Accurately convert
Japanese AU files to text
Sonix automatically transcribes your Japanese AU files to text in minutes. Access industry-leading artificial intelligence and the days of manually transcribing your Japanese AU files are long gone. Japanese speech to text: Sonix has been independently reviewed the most accurate Japanese automated transcription, translation, and subtitling platform.
Free to start — no credit card required.
Thousands of Sonix customers convert their Japanese AU files to text











Use Sonix to quickly convert
Japanese AU files to text
- 1Log into your Sonix account~30 sec
If you don't have one, you can sign up for Sonix's free account — Your free trial includes 30 minutes of transcription and translation.
- 2Upload your Japanese AU file~1 min
Click “Upload” and locate the Japanese AU file on your computer.
- 3Choose language: Japanese~10 sec
Select Japanese as the language spoken, then click “Transcribe”.
- 4Sonix transcribes your AU file~5 min
Sonix transcribes your Japanese AU file and converts it to Japanese text.
- 5Polish your Japanese transcript~2 min
Edit your Japanese transcript directly in the browser to correct any misheard words.
- 6Export Japanese text~10 sec
Export the Japanese text to MS Word, PDF, subtitles, or plain text.
Understanding Japanese AU files
Standard Japanese (hyojungo), based on Tokyo speech, dominates broadcasting and education and is the variety speech recognition models are primarily trained on. Kansai dialect (Osaka and Kyoto) is the most prominent regional variant, with different pitch accent and vocabulary, while Tohoku and Kyushu dialects diverge further from the standard; the traditional Ryukyuan languages of Okinawa differ so much that linguists classify them as separate languages rather than Japanese dialects.
AU technical specifications
- Codec
- µ-law, A-law, or linear PCM (Audacity block files use 32-bit float PCM)
- Container
- AU (Sun audio)
- Typical bitrate
- Varies by encoding; classic 8 kHz µ-law files are 64 kbps
- Sample rate
- 8–48 kHz typical (8 kHz for classic µ-law); the header supports arbitrary rates, and Audacity chunks use the project's rate
- Compression
- Container (varies)
Japanese at a glance
- Speakers
- ~125 million speakers worldwide
- Writing system
- Mixed script: kanji (Chinese characters) combined with the hiragana and katakana syllabaries, written without spaces between words
- Say hello
- こんにちは (Kon'nichiwa)!
Frequently asked questions
How to improve the accuracy of your Japanese transcripts?
Start by improving the quality of the Japanese AU file that you upload to Sonix. Please use high quality recording equipment, recording in a quiet environment, and ensure that your speakers are speaking clearly to ensure that your transcript is as accurate as possible.
Any advice for the Japanese AU file that I upload?
Yes, please do not over-compress or over-filter the audio track of your Japanese AU file. By uploading a high quality version of your audio, we can give you the best level of accuracy.
Aside from AU, do you support other types of audio/video files?
Yes, we do! You can convert the following file types in Japanese with Sonix:
Why is my Audacity project folder full of small AU files?
Older versions of Audacity split a project's audio into small AU block files inside a _data folder so long tracks could be edited efficiently, and the .aup project file reassembles them in order. Avoid moving or renaming these chunks; open the project and export the audio instead.
How do I play a standalone AU file?
Standalone AU files use the Sun audio format and open in players such as VLC and editors such as Audacity. Converting to WAV or MP3 gives the broadest compatibility with modern software and devices.
Can Sonix transcribe Japanese audio and video to text?
Yes. Upload your audio or video file, select Japanese as the spoken language, and Sonix returns a transcript in standard Japanese script (kanji, hiragana, and katakana) that you can edit in the browser and export.
Does Japanese transcription handle Kansai dialect and regional accents?
Sonix's Japanese model is built around standard (Tokyo) Japanese and generally handles regional accents, but strongly dialectal vocabulary such as Kansai-ben expressions may need corrections in the built-in editor.
Can Sonix create Japanese subtitles?
Yes. After transcribing, you can split the Japanese transcript into subtitle lines and export SRT or VTT files for video captioning.
Trusted by professionals worldwide
I heard about you from my friend. I found my transcription to be almost exactly what is in the audio file. Love it...continue what you are doing. Sonix is excellent. I appreciate that.
Amazing for foreign videos that need subtitles. The platform is super easy to use and gave me EXACTLY what I was looking for.
More ways to convert & transcribe
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