What Is a TXT Transcript File?

A TXT (Plain Text) file is one of the simplest digital document formats. When you export a transcription from Konthora as a TXT file, you receive readable transcript blocks with a display timestamp before each block.

Unlike specialized subtitle formats, a TXT export does not include cue end times, sequential cue numbers, or the player-specific syntax used by SRT and VTT.

When you export your transcription to TXT, the output preserves the recognized text and places a display timestamp before each block. The selected timestamp grouping determines how the text is organized into readable blocks.

[00:00]
This is an example of a plain text transcript export.

[00:04]
The text remains easy to read, copy, and paste without subtitle cue syntax.

What TXT does not preserve: A TXT export does not include subtitle cue end times, sequential cue numbers, or the nested data structure used for programmatic processing.

Because it is completely unformatted, the TXT format is universally supported across virtually all operating systems and word processors. You should choose the TXT format when your primary goal is readability rather than synchronization.

• Review and Archiving: Reading a plain text document is much easier than reading a subtitle file filled with timecodes.
• Content Repurposing: If you are converting a podcast or video into a blog post, a TXT file gives you a clean foundation to start editing.
• Searchability: TXT files are easily indexed and searched by your local computer or document management system.

While a TXT file is perfect for reading, it is missing the metadata required for specific workflows. Here is how it compares to the other formats available in Konthora:

• SRT and VTT:These are timed subtitle formats. They include exact start and end timestamps (for example, 00:01:15.500) for every cue. TXT display timestamps are useful for reading but do not make a file suitable for video synchronization.
• JSON:This is a structured data format containing segments and, when word mode is selected, word-level timestamps. It is intended for software workflows, whereas TXT is designed for human reading.