Audio Import

Audio Import

Already have a recorded meeting sitting on your hard drive? Meetily can import it and produce a full transcript -no re-recording needed.

Think of it like adding photos to a library -you drop the file in, Meetily processes it in the background, and when it's done you have a fully searchable, editable transcript sitting alongside your live recordings.

Everything starts from the main window: drag a file onto Meetily or click the Import Audio button.

Quick Start

1. Drag an audio file onto the Meetily window (or click Import Audio)
2. Review the file info -duration, size, and format are shown automatically
3. Enter a meeting title (auto-populated from the filename)
4. Click Import
5. Watch the progress bar move through each stage
6. When it finishes, you're taken directly to the new meeting's details page

Have an audio file?
  → Drag it onto Meetily
  → Review file info (duration, size, format)
  → Enter meeting title
  → Click Import
  → Transcript appears in ~30 seconds to a few minutes (depends on file length)

Supported Formats

Meetily supports 10 audio and video formats:

Native Formats

These are decoded directly by Meetily's built-in audio engine:

FFmpeg-Backed Formats

These require FFmpeg for decoding (included with Meetily):

The Import Dialog

When you drag a file onto Meetily or click Import Audio, the Import Dialog opens.

File Preview Card

At the top, you'll see a card showing:

• Filename -the original file name
• Duration -auto-detected from metadata (e.g., "1h 23m 45s")
• File Size -in human-readable format (e.g., "245 MB")
• Format -the audio format (e.g., "MP3")

Meeting Title

Below the preview, there's an editable Meeting Title field. Meetily auto-fills this from the filename -for example, team-standup-2026-03-15.mp3 becomes "team-standup-2026-03-15". Edit it to whatever you'd like.

Advanced Options

Click Advanced Options to expand additional settings:

Language Selection

Most providers support an explicit language hint. When set to Auto-detect, the transcription engine guesses the spoken language. Setting a specific language can improve accuracy for non-English recordings.

Note: Parakeet always uses auto-detection -the language dropdown is disabled when Parakeet is selected.

How Import Works

When you click Import, Meetily processes the file through a multi-stage pipeline:

Audio File → Copy → Decode → Resample → VAD → Transcribe → Save

Processing Stages

What you see during processing

• A progress bar shows the current percentage and stage name
• The stage name updates as processing moves through each phase
• The Import button is disabled -you cannot close the dialog or press Escape while processing
• A Cancel button lets you abort the import at any time

When it finishes

• A success toast appears showing the number of transcript segments created
• Meetily automatically navigates to the new meeting's details page
• The meeting appears in your sidebar like any other recording

Drag-and-Drop

The fastest way to import is drag-and-drop:

1. Find your audio file in Finder (macOS) or Explorer (Windows)
2. Drag it onto the Meetily window
3. A blue overlay appears covering the app with the message: "Drop audio file to import"
4. Drop the file
5. The Import Dialog opens with the file pre-loaded

The overlay lists all supported formats so you can quickly check if your file type is compatible.

Real-World Examples

Example 1: Importing a Zoom recording

"I have an hour-long Zoom recording as an MP4 file. I want to get a transcript without re-playing the whole thing."

Setup: Drag the .mp4 file onto Meetily → title it "Q1 Planning Call" → click Import. Meetily extracts the audio track from the video container, runs VAD to skip silence, and transcribes the speech. In a few minutes you have a full, searchable transcript.

Example 2: Processing voice memos from your phone

"I record voice memos on my iPhone during client visits. I want them transcribed and summarized in Meetily."

Setup: Transfer the .m4a files from your phone to your Mac → drag each one onto Meetily → they're imported and transcribed one at a time. Each appears as a separate meeting in your sidebar with the memo filename as the title.

Example 3: Batch-processing old recordings with a specific language

"I have meeting recordings in German. I want to make sure the transcription knows it's German, not English."

Setup: Drag the .wav file onto Meetily → click Advanced Options → set Language to German → click Import. The language hint tells the transcription engine to expect German, which significantly improves accuracy for non-English recordings.

Example 4: Re-importing with a different provider

"I imported a file using Whisper but the quality wasn't great. I want to try Groq instead."

Setup: The original meeting is already in Meetily. Use the Retranscribe feature (see Retranscription) to re-process the same audio file with Groq -no need to re-import.

Screenshots Guide

These are the key screens worth capturing for visual reference: