Transcribe speech to text by using client libraries

This page shows you how to send a speech recognition request to Speech-to-Text in your favorite programming language using the Google Cloud Client Libraries.

Speech-to-Text enables easy integration of Google speech recognition technologies into developer applications. You can send audio data to the Speech-to-Text API, which then returns a text transcription of that audio file. For more information about the service, see Speech-to-Text basics .

Before you begin

Sign in to your Google Cloud account. If you're new to Google Cloud, create an account to evaluate how our products perform in real-world scenarios. New customers also get $300 in free credits to run, test, and deploy workloads.

In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

Go to project selector

Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project .

Enable the Speech-to-Text APIs.

Enable the APIs

Make sure that you have the following role or roles on the project: Cloud Speech Administrator

Check for the roles

In the Google Cloud console, go to the IAM page.
Go to IAM
Select the project.
In the Principal column, find all rows that identify you or a group that you're included in. To learn which groups you're included in, contact your administrator.
For all rows that specify or include you, check the Role column to see whether the list of roles includes the required roles.

Grant the roles

In the Google Cloud console, go to the IAM page.
Go to IAM
Select the project.
Click Grant access .
In the New principals field, enter your user identifier. This is typically the email address for a Google Account.
In the Select a role list, select a role.
To grant additional roles, click Add another role and add each additional role.
Click Save .

Install the Google Cloud CLI.

Note:If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update .

If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

gcloud  
init

In the Google Cloud console, on the project selector page, select or create a Google Cloud project.

Go to project selector

Verify that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project .

Enable the Speech-to-Text APIs.

Enable the APIs

Make sure that you have the following role or roles on the project: Cloud Speech Administrator

Check for the roles

In the Google Cloud console, go to the IAM page.
Go to IAM
Select the project.
In the Principal column, find all rows that identify you or a group that you're included in. To learn which groups you're included in, contact your administrator.
For all rows that specify or include you, check the Role column to see whether the list of roles includes the required roles.

Grant the roles

In the Google Cloud console, go to the IAM page.
Go to IAM
Select the project.
Click Grant access .
In the New principals field, enter your user identifier. This is typically the email address for a Google Account.
In the Select a role list, select a role.
To grant additional roles, click Add another role and add each additional role.
Click Save .

Install the Google Cloud CLI.

Note:If you installed the gcloud CLI previously, make sure you have the latest version by running gcloud components update .

If you're using an external identity provider (IdP), you must first sign in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

To initialize the gcloud CLI, run the following command:

gcloud  
init

Client libraries can use Application Default Credentials to easily authenticate with Google APIs and send requests to those APIs. With Application Default Credentials, you can test your application locally and deploy it without changing the underlying code. For more information, see Authenticate for using client libraries .

If you're using a local shell, then create local authentication credentials for your user account:
```
gcloud  
auth  
application-default  
login
```
You don't need to do this if you're using Cloud Shell.

If an authentication error is returned, and you are using an external identity provider (IdP), confirm that you have signed in to the gcloud CLI with your federated identity .

Also ensure you have installed the client library .

Make an audio transcription request

Use the following code to send a Recognize request to the Speech-to-Text API.

Java

  // Imports the Google Cloud client library 
 import 
  
 com.google.api.gax.longrunning. OperationFuture 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. AutoDetectDecodingConfig 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. CreateRecognizerRequest 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. OperationMetadata 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. RecognitionConfig 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. RecognizeRequest 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. RecognizeResponse 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. Recognizer 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. SpeechClient 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. SpeechRecognitionAlternative 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.cloud.speech.v2. SpeechRecognitionResult 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 com.google.protobuf. ByteString 
 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.io.IOException 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.nio.file.Files 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.nio.file.Path 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.nio.file.Paths 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.util.List 
 ; 
 import 
  
 java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException 
 ; 
 public 
  
 class 
 QuickstartSampleV2 
  
 { 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 main 
 ( 
 String 
 [] 
  
 args 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 IOException 
 , 
  
 ExecutionException 
 , 
  
 InterruptedException 
  
 { 
  
 String 
  
 projectId 
  
 = 
  
 "my-project-id" 
 ; 
  
 String 
  
 filePath 
  
 = 
  
 "path/to/audioFile.raw" 
 ; 
  
 String 
  
 recognizerId 
  
 = 
  
 "my-recognizer-id" 
 ; 
  
 quickstartSampleV2 
 ( 
 projectId 
 , 
  
 filePath 
 , 
  
 recognizerId 
 ); 
  
 } 
  
 public 
  
 static 
  
 void 
  
 quickstartSampleV2 
 ( 
 String 
  
 projectId 
 , 
  
 String 
  
 filePath 
 , 
  
 String 
  
 recognizerId 
 ) 
  
 throws 
  
 IOException 
 , 
  
 ExecutionException 
 , 
  
 InterruptedException 
  
 { 
  
 // Initialize client that will be used to send requests. This client only needs to be created 
  
 // once, and can be reused for multiple requests. After completing all of your requests, call 
  
 // the "close" method on the client to safely clean up any remaining background resources. 
  
 try 
  
 ( 
  SpeechClient 
 
  
 speechClient 
  
 = 
  
  SpeechClient 
 
 . 
 create 
 ()) 
  
 { 
  
 Path 
  
 path 
  
 = 
  
 Paths 
 . 
 get 
 ( 
 filePath 
 ); 
  
 byte 
 [] 
  
 data 
  
 = 
  
 Files 
 . 
 readAllBytes 
 ( 
 path 
 ); 
  
  ByteString 
 
  
 audioBytes 
  
 = 
  
  ByteString 
 
 . 
  copyFrom 
 
 ( 
 data 
 ); 
  
 String 
  
 parent 
  
 = 
  
 String 
 . 
 format 
 ( 
 "projects/%s/locations/global" 
 , 
  
 projectId 
 ); 
  
 // First, create a recognizer 
  
  Recognizer 
 
  
 recognizer 
  
 = 
  
  Recognizer 
 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setModel 
 ( 
 "latest_long" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 addLanguageCodes 
 ( 
 "en-US" 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
  CreateRecognizerRequest 
 
  
 createRecognizerRequest 
  
 = 
  
  CreateRecognizerRequest 
 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setParent 
 ( 
 parent 
 ) 
  
 . 
  setRecognizerId 
 
 ( 
 recognizerId 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setRecognizer 
 ( 
 recognizer 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
 OperationFuture<Recognizer 
 , 
  
 OperationMetadata 
>  
 operationFuture 
  
 = 
  
 speechClient 
 . 
  createRecognizerAsync 
 
 ( 
 createRecognizerRequest 
 ); 
  
 recognizer 
  
 = 
  
 operationFuture 
 . 
 get 
 (); 
  
 // Next, create the transcription request 
  
  RecognitionConfig 
 
  
 recognitionConfig 
  
 = 
  
  RecognitionConfig 
 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
  setAutoDecodingConfig 
 
 ( 
  AutoDetectDecodingConfig 
 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 (). 
 build 
 ()) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
  RecognizeRequest 
 
  
 request 
  
 = 
  
  RecognizeRequest 
 
 . 
 newBuilder 
 () 
  
 . 
 setConfig 
 ( 
 recognitionConfig 
 ) 
  
 . 
 setRecognizer 
 ( 
 recognizer 
 . 
  getName 
 
 ()) 
  
 . 
 setContent 
 ( 
 audioBytes 
 ) 
  
 . 
 build 
 (); 
  
  RecognizeResponse 
 
  
 response 
  
 = 
  
 speechClient 
 . 
 recognize 
 ( 
 request 
 ); 
  
 List<SpeechRecognitionResult> 
  
 results 
  
 = 
  
 response 
 . 
  getResultsList 
 
 (); 
  
 for 
  
 ( 
  SpeechRecognitionResult 
 
  
 result 
  
 : 
  
 results 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
 // There can be several alternative transcripts for a given chunk of speech. Just use the 
  
 // first (most likely) one here. 
  
 if 
  
 ( 
 result 
 . 
 getAlternativesCount 
 () 
 > 
 0 
 ) 
  
 { 
  
  SpeechRecognitionAlternative 
 
  
 alternative 
  
 = 
  
 result 
 . 
 getAlternativesList 
 (). 
 get 
 ( 
 0 
 ); 
  
