What Is a JSON Transcript File?

A JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) file is a lightweight, text-based format used to store and transport data. When you export a transcription from Konthora as a JSON file, you receive the spoken words alongside their structural data in a strict, predictable layout.

Unlike standard documents or subtitles designed for media players, JSON is designed to be easily read, parsed, and utilized by software applications and custom scripts.

Structured data refers to information that has been organized into a standardized format. In a JSON transcript, the full text of the audio is paired with granular details about when each piece of text was spoken.

Rather than a simple block of text, the JSON output breaks the transcript down into segments, capturing the exact start and end timestamps for each recognized phrase. This allows developers to precisely map the text back to the original audio timeline.

{
  "text": "This is an illustrative transcript example.",
  "segments": [
    {
      "start": 0.0,
      "end": 2.5,
      "text": "This is an illustrative transcript example."
    }
  ]
}

JSON is the ideal format when you intend to process the transcription programmatically. It should be chosen over other formats when building custom tools or integrating the data into a larger pipeline.

• Custom Search Tools: Developers can ingest the JSON data into a database to build applications that search for specific phrases and jump to their exact timestamps in an audio file.
• Data Analysis: The structured format makes it easy to write scripts that count words, measure speaking rates, or analyze the overall structure of the transcript.
• Custom Player Interfaces: If you are building a custom media player on the web, JSON allows you to render interactive transcription timestamps that highlight text as the audio plays.

While all four formats contain the same core transcribed words, they serve entirely different purposes:

• JSON vs. TXT:TXT is designed strictly for human readability and strips away all timestamps. JSON retains the timestamps and structures them for machines.
• JSON vs. SRT & VTT:SRT and VTT are specifically formatted to be read by video players to display on-screen subtitles. A video player will not know how to display a JSON file, even though it contains the necessary timing data.