A powerful macOS menu bar app for local speech-to-text transcription using whisper.cpp. Runs entirely offline with downloaded Whisper models.
- 🎙️ Local Transcription - Runs entirely offline using Whisper models
- ⌨️ Global Shortcuts - Quick recording with customizable hotkeys (default:
Option + Backtick) - 📋 Auto-Paste - Automatically paste transcriptions into the active text field (with Accessibility permission)
- 🔊 System Audio Capture - Transcribe audio from any app playing on your Mac
- 🌍 Multi-Language - Auto-detect language or select from 50+ supported languages
- 🇯🇵🇨🇳🇰🇷 Asian Language Support - Smart formatting for CJK text with autocorrect
- ⚡ CoreML Acceleration - Optional Neural Engine support for faster transcription
- 📥 Resumable Downloads - Download models with pause/resume support
- 💾 Recording History - Search and manage past transcriptions
Download the latest DMG from the Releases page.
Or build from source (see below).
- macOS 14.0 or later
- Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
- First Launch: Grant microphone permission when prompted
- Record: Press
Option + Backtick(or your custom shortcut) to start/stop recording - Transcription: Text is automatically copied to clipboard after transcription
- Auto-Paste (Optional): Enable in Settings > Shortcuts > Accessibility to auto-paste into text fields
- Microphone: Required for voice recording
- Accessibility (Optional): Enables auto-paste and positions the indicator near your text cursor
- System Audio (Optional): Required to capture audio from other apps
git clone https://github.com/happyjake/OpenSuperWhisper.git
cd OpenSuperWhisper
git submodule update --init --recursive
brew install cmake libomp rust ruby
gem install xcpretty
./run.shModels are downloaded automatically from Hugging Face. Available models:
| Model | Size | Speed | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| tiny.en | 75 MB | Fastest | Good for English |
| base.en | 142 MB | Fast | Better English |
| small.en | 466 MB | Medium | Great English |
| medium.en | 1.5 GB | Slower | Excellent English |
| large-v3 | 3.1 GB | Slowest | Best multilingual |
| distil-large-v3.5 | 1.5 GB | Fast | Great multilingual |
MIT License - see LICENSE file.
This project is a fork of Starmel/OpenSuperWhisper.
Thanks to the original author for creating this excellent open-source alternative to paid transcription services.