---
title: MLX Audio Transcriber
description: On-device ML, Apple Silicon native
section: craft
tags: [project, ai-and-automation]
genre: reference
stability: stable
lastUpdated: 2026-04-19
url: https://fardiniqbal.com/docs/craft/projects/mlx-audio-transcriber
---


A personal batch audio transcriber that runs Whisper models natively on
Apple Silicon through the MLX framework. Zero cloud dependency — audio
never leaves the machine. Built because I wanted a local tool for
meeting recordings, podcasts, and voice notes without sending files to
an external API.

## What it is [#what-it-is]

A command-line tool I use on my own machine to batch-transcribe audio
files. It wraps MLX-Whisper, Apple's MLX port of OpenAI's Whisper, so
inference runs on the M-series GPU through Metal instead of calling a
hosted model. Input is a folder of audio files; output is transcripts.
No queue, no web UI, no multi-user anything — just a local batch
processor.

This is not a product. It is the script I reach for when I have a
recorded meeting, a podcast episode, or a stack of voice memos and want
text out without uploading anything.

## Key features [#key-features]

* **Fully on-device** — MLX-Whisper runs Whisper inference on Apple
  Silicon's unified memory architecture via Metal. No network calls, no
  API keys, no cloud.
* **Batch processing** — points at a directory and transcribes every
  audio file it finds, rather than one-at-a-time.
* **Whisper model family** — uses the standard Whisper model weights
  through MLX, so model size is a tradeoff I pick per job (speed vs.
  accuracy).
* **Daily-driver reliability** — I run it on real meeting recordings
  and podcast files regularly; it is the test bed.

## Stack [#stack]

| Layer        | Technology                      |
| ------------ | ------------------------------- |
| Language     | Python                          |
| ML framework | MLX (Apple)                     |
| Model        | MLX-Whisper                     |
| Hardware     | Apple Silicon (M-series, Metal) |

## Links [#links]

* **Status:** Personal tool, not published.