Do I need an account to summarize audio files?

No. Shorty summarizes audio files without an account and without a credit card. Signing in only adds a saved, searchable history of everything you have summarized.

Is Shorty free to use?

Yes. Shorty is free to use and does not require an account for the summarizer tools — paste or upload something and read the result. A free Shorty account keeps your history in a searchable library, and paid Premium and Pro plans raise the size and volume limits.

Does a failed job still use up my quota?

No. A Shorty job that ends in an error or is cancelled never counts against a quota — the usage is refunded automatically, so a failure costs nothing.

What language is the summary written in?

Shorty's Audio, PDF and Word Summarizers write every summary in English. Shorty's YouTube, Webpage, Article and Text Summarizers let you pick the summary language from a menu of 113 languages before you start.

Does Shorty have an API?

Yes. Shorty has a public REST API at https://aishorty.com/v1, an official TypeScript SDK (@aishorty/sdk), and an OAuth 2.1 MCP server at https://aishorty.com/api/mcp that lets Claude and other AI assistants summarize, transcribe and search on your behalf.

AI-powered audio summarizer

Upload & Summarize Any Audio File

beta

Drop a podcast, interview, lecture, or voice memo. Shorty transcribes the audio and distills it into a clear, structured summary — usually back in a few minutes.

Processed on our servers

AI-powered

Any formatYour choiceUp to 3 files · 250 MB (100 MB for PDF/Word) max

Drag & drop files here

Up to 250 MB (100 MB for PDF/Word) per file · 3-file batch limit

Try other summarizersWebpages, PDFs, audio & more

How It Works

Upload a Recording

Drop an MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG and OPUS file — a podcast episode, a lecture, an interview or a voice memo of up to 30 minutes, or longer with an account.

Shorty Transcribes, Then Summarizes

The speech is turned into text on Shorty's servers first, and the AI then summarizes that transcript.

Read the Summary

The summary appears in your upload list when it is ready — usually within a few minutes, longer for long recordings.

Why Use Shorty to Summarize Audio?

Up to 140 minutes per Recording

MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG and OPUS recordings of up to 250 MB and 30 minutes with no account, and longer on every plan.

Minutes, Not Hours

Read the main points of a long recording in the time it takes to transcribe it, instead of listening to all of it.

No Account Needed

Upload a recording and read its summary without signing up. A free account adds a saved history of your summaries.

What the Audio Summarizer Accepts and Returns

Files it accepts

MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG and OPUS recordings. Without an account a recording can be up to 250 MB and 30 minutes long; a free account raises that to 1 GB and 1 hour, Shorty Premium to 1 GB and 2 hours, and Shorty Pro to 1 GB and 140 minutes. Anything with speech in it works: podcast episodes, recorded lectures and calls, interviews and voice memos. A recording with no speech at all cannot be summarized.

A file over the size limit is refused as soon as the upload starts, and one over the length limit before any transcription begins. No account is needed; signing in keeps every summary in your searchable history.

Need the words themselves rather than a summary, or a file bigger than that? Audio & Video to Text returns a full timestamped transcript and accepts much larger uploads.

Why it takes minutes

Unlike pasted text or a web page, a recording has to be transcribed before anything can be summarized. That step is what sets the pace, so an audio summary takes minutes rather than seconds, and a longer recording takes longer.

What comes back

A title, a one-paragraph overview and titled sections covering the recording's main points. Summaries of uploaded files are written in English. Uploaded recordings are treated as private, so their summaries are kept out of search engines.

Example output format — an illustration for a 50-minute interview podcast, not a real summary

Building a Bakery Business on Pre-Orders

A baker explains how taking orders a week ahead cut waste, steadied cash flow and shaped what the shop sells.

Why pre-orders came first
Unsold bread was the biggest cost in the first year, so the shop began baking only what had been ordered.
Cash up front changes planning
Being paid a week ahead let the owner buy flour in bulk and schedule staff around known demand.
What they would do differently
Start a small walk-in shelf earlier, since passers-by turned into regular pre-order customers.
Advice for new bakers
Test demand with a weekly pre-order list among friends and neighbours before signing a lease or buying a second oven.

Shorty transcribes an audio recording and summarizes the transcript into a title, an overview and titled sections, so a podcast, lecture, interview or voice memo can be read in minutes instead of listened to in full. MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG and OPUS recordings up to 250 MB and 30 minutes, free with no account needed, and longer on every plan.

Use Cases for Different Roles

For Students

Summarize recorded lectures and study-group sessions into notes you can revise from.

For Professionals

Get the decisions and action items out of recorded calls and meetings without replaying them.

Content Creators and Marketers

Turn podcast episodes and interviews into show notes and key points for your audience.

For Researchers

Review recorded interviews and talks quickly to find the passages worth transcribing in full.

Frequently asked questions

How does Shorty summarize an audio file?: Shorty transcribes the audio with a speech-to-text model on its own servers and then summarizes the transcript into a title, an overview and titled sections. Because the recording is transcribed first, an audio summary takes minutes rather than seconds.
Which audio files can Shorty summarize?: Shorty's Audio Summarizer takes MP3, WAV, M4A, AAC, FLAC, OGG and OPUS files. Without an account a recording can be up to 250 MB and 30 minutes long; a free account raises that to 1 GB and 1 hour, Shorty Premium to 1 GB and 2 hours, and Shorty Pro to 1 GB and 140 minutes. For a full transcript instead of a summary, Shorty's Audio & Video to Text transcribes uploads up to 2 GB on the free tier and 10 GB on Shorty Premium.
Do I need an account to summarize audio files?: No. Shorty summarizes audio files without an account and without a credit card. Signing in only adds a saved, searchable history of everything you have summarized.
Is Shorty free to use?: Yes. Shorty is free to use and does not require an account for the summarizer tools — paste or upload something and read the result. A free Shorty account keeps your history in a searchable library, and paid Premium and Pro plans raise the size and volume limits.
Does a failed job still use up my quota?: No. A Shorty job that ends in an error or is cancelled never counts against a quota — the usage is refunded automatically, so a failure costs nothing.
What language is the summary written in?: Shorty's Audio, PDF and Word Summarizers write every summary in English. Shorty's YouTube, Webpage, Article and Text Summarizers let you pick the summary language from a menu of 113 languages before you start.
Does Shorty have an API?: Yes. Shorty has a public REST API at https://aishorty.com/v1, an official TypeScript SDK (@aishorty/sdk), and an OAuth 2.1 MCP server at https://aishorty.com/api/mcp that lets Claude and other AI assistants summarize, transcribe and search on your behalf.