Click a word, hear the moment
Click to skip is on by default: click any word and the audio or video jumps there. Each paragraph also has its own play button.
Reviewed by David Dat Nguyen, CXO Last updated
Word-level timestamps
Every word knows
when it was said.
Sonix stores a start and end time for every word, to the hundredth of a second, so you can click any word to hear it, cite the exact moment and export timecodes wherever you need them.
Paragraph timecodes by default, interval timecodes from five seconds to ten minutes, frames for video work, and the same times in the API.
30 free minutes on every new account, no credit card.See pricing
Hundredth-of-a-second timing
Click any word to play it
Timecodes in every export
Time is attached to the words, not the file
Three things word-level timing gives you.
Cite the exact second
A quote carries its time in the transcript and in the export, so a fact-check, a court reference or an edit note points at the moment, not the page.
Timecodes in your tool's format
A timecode at every paragraph, every 30 seconds, before each speaker, as hundredths or frames, or per word in CSV and the API.
Where the second matters
How three kinds of teams use the times.
Journalists
Quotes that can be checked against the recording.
- Click a quote to replay it before it goes in the story
- Export DOCX with a timecode at every paragraph for the editor's fact-check
- Cite minute and second in notes to sources and lawyers
Filmmakers
Finding the take by its words.
- Timecodes in frames for the edit, not just seconds
- Premiere and Final Cut exports that place every word on the timeline
- An offset tool to match the transcript to the project's start timecode
Legal teams
A working transcript where every statement has a time.
- Paragraph timecodes in the DOCX used for review and references
- Interval timecodes every 30 seconds to match the recording during playback
- Word-level times in CSV when an analyst needs the exact span
How timestamps work
The settings and limits, as they are in the product today.
- Stored per word, to the hundredth0.01 s
- Every word has a start and end time kept to two decimal places. That is the resolution the editor, the exports and the API all use.
- Click to skipOn by default
- On by default in the editor preferences: click a word and playback jumps to it. Each paragraph shows a play button for its start time.
- Timecodes in documentsEvery paragraph
- DOCX, TXT and PDF include a timecode at every paragraph by default. DOCX and TXT can add one at a fixed interval, from every 5 seconds to every 10 minutes, and place it before the speaker name.
- Hundredths or framesFrames
- Show two decimals after the seconds, or a frame count at your project's frame rate, in DOCX and TXT and in the Avid marker export.
- Adjust the start timecodeTools menu
- The Tools menu offsets the whole transcript so it matches a recording that did not start at zero.
- In the APIPer word
- The transcript JSON returns start and end times for every word; TXT and DOCX accept interval and placement parameters.
Timestamps, answered
How would a film editor use timestamps on the timeline?
Export the transcript to Premiere XML or Final Cut Pro X so every word sits on the timeline, then find a take by searching its words. Set the timecode display to frames at your project's frame rate, and use the start-timecode offset if the recording's clock did not begin at zero.
How precise are the timestamps?
Each word's start and end are stored to the hundredth of a second, and that is what the editor shows, the exports print and the API returns. Timing follows the audio, so a word spoken over another voice is placed where the engine heard it begin.
Can I put a timecode every 30 seconds instead of every paragraph?
Yes. In DOCX and TXT exports choose a timecode interval from every 5 seconds to every 10 minutes, with or without the paragraph timecodes, and optionally before each speaker name.
Can a legal team cite a moment in the recording by time?
Each paragraph's timecode appears in the DOCX and PDF, and the editor shows the time of any word you click, so a reference can name the minute and second. For an exact span, the CSV export lists the start and end of every word.
Do the timestamps stay correct after I edit the text?
Words you leave alone keep their times. After heavy editing, Tools has a realign action that regenerates every word's timecode against the audio; it uses transcription time for the length of the file.
Pages around this one
The feature this page belongs to, and its neighbors.
Everything else Sonix does
with the same recording
Get started
Click a word, hear it
Upload a recording and jump through it by its words. 30 free minutes, no credit card.
4.98
10xfaster than real time
30free minutes to start
