Transcription privacy: what to check before uploading a recording

Review the material before choosing a service

A recording may include more than the intended speaker: background conversations, client names, private contact details, or information shown in an accompanying video. Listen to a sample and consider what the full file contains before sending it to any service.

Use recordings you own or have permission to process. For work material, follow your organization’s policies and any applicable agreements. If you are unsure whether a particular service is permitted for a confidential recording, resolve that question before uploading. A transcription tool cannot make that decision for you.

If you already have subtitles, conversion can stay local

ClipToDraft’s free subtitle converter reads SRT or VTT text in your browser and creates the chosen export there. It does not upload the captions you paste or choose. This route needs neither an account nor audio transcription.

Local conversion changes the format of an existing file. It cannot recover missing words or create timestamps from a recording. If all you need is SRT converted to VTT, use that smaller workflow instead of uploading the original video to a transcription service.

Understand the workspace’s processing path

ClipToDraft processes uploaded recordings and downloaded audio on Cloudflare infrastructure. Transcription sends the necessary audio to Google’s Gemini service. Requesting an AI writing draft sends the relevant transcript text to that service.

Cloudflare D1 stores account and transcript records; R2 stores media. Playback audio remains associated with a transcript until you delete it. Temporary audio chunks are removed after successful processing. This is cloud processing, so do not describe it as offline or entirely on-device.

Subtitle converter → browser → downloaded caption file
Audio transcription → Cloudflare → Gemini → workspace transcript
AI writing → transcript text → Gemini → saved draft

Know what deletion does and does not remove

You can download your transcript and subtitles, edit the words, and delete a transcript from the workspace. Deletion removes the transcript’s associated drafts and stored media. Usage accounting remains attached to the account; deleting a transcript is not the same as deleting every account or billing record.

For a broader privacy request, use the contact address on the privacy page and identify your account email. Do not include a password or payment card details. If you need specific retention, residency, or contractual guarantees, obtain those details before choosing a service rather than inferring them from the interface.

Treat your own device as part of the workflow

Exported files can contain sensitive words even after the source recording is gone. Save them somewhere appropriate for the material. Check the browser’s download location when using a shared computer and sign out of your workspace when finished.

Keep only the versions needed for the task. A transcript copied into a document, an AI draft pasted into another tool, and a downloaded subtitle file become separate copies. Deleting one workspace record does not delete copies you created elsewhere.

Before you finish

• You have permission to process the recording.
• You understand whether this action is local or cloud-based.
• The service’s documented data handling fits the material.
• You know where exports are saved and how to remove workspace media.

Common questions