few seconds until status is done (or failed). Episodes transcribe in well under real time.
While processing
When done
When failed
credits reflects your remaining balance after the reservation settles; failed jobs are refunded automatically.
Supported URL formats
Paste an individual episode URL — it must include the
?i=<episodeId> query parameter. A show page without ?i= points at the whole show, not a single episode, and is rejected with 400.
FAQ
How long should I wait between polls?
How long should I wait between polls?
Every 3–5 seconds is plenty. Most episodes finish in seconds to a couple of minutes depending on length; a multi-hour episode is streamed through a container and still finishes far faster than real time.
How is billing calculated?
How is billing calculated?
10 credits per audio-hour, rounded up, with a short grace window on the first few minutes. A 30-minute episode is 10 credits; a 2-hour episode is 20. Credits are reserved at submit and refunded if the job fails.
Why did I get 402 upgrade_required?
Why did I get 402 upgrade_required?
Podcast transcription is a Plus/Pro feature. Keys on the Free plan or a legacy one-time credit pack can still use every social-video endpoint, but not the podcast endpoint. Upgrade at transcriptmagic.com/credits.
Are transcripts timestamped?
Are transcripts timestamped?
No. Podcast transcripts are returned as plain text.
episode.durationSeconds gives the total episode length.