Transcribe Long Audio Files Beyond 25MB Limit with FileFlows and OpenAI Whisper

Who's it for

This template is designed for content creators, podcasters, businesses, and researchers who need to transcribe long audio recordings that exceed OpenAI Whisper's 25 MB file size limit (~20 minutes of audio).

How it works

This workflow combines n8n, FileFlows, and OpenAI Whisper API to transcribe audio files of any length:

1. User uploads an MP3 file through a web form and provides an email address
2. n8n splits the file into 4 MiB chunks and uploads them to FileFlows
3. FileFlows uses FFmpeg to segment the audio into 15-minute chunks (safely under the 25 MB API limit)
4. Each segment is transcribed using OpenAI's Whisper API (configured for French by default)
5. All transcriptions are merged into a single text file
6. The complete transcription is automatically emailed to the user

Processing time: Typically 10-15 minutes for a 1-hour audio file.

Requirements

• n8n instance (self-hosted or cloud)
• FileFlows with Docker and FFmpeg installed
• OpenAI API key (Whisper API access)
• Gmail account for email delivery
• Network access between n8n and FileFlows

Setup

Complete setup instructions, including FileFlows workflow import, credentials configuration, and storage setup, are provided in the workflow's sticky notes.

Cost

OpenAI Whisper API: $0.006 per minute. A 1-hour recording costs approximately $0.36.