Turnaround Times
This article lists typical turnaround times for human transcription, captions and subtitles, and for Rush orders. For an estimate for your specific files, add them to checkout. Rev shows a real-time estimate based on recent delivery times for files of similar length.
Turnaround time is based on the length of each file, not the total size of the order. Many files are delivered well before the estimate. Because audio quality and content vary, turnaround times aren’t guaranteed, but Rev works to deliver every order within the estimate given at checkout.
For legal transcription, see Legal Transcription Turnaround Time.
Table Of Contents
Transcription
Standard Transcription
Standard human transcription turnaround by file length:
- 0–10 minutes: usually 2 hours, at most 24 hours.
- 11–30 minutes: usually 8 hours, at most 24 hours.
- 31–60 minutes: usually 16 hours, at most 48 hours.
- 61–120 minutes: usually 24 hours, at most 72 hours.
- Over 120 minutes: usually 48 hours, at most 72 hours.
Premium Transcription
Premium transcription puts extra quality checks ahead of speed, so it takes longer than standard transcription. Rush can’t be added to a Premium transcription order.
AI Transcription
AI transcription is usually delivered within minutes. Orders placed from a link can take longer if the link is hard to access or the file is very large.
Shorten Turnaround Time Setting
The free Shorten Turnaround setting can deliver files over 30 minutes up to twice as fast. Rev splits each long file into segments so several transcriptionists can work at once, then joins the segments into one transcript.
The trade-off is that uncommon terms and speaker labels may not match across segments. For example, “Speaker 1” may refer to a different person in each segment.
To turn it on:
- Go to Account Settings > File Preferences.
- Next to Transcript Settings, click Edit.
- Turn on Shorten Turnaround - up to 2x faster.
Captions
Standard Captions
- Up to 30 minutes: usually 2 hours, at most 24 hours.
- 30–60 minutes: usually 12 hours, at most 60 hours.
- Over 60 minutes: usually 24 hours, at most 120 hours.
Spanish captions may take longer.
Premium Captions
- Up to 30 minutes: usually 2 hours, at most 18 hours.
- 30–60 minutes: usually 12 hours, at most 48 hours.
- Over 60 minutes: usually 30 hours, at most 120 hours.
AI Captions
AI captions are usually delivered within minutes. Orders placed from a link can take longer if the link is hard to access or the file is very large.
Subtitles
Subtitle turnaround depends on the language and on whether Rev creates the English captions first. If you already have an English .srt caption file, add it at checkout to speed things up.
Once the English captions are complete, subtitles typically take:
- Up to 20 minutes: up to 48 hours.
- 20–60 minutes: up to 96 hours.
- Over 60 minutes: more than 96 hours.
Rush My Order
Rush is a paid add-on for human transcription and caption orders. Add it at checkout before you place the order. It can’t be added to an order that has already been placed.
To add Rush to every order by default, go to Account Settings > File Preferences, click Edit next to Transcript Settings, and turn on Rush My Order - up to 5x faster.
Rush Transcription
Rush transcription is delivered up to 5 times faster than standard turnaround. Rush files are worked on first, by Rev’s top transcriptionists. You receive the finished human transcript, not an Instant First Draft. At checkout, after your files upload, select Rush My Order.
- 0–10 minutes: usually 1 hour, at most 12 hours.
- 11–30 minutes: usually 2 hours, at most 12 hours.
- 31–60 minutes: usually 5 hours, at most 24 hours.
- Over 60 minutes: usually 5 hours, at most 24 hours.
Rush isn’t available for Premium transcription.
Rush Captions
Rush captions are delivered up to 2 times faster than standard turnaround. Rush files are worked on first, by Rev’s top captioners.
- Up to 30 minutes: usually 1 hour, at most 12 hours.
- 30–60 minutes: usually 10 hours, at most 36 hours.
- Over 60 minutes: usually 24 hours, at most 60 hours.
Rush isn’t available for Spanish captions.
Factors That Can Influence Turnaround Times
If an order is taking longer than its estimate, one of these is usually the reason:
- File length: longer files take longer to complete.
- Audio quality: background noise, low volume or crosstalk slow the work down.
- Challenging content: technical terms, specialist subjects or many speakers take extra care.
- Accents: strong accents can take longer to transcribe accurately.
- English captions for subtitle orders: subtitles can’t start until the English captions are finished.
- Subtitle language: some languages have fewer available translators.