How to transcribe the lyrics of a song
Getting the lyrics of a song as text takes two steps: look for the official lyrics first, and transcribe the audio only when they don't exist yet, as with a demo or an unreleased single. Here is how to do both, from an MP3 or a YouTube video, and what to check before the lyrics go into a lyric video, subtitles or a post.
Look for the official lyrics first
If the song is out, the words the songwriter wrote are the ones to use: a transcript is a guess and the official lyrics are not. Places to check:
- Spotify. On mobile, tap the Now Playing bar and scroll down to Lyrics; on desktop, click the lyrics button while the song plays. Spotify says lyrics are available on the free and Premium plans, but not for every song or device (Spotify Support, checked 17 October 2026).
- The artist. The lyric sheet the band uses, the booklet, or the songwriter.
- The publisher of the song, if it has one.
Transcribing makes sense when there is nothing to copy from: your own demo, an unreleased single, a live version with changed lines, or a song where nobody wrote the lyrics down.
Transcribe the song from an MP3
With Video Lyrics in TONTRIA Clips:
- Upload the audio (MP3, WAV, M4A, FLAC, AAC or OGG), or paste the Spotify or YouTube link if the song is out.
- Let it find the lyrics. If synced lyrics exist, TONTRIA uses them; if not, it transcribes the singing and times each line to the moment it is sung.
- Fix any word in the lyric editor, or paste the official lyrics on top.
- Download the lyrics as TXT (one line per row) or SRT (each line with its timing). Downloading uses no credits.
Processing is about 1 credit per minute of song, so a three-and-a-half-minute track is about 4 of the 30 free credits. The same run gives you a lyric video, if you want one.
Transcribe a YouTube video
Paste the link of a video you own or have the rights to, such as the official video, a live session or a show you played:
| What's in the video | Use | You get |
|---|---|---|
| A song | Video Lyrics | The lyrics line by line, TXT or SRT, and a lyric video |
| Speech: an interview, a podcast, a talk | YouTube to transcript | The full text as TXT or SRT, plus vertical clips |
| A song you want as captions on a clip | Subtitle generator | Word-by-word captions in an SRT file |
Fix the transcript
Read it while the song plays. These are the places where any transcription, by a person or by AI, gets things wrong:
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Names of people and places | They are often not real words |
| Slang and words in another language | The model picks the closest common word |
| Ad-libs and backing vocals | Decide whether they go in the lyrics or not |
| Repeated chorus lines | A missing repetition shifts every line after it |
| Lines that land early or late (SRT) | A late line reads as out of sync on screen |
If the songwriter has the lyrics written down, paste them and use the transcript only for the timings.
What to do with the lyrics
- Put them on YouTube as subtitles: the SRT file goes straight into YouTube Studio (step by step).
- Make a lyric video or a karaoke clip with the words lighting up as they are sung, in the karaoke and lyric video editor.
- Send them to your distributor or the streaming platforms' lyrics tools, so listeners see them while the song plays.