Extract audio from video files before loading
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Video files (MP4, MKV, etc.) are now processed with ffmpeg to extract
audio to a temp WAV file before loading into wavesurfer. This prevents
the WebView crash caused by trying to fetch multi-GB files into memory.

- New extract_audio Tauri command uses ffmpeg (sidecar-bundled or system)
- Frontend detects video extensions and extracts audio automatically
- User-friendly error if ffmpeg is not installed with install instructions
- Reverted wavesurfer MediaElement approach in favor of clean extraction
- Added FFmpeg install guide to USER_GUIDE.md

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Claude
2026-03-22 20:04:07 -07:00
parent 66db827f17
commit 02c70f90c8
6 changed files with 172 additions and 4 deletions

View File

@@ -26,10 +26,13 @@ The sidecar only needs to be downloaded once. Updates are detected automatically
## Basic Workflow
### 1. Import Audio
### 1. Import Audio or Video
- Click **Import Audio** or press **Ctrl+O** (Cmd+O on Mac)
- Supported formats: MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, M4A, AAC, WMA, MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, WebM
- **Audio formats:** MP3, WAV, FLAC, OGG, M4A, AAC, WMA
- **Video formats:** MP4, MKV, AVI, MOV, WebM — audio is automatically extracted
> **Note:** Video file import requires [FFmpeg](#installing-ffmpeg) to be installed on your system.
### 2. Transcribe
@@ -181,8 +184,42 @@ If you prefer cloud-based AI:
---
## Installing FFmpeg
FFmpeg is required for importing video files (MP4, MKV, AVI, etc.). It's used to extract the audio track before transcription.
**Windows:**
```
winget install ffmpeg
```
Or download from [ffmpeg.org/download.html](https://ffmpeg.org/download.html) and add to your PATH.
**macOS:**
```
brew install ffmpeg
```
**Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):**
```
sudo apt install ffmpeg
```
**Linux (Fedora/RHEL):**
```
sudo dnf install ffmpeg
```
After installing, restart Voice to Notes. FFmpeg is not needed for audio-only files (MP3, WAV, FLAC, etc.).
---
## Troubleshooting
### Video import fails / "FFmpeg not found"
- Install FFmpeg using the instructions above
- Make sure `ffmpeg` is in your system PATH
- Restart Voice to Notes after installing
### Transcription is slow
- Use a smaller model (tiny or base)
- If you have an NVIDIA GPU, select CUDA in Settings > Transcription > Device