MLX Whisper

Local speech-to-text using Apple MLX, optimized for Apple Silicon Macs.

Quick Start

mlx_whisper /path/to/audio.mp3 --model mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo

Common Usage

# Transcribe to text file
mlx_whisper audio.m4a -f txt -o ./output

# Transcribe with language hint
mlx_whisper audio.mp3 --language en --model mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo

# Generate subtitles (SRT)
mlx_whisper video.mp4 -f srt -o ./subs

# Translate to English
mlx_whisper foreign.mp3 --task translate

Models (download on first use)

| Model | Size | Speed | Quality | |-------|------|-------|---------| | mlx-community/whisper-tiny | ~75MB | Fastest | Basic | | mlx-community/whisper-base | ~140MB | Fast | Good | | mlx-community/whisper-small | ~470MB | Medium | Better | | mlx-community/whisper-medium | ~1.5GB | Slower | Great | | mlx-community/whisper-large-v3 | ~3GB | Slowest | Best | | mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo | ~1.6GB | Fast | Excellent (Recommended) |

Notes

• Requires Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3/M4)
• Models cache to ~/.cache/huggingface/
• Default model is mlx-community/whisper-tiny; use --model mlx-community/whisper-large-v3-turbo for best results