Meeting transcription services like Otter.ai are convenient, but they upload your confidential business conversations to their servers. Here's how to keep it local.
Why Local Matters for Meetings
- Board meetings contain sensitive strategy discussions
- HR conversations include personal employee information
- Client calls may be under NDA
- Financial discussions require confidentiality
The Local Workflow
- Record your meeting using Zoom/Teams native recording
- Export the audio file (MP3 or WAV)
- Run it through local Whisper
- Get transcript without any cloud uploads
Processing Time
On M1/M2/M3 Macs, Whisper processes audio at roughly 2-4x real-time with the Medium model. A 1-hour meeting takes 15-30 minutes to transcribe locally.
Quality Tips
- Use headsets in meetings for cleaner audio per speaker
- Choose "Large" model for multi-speaker accuracy
- Separate audio tracks if your platform supports it
Private Transcription
Sotto runs Whisper locally—perfect for sensitive meeting content. $29 one-time.
Get Sotto