AI Lecture Notes

From recording to notes

An audio upload is transcribed first, then the transcript is organised into notes. A YouTube link uses the video’s captions. Either way, the notes follow the same structure as AI Notes — overview, sections, key terms, takeaways — but the tool is told that the source is spoken, so it drops the repetition and digressions that make a raw transcript hard to study from.

Audio uploads use the audio minutes included in your plan: a 40-minute recording uses 40 minutes. YouTube lectures follow your plan’s YouTube length limit instead. Notes are built from the first 12,000 characters of the transcript, which for a long lecture covers its first part — split very long recordings if you need all of it.

Getting a recording that works

Clear speech matters more than anything else. Sit near the speaker or place your phone close to them, and avoid recording through background chatter. Always ask before recording a lecture: many schools and lecturers have rules about it.

• MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC or WEBM, up to 25 MB per file
• One speaker, close to the microphone, gives the best transcript
• Long lectures: split the recording and make notes per part

Who uses lecture notes

Students who want to listen in class rather than write everything down, students reviewing a lecture they missed, and anyone working through recorded courses or seminar talks. The notes are a study aid — check names, dates and formulas against your slides or textbook, since transcription and AI can both slip.

Tips for better lecture notes

Transcription is the step that most affects quality. Record close to the speaker, avoid rooms with a lot of echo or background chatter, and keep the file to the part of the class you need. MP3, M4A, WAV, AAC and WEBM files up to 25 MB are accepted.

Spoken lectures repeat themselves and wander off topic; the notes generator is told to expect that and organise the content into an overview, headed sections, defined key terms and takeaways. Notes are built from the first 12,000 characters of the transcript, so for a long class, splitting the recording into parts gives fuller notes.

• Ask permission before recording a lecture
• Trim long silences and the chatter before class starts
• Split long recordings so each set of notes covers one part
• Add slide content yourself afterwards — the audio cannot capture it

How audio minutes work

Audio files use the audio minutes included in your plan. The length of the file is read before transcription and rounded up to the next whole minute, and that many minutes are taken from your allowance. If transcription fails, the minutes are returned.

A YouTube link with captions does not use audio minutes, because the captions already are the transcript; it follows your plan's video-length limit instead. Either way, the finished notes are saved to Notes.