 System 
 . 
 out 
 . 
 printf 
 ( 
 "Transcription: %s%n" 
 , 
  
 alternative 
 . 
  getTranscript 
 
 ()); 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 } 
  
 } 
 }

Python

  import 
  
 os 
 from 
  
 google.cloud.speech_v2 
  
 import 
 SpeechClient 
 from 
  
 google.cloud.speech_v2.types 
  
 import 
 cloud_speech 
 PROJECT_ID 
 = 
 os 
 . 
 getenv 
 ( 
 "GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT" 
 ) 
 def 
  
 quickstart_v2 
 ( 
 audio_file 
 : 
 str 
 ) 
 - 
> cloud_speech 
 . 
 RecognizeResponse 
 : 
  
 """Transcribe an audio file. 
 Args: 
 audio_file (str): Path to the local audio file to be transcribed. 
 Returns: 
 cloud_speech.RecognizeResponse: The response from the recognize request, containing 
 the transcription results 
 """ 
 # Reads a file as bytes 
 with 
 open 
 ( 
 audio_file 
 , 
 "rb" 
 ) 
 as 
 f 
 : 
 audio_content 
 = 
 f 
 . 
 read 
 () 
 # Instantiates a client 
 client 
 = 
 SpeechClient 
 () 
 config 
 = 
 cloud_speech 
 . 
 RecognitionConfig 
 ( 
 auto_decoding_config 
 = 
 cloud_speech 
 . 
 AutoDetectDecodingConfig 
 (), 
 language_codes 
 = 
 [ 
 "en-US" 
 ], 
 model 
 = 
 "long" 
 , 
 ) 
 request 
 = 
 cloud_speech 
 . 
 RecognizeRequest 
 ( 
 recognizer 
 = 
 f 
 "projects/ 
 { 
 PROJECT_ID 
 } 
 /locations/global/recognizers/_" 
 , 
 config 
 = 
 config 
 , 
 content 
 = 
 audio_content 
 , 
 ) 
 # Transcribes the audio into text 
 response 
 = 
 client 
 . 
 recognize 
 ( 
 request 
 = 
 request 
 ) 
 for 
 result 
 in 
 response 
 . 
 results 
 : 
 print 
 ( 
 f 
 "Transcript: 
 { 
 result 
 . 
 alternatives 
 [ 
 0 
 ] 
 . 
 transcript 
 } 
 " 
 ) 
 return 
 response

You sent your first request to Speech-to-Text.

Clean up

To avoid incurring charges to your Google Cloud account for the resources used on this page, follow these steps.

Optional: Revoke the authentication credentials that you created, and delete the local credential file.
```
gcloud  
auth  
application-default  
revoke
```
Optional: Revoke credentials from the gcloud CLI.
```
gcloud  
auth  
revoke
```

Console

Everything in the project is deleted.If you used an existing project for the tasks in this document, when you delete it, you also delete any other work you've done in the project.
Custom project IDs are lost.When you created this project, you might have created a custom project ID that you want to use in the future. To preserve the URLs that use the project ID, such as an appspot.com URL, delete selected resources inside the project instead of deleting the whole project.

If you plan to explore multiple architectures, tutorials, or quickstarts, reusing projects can help you avoid exceeding project quota limits.

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Manage resources page.

Go to Manage resources

In the project list, select the project that you want to delete, and then click Delete .

In the dialog, type the project ID, and then click Shut down to delete the project.

gcloud

Everything in the project is deleted.If you used an existing project for the tasks in this document, when you delete it, you also delete any other work you've done in the project.
Custom project IDs are lost.When you created this project, you might have created a custom project ID that you want to use in the future. To preserve the URLs that use the project ID, such as an appspot.com URL, delete selected resources inside the project instead of deleting the whole project.

If you plan to explore multiple architectures, tutorials, or quickstarts, reusing projects can help you avoid exceeding project quota limits.

In the Google Cloud console, go to the Manage resources page.

Go to Manage resources

In the project list, select the project that you want to delete, and then click Delete .

In the dialog, type the project ID, and then click Shut down to delete the project.

What's next

Practice transcribing short audio files .
Learn how to transcribe streaming audio .
Learn how to transcribe long audio files .
For best performance, accuracy, and other tips, see the best practices documentation.

Transcribe speech to text by using client libraries Stay organized with collections Save and categorize content based on your preferences.

Before you begin

Check for the roles

Grant the roles

Check for the roles

Grant the roles

Make an audio transcription request

Java

Python

Clean up

Console

gcloud

What's next

Transcribe speech to text by using client libraries