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Sys2txt
Sys2txt is a command-line tool that records system audio and transcribes it locally using AI.
Sys2txt is a command-line tool that records system audio using ffmpeg and transcribes it locally with AI. It captures audio via PulseAudio or PipeWire monitor sources. Users can choose between on-demand recording or live segmentation. The tool supports three transcription engines, including faster-whisper, openai-whisper, and whisper.cpp. It automatically selects the first available engine based on installation and hardware compatibility. The software is designed for users who need local, command-line audio transcription.
Sys2txt at a glance
- Best for: Software engineer
- Runs on: CLI
- Pricing: Free
- Released: October 2026
- Category: AI productivity tool
- Website: joe-heffer.github.io
Key features
- Records system audio via ffmpeg
- Transcribes audio locally using AI
- Supports on-demand recording
- Supports live-ish segmented transcription
- Includes faster-whisper engine
- Includes openai-whisper engine
- Includes whisper.cpp engine
- Auto-selects installed engine
Use it for
- Record and transcribe system audio on demand
- Stream live-ish continuous transcriptions of audio
Alternatives to Sys2txt
- RealtimeSTT — Provides fast local speech recognition with voice activity detection and wake words.
- RealtimeTTS — Provides low-latency speech synthesis with a broad engine matrix and multiple backends.
- WhisperX — It enables 70x faster, batched transcription with high-accuracy alignment.
- UnCode — Runs entirely on your machine without cloud services.
- Tuxwhisper — Runs locally without cloud processing and types directly into any application.
- Pasteface — Transcribe speech locally or via OpenAI directly from your terminal with named tabs.
- Skill Recorder — Records workflows once and turns them into repeatable AI agent skills or automations.
- Talkhawk — Speech recognition runs locally on your PC so your audio never leaves your computer.
- SpeechFast — Dictate anywhere on Mac with 100 percent local processing and no cloud servers.
- Lipflow — Transcribes silent speech into text via webcam and local processing.
- LocalBolo — Private, on-device dictation that works in any app without cloud data usage.
- Voxscribe AI Voice Dictation — Transcribes speech locally on your PC for complete privacy without sending audio to a server.
All Sys2txt alternatives