Transcribe Icelandic audio with WhisperAI
WhisperAI transcribes Icelandic (Íslenska) audio for the around 350,000 speakers who use the language across Iceland. Built on OpenAI Whisper and tuned for the realities of Icelandic speech, the service produces publication-grade transcripts in Latin alphabet with þ (thorn), ð (eth), æ, and accented vowels (á é í ó ú ý ö).
Who actually needs Icelandic transcription
Icelandic demand comes from Reykjavík tech and tourism, Icelandic public-sector documentation, and Icelandic-language broadcasting (RÚV).
Dialects and varieties handled
- Standard Icelandic (essentially uniform across the country)
Þ, ð, and a language preserved close to Old Norse
Icelandic is unusual among modern languages in preserving the runic letters þ (thorn) and ð (eth), and its grammar has changed remarkably little since medieval times. Whisper preserves both letters correctly and handles Iceland's full morphological case system.
Standard Icelandic is supported with proper þ, ð and accented vowel preservation.
How Icelandic speakers actually use WhisperAI
- Reykjavík tech and SaaSIcelandic tech firms transcribe Icelandic internal meetings with English business vocabulary preserved.
- Icelandic public-sector documentationMunicipalities and Alþingi transcribe Icelandic meetings for record-keeping.
- Icelandic broadcasting (RÚV)Icelandic public broadcasting transcribes content for caption use.
- Icelandic-language academiaUniversity of Iceland researchers transcribe Icelandic qualitative research with full diacritic preservation.
What Icelandic transcripts include
Native Latin alphabet with þ (thorn), ð (eth), æ, and accented vowels (á é í ó ú ý ö)
Output in Latin alphabet with þ (thorn), ð (eth), æ, and accented vowels (á é í ó ú ý ö) with all diacritics, tone marks, special characters and script-specific conventions preserved — never transliteration.
Speaker labels
Diarisation that separates and labels speakers in Icelandic interviews, panels and multi-party meetings.
Timestamps and SRT
Word-level timestamps and SRT subtitle export for Icelandic video captioning, with proper line-breaking for the script.
Editor and exports
In-browser editor with PDF, DOCX, TXT and SRT exports. Edit the transcript without leaving the browser, then download the format your downstream workflow expects.
How to transcribe Icelandic audio
Upload your Icelandic recording
Drop in MP3, WAV, M4A, MP4 or similar — files up to 5GB. Long-form Icelandic interviews, lectures and meetings work without splitting.
Whisper transcribes the audio
The model recognises Icelandic speech across the dialects above and outputs Latin alphabet with þ (thorn), ð (eth), æ, and accented vowels (á é í ó ú ý ö). Code-switched English and other languages in the same recording are handled inline.
Edit, label and export
Open the transcript in the editor, fix any names or terms, label speakers, and export to PDF, DOCX, TXT or SRT. Optional AI summary surfaces the key points and decisions.
Transcribe in 100+ languages
WhisperAI supports Icelandic alongside over 100 other languages with the same accuracy and editor experience.
Other widely-used pages: English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Hindi, Italian, and 80+ more languages including Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Malay, Filipino and beyond.
See every supported language, with transcription, realtime and translation coverage.
Transcription guides and best practices
Start transcribing Icelandic today
Sign up free, drop in your first Icelandic file, and have a usable transcript in minutes.