Speech to Text Not Working in Your Browser? How to Fix It

The short answer

When online Speech to Text does not type anything, the cause is almost always one of four things: a browser without speech recognition support (use Chrome or Edge), microphone permission that was blocked, the wrong language selected, or no internet connection. Fix those in that order. Also note that words appear only after you pause, not while you are still mid-sentence, so give it a second before deciding it is broken.

How browser speech to text works

The tool uses your browser's built-in speech recognition (the Web Speech API). It does not record audio itself. Two facts from MDN's documentation of this API explain most problems:

• Speech recognition has limited availability. MDN marks it as not Baseline because it does not work in some widely used browsers.
• In browsers such as Chrome, recognition uses a server-based engine. MDN says "your audio is sent to a web service for recognition processing, so it won't work offline."

So unlike tools that process files on your device, this one depends on your browser and, in Chrome, on an internet connection and the browser maker's speech service. Avoid dictating passwords, bank details or anything confidential.

Fix 1: "Speech Recognition not supported"

If the tool shows a microphone icon with Speech Recognition not supported, your browser does not provide the API at all. No setting on the page can change that.

• On a computer: open the tool in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
• On Android: use Chrome.
• Privacy-focused or older browsers may hide or not include speech recognition even if they are based on Chrome. Try the official Chrome or Edge build.

Fix 2: The button turns red, then stops at once

You click Start speaking, the box turns red with Listening…, and within a second it goes back to normal with no text. This usually means the microphone was blocked. When speech recognition hits an error, the tool simply stops listening; it does not show a separate message.

To allow the microphone:

Click the icon to the left of the web address (a padlock or a settings icon).

Find Microphone and set it to Allow.

Reload the page and click Start speaking again.

If your browser asks for permission, choose Allow.

Then check your device:

• Windows: Settings, Privacy and security, Microphone. Make sure microphone access is on and allowed for your browser.
• Mac: System Settings, Privacy and Security, Microphone. Turn on access for Chrome or Edge.
• Android: Settings, Apps, Chrome, Permissions, Microphone, set to Allow (menu names vary slightly between phones).

Also close other apps that may be holding the microphone, such as a video call.

Fix 3: It listens but types nothing

Wait for a pause. The tool adds text only when the speech engine marks a phrase as final, which normally happens when you pause. It does not show the half-finished words you are still saying. Speak a sentence, stop for a moment, and the text should appear.

Check the microphone input. If your laptop has several microphones, or a headset is connected, the browser may be using the wrong one. In Chrome, open the site settings from the address bar and choose the microphone you want, or change the default input in your operating system's sound settings. A quick test: record a voice note in another app and see whether it picks up sound.

Check your connection. Since recognition in Chrome is server-based, it fails without internet. A slow or unstable connection can also make results arrive late or not at all.

Fix 4: The words come out wrong or in the wrong language

Choose the language you are actually speaking from the Language menu before you start. The options are English (US), English (India), Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Bengali, Spanish, French, German, Arabic and Japanese.

• If you speak English with an Indian accent, try English (India), which is set up for Indian English, and compare it with English (US) on a test sentence.
• The language is set when you click Start speaking. If you change it while listening, click Stop recording and start again for the change to take effect.
• Mixing languages in one sentence, such as Hindi and English, is hard for any recogniser. Pick the language you use most and correct the rest by hand.

To improve accuracy generally:

• Use a headset or keep the phone or laptop microphone about 20 to 30 cm from your mouth.
• Reduce background noise such as fans, TVs and traffic.
• Speak in full phrases at a steady pace rather than word by word.
• Say names clearly, and expect to fix unusual spellings afterwards.

Fix 5: It stops listening after a while

The speech service can end a session on its own, for example after a period of silence. When that happens the box goes back to normal and the button reads Start speaking again. Your text is not lost. Click Start speaking to continue; new words are added to the end of what is already there.

For long dictation, speak in sections of a few minutes and glance at the box between sections so you notice if it has stopped.

Fix 6: Punctuation and formatting

The recogniser mainly produces plain words. Expect to add or correct full stops, commas, capital letters and paragraph breaks yourself. The text box is editable, so you can fix things as you go or at the end.

Saving your text

When you are done:

• Copy puts the whole transcript on your clipboard.
• ↓ downloads it as a file named transcript.txt.
• Clear empties the box. There is no undo, so copy or download first.

The word and character count under the box helps if you are writing to a limit. The tool does not save the transcript for you, so closing or reloading the page loses anything you have not copied or downloaded.

Quick checklist

Symptom	Most likely fix
"Speech Recognition not supported"	Use Chrome or Edge
Turns red, then stops immediately	Allow the microphone in site and system settings
Listening, but no words	Pause between sentences; check the microphone input and internet
Wrong words or wrong language	Pick the right language, then restart listening
Stopped in the middle	Click Start speaking again; text is kept

Related tools

Turn the transcript into an audio file with Text to Speech, check its length with the Word Counter, or fix capital letters in one go with the Case Converter. For how recognition works and when to use it, see the speech to text guide.