Claras Claras
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Uploads and supported links

Which links and files Claras takes, how to upload a recording or paste an Instagram or TikTok link, and how to fix the errors you might see.

There's no search box yet. Pick a topic from the help list on this page, or open all help topics for a one-line guide to each. If your question isn't covered, email us and a person will answer.

What Claras takes

  • YouTube videos. Watch links, the kind with watch?v= in them, and youtu.be links. These work in the web app and the extension. Shorts links and live links don't work yet.
  • YouTube playlists and searches. Only in Bulk Summaries, covered in Ask AI and bulk.
  • Instagram. Reels, video posts and older IGTV links, from public accounts. Web app only.
  • TikTok. Video links and short share links such as vm.tiktok.com, from public accounts. Web app only.
  • Your own files. Video as MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, and audio as MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC, AAC, OGG or Opus, up to 6 hours each. Web app only.

Instagram and TikTok links can be up to 30 minutes long. For anything longer, download the video and upload the file.

Upload a file

  1. Pick the Video or Audio tab. On the Summarize Video screen in the web app, drop the file in or click to browse. Choose your summary language.
  2. Click Analyze with AI. Claras checks the file's length against the transcription hours you have left, and tells you before any work starts if it won't fit.
  3. Ask for an email if you like. For files of 30 minutes or more, tick "Email me when it's done". You can use other tabs, but keep the Claras tab open, or the job stops.
  4. Wait for the slices. The button shows "Reading your file", then counts up as the audio is transcribed. Your browser cuts the audio into slices of up to 10 minutes and sends them four at a time. The whole file is never uploaded, and the audio isn't stored.
  5. Read the result. The file plays in the page, and chapters and transcript lines jump through it. It gets no public share link.

If the tab closes halfway, pick the same file again. Claras carries on from where it stopped and doesn't use the same hours twice. In a private window your browser may not keep the finished slices, so a retry starts over. To play an upload again later, open it from History and choose the file again.

Paste an Instagram or TikTok link

Copy the link from the app's share menu, paste it under the Instagram or TikTok tab, and click Analyze with AI. Claras checks that the video is public, that the post is a video, and that its length fits your hours. The button reads "Transcribing video" while it works. Those sites don't allow a player Claras can move, so there's a Watch on Instagram or Watch on TikTok link instead.

How hours are counted

Uploads and Instagram or TikTok links use transcription hours, counted by length over a rolling 30 days: 1 hour on the free plan, 10 on Pro and 100 on Unlimited. A 45-second Reel uses 45 seconds. Each one also counts as one video on your plan. YouTube videos don't use hours.

If something goes wrong

  • "This file is 1:30:00 long and you have 1.0 hours of transcription left this month." The numbers follow your file and your plan. Trim the file, wait for older uploads to leave the 30-day window, or move to a plan with more hours.
  • "This file is 7:10:00 long. The limit is 6 hours." Split the recording into parts of under 6 hours.
  • "Your browser can't read this file's audio format. Convert it to MP3 and try again." Convert the file to MP3 with any audio converter and upload that.
  • "This file doesn't have an audio track, so there's nothing to transcribe." The video has no sound.
  • "Upload failed. Check your connection and try again." A slice didn't get through after a few tries. Check your connection, then pick the same file to continue.
  • "You've used your transcription hours for this month. Upgrade for more, or try again later." Your hours come back as older uploads pass 30 days. In the web app this often opens the plans screen instead, and its title talks about free videos even when it is your hours that ran out.
  • "Could not check your transcription allowance. Please try again." Claras couldn't confirm your hours, so it didn't start. Try again shortly.
  • "We couldn't open this video. It may be private, age-restricted or deleted. Only public videos work." Claras can only open public posts.
  • "That post isn't a video, so there's nothing to transcribe." Photo posts and carousels without video have no audio.
  • "This video is over 30 minutes, which is longer than we can transcribe from a link. Download it and upload the file instead." Do as it says. Uploads take files up to 6 hours.
  • "This video is taking unusually long. Please try again in a few minutes." The transcription is still running. Paste the link again in a few minutes.
  • "We couldn't find any speech in this video to transcribe." The audio is music or silence.
  • Speech goes wrong part way through a file. Claras learns the language from the first slice and keeps it, so a recording that switches language may come out poorly after the switch.

Still need help?

Questions, bug reports and billing all go to one inbox, and every message is read by a person. Write from the contact page and include your account email, the video link, and the exact message you saw. That makes it much faster to help.

File uploadsFormats, privacy and a worked example.Instagram and TikTokWhat you get from a Reel or a TikTok.Transcripts and languagesYouTube captions and AI transcription.Account and billingHours and videos on each plan.

Need more transcription hours? Compare the plans.