{"id":24830,"library":"whisper-timestamped","title":"whisper-timestamped","description":"Multi-lingual Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) based on OpenAI Whisper models, with accurate word-level timestamps, language detection confidence, Voice Activity Detection (VAD) options, and more. Current version: 1.15.9. Release cadence: irregular.","status":"active","version":"1.15.9","language":"python","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/linto-ai/whisper-timestamped","tags":["whisper","asr","speech-recognition","timestamps","vad","audio"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install whisper-timestamped","lang":"bash","label":"PyPI"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Installs optional dependencies including VAD libraries (silero-vad) and audio backends","package":"whisper-timestamped[all]","optional":true}],"imports":[{"note":"OpenAI Whisper's load_model returns a different object without timestamp alignment. Use whisper-timestamped's load_model for correct word timestamps.","wrong":"from whisper import load_model","symbol":"load_model","correct":"from whisper_timestamped import load_model"},{"note":"Standard whisper.transcribe() does not return word timestamps; this function does.","wrong":"from whisper import transcribe","symbol":"transcribe","correct":"from whisper_timestamped import transcribe"},{"note":"Legacy function name; still works but transcribe is preferred.","wrong":null,"symbol":"transcribe_timestamped","correct":"from whisper_timestamped import transcribe_timestamped"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import whisper_timestamped as whisper\n\nmodel = whisper.load_model(\"base\")\naudio = whisper.load_audio(\"audio.mp3\")\nresult = whisper.transcribe(model, audio, language=\"en\")\n\n# Access word-level timestamps\nfor segment in result[\"segments\"]:\n    for word in segment[\"words\"]:\n        print(f\"{word['text']}: {word['start']:.2f} - {word['end']:.2f}\")","lang":"python","description":"Load a Whisper model, transcribe an audio file, and print word timestamps."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Use 'import whisper_timestamped' or 'import whisper_timestamped as whisper'.","message":"The library imports as 'whisper_timestamped' (with underscore) not 'whispertimestamped'. Typing 'pip install whisper-timestamped' but importing 'whisper_timestamped' is correct. Do not import from 'whisper' as that is OpenAI's official package.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"all"},{"fix":"Replace 'transcribe_timestamped' with 'transcribe'.","message":"The function 'transcribe_timestamped' is deprecated but still works. New code should use 'transcribe' instead.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":">=1.15.0"},{"fix":"Install with extra: 'pip install whisper-timestamped[all]'.","message":"VAD (Voice Activity Detection) requires installing optional dependencies: 'pip install whisper-timestamped[all]'. Without VAD, the library uses fixed 30-second window alignment which may be less accurate.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"all"},{"fix":"Use a smaller model like 'base' or 'small' if memory is limited.","message":"When using 'model = whisper.load_model(\"large\")', ensure you have sufficient GPU memory (≥8GB) or use CPU with increased memory. Loading a model larger than available memory may cause silent crashes.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"all"},{"fix":"Use language code strings: 'language=\"en\"', 'language=\"fr\"', or set to None for auto-detection.","message":"In version 1.15.0, the transcribe function signature changed: 'language' parameter now expects a string (e.g., 'en') instead of language code integer. Passing 'language=0' no longer works.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":">=1.15.0"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-05-01T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Ensure you run 'pip install whisper-timestamped' and use 'import whisper_timestamped' (underscores, not hyphens).","cause":"Attempting to import after installing 'whisper-timestamped' with a typo in the import statement or missing install.","error":"ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'whisper_timestamped'"},{"fix":"Use 'from whisper_timestamped import load_model' or 'import whisper_timestamped as whisper'.","cause":"Importing from the wrong module (e.g., 'import whisper' instead of 'import whisper_timestamped'). The standard 'whisper' package does not have the same load_model signature.","error":"AttributeError: module 'whisper' has no attribute 'load_model'"},{"fix":"Use 'from whisper_timestamped import transcribe' and call transcribe with the model and audio.","cause":"Trying to access word timestamps from result but using standard OpenAI whisper's transcribe instead of whisper-timestamped's transcribe. The standard result does not contain 'words' keys.","error":"KeyError: 'words'"},{"fix":"Install required backend: 'pip install soundfile' or 'pip install librosa'.","cause":"Missing audio loading library. whisper-timestamped uses soundfile or librosa under the hood.","error":"RuntimeError: No available backend for audio loading. Install soundfile or librosa."}],"ecosystem":"pypi","meta_description":null,"install_score":null,"install_tag":null,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null}