Agent skill · writing content · sundial-org
faster-whisper
Local speech-to-text using faster-whisper. 4-6x faster than OpenAI Whisper with identical accuracy; GPU acceleration enables ~20x realtime transcription. Supports standard and distilled models with word-level timestamps.
Why this skill is useful
Adds executable scripts for audio transcription with specific model configurations and options not commonly found in public documentation.
What it needs
Requires ffmpeg, python3 installed locally. About 6k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-03-07. 639 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Faster Whisper Local speech-to-text using faster-whisper — a CTranslate2 reimplementation of OpenAI's Whisper that runs 4-6x faster with identical accuracy. With GPU acceleration, expect ~20x realtime transcription (a 10-minute audio file in ~30 seconds). When to Use Use this skill when you need to: Transcribe audio/video files — meetings, interviews, podcasts, lectures, YouTube videos Convert speech to text locally — no API costs, works offline (after model download) Batch process multiple audio files — efficient for large collections Generate subtitles/captions — word-level timestamps available Multilingual transcription — supports 99+ languages with auto-detection Trigger phrases: "transcribe this audio", "convert speech to text", "what did they say", "make a transcript", "audio to text", "subtitle this video" When NOT to use: Real-time/streaming transcription (use streaming-optimized tools instead) Cloud-only environments without local compute Files <10 seconds where API call latency doesn't matter Quick Reference Task Command Notes ------ --------- ------- Basic transcription ./scripts/transcribe audio.mp3 Uses default distil-large-v3 Faster English ./scripts/transcribe audio.mp3 --model distil-medium.en --language en English-only, 6.8x faster Maximum accuracy ./scripts/transcribe audio.mp3 --model large-v3-turbo --beam-size 10 Slower but best quality Word timestamps ./scripts/transcribe audio.mp3 --word-timestamps For subtitles/captions JSON output ./scripts/transcribe audio.mp3 --json -o output.json Programmatic access Multilingual ./scripts/transcribe audio.mp3 --model large-v3-turbo Auto-detects language Remove silence ./scripts/transcribe audio.mp3 --vad Voice activity detection Model Selection Choose the right model for your needs: Model Table Standard Models (Full Whisper) Model Size Speed Accuracy Use Case ------- ------ ------- ---------- ---------- tiny / tiny.en 39M Fastest Basic Quick drafts base / base.en 74M Very fast Good General use small / smal …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills sundial-org/faster-whisper