What is the minimum audio duration that the API can transcribe?
Last updated: September 22, 2025
The minimum audio duration for a file submitted to our API is 160ms.
Files submitted to our API that are shorter than 160ms will return an error:
{
...
"status": "error",
"audio_url": "https://foo.bar",
"error": "Audio duration is too short.",
...
}To fix this issue:
Add error handling for this error message: When this error occurs, handle it safely by checking the error string and returning the error.
Add pre-submit checks for the duration of the audio file: Prior to submitting a file for transcription, check the duration using a tool like soxi (part of the SoX package):
soxi -D audio.mp3