EasyWhisperUI

A fast, local desktop app for transcribing audio/video with Whisper (whisper.cpp) — with GPU acceleration where available.

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Electron migration (React + Electron + IPC, TypeScript)

EasyWhisperUI has been migrated to an Electron architecture (React + Electron + IPC) built with TypeScript to provide a consistent cross-platform UI (Windows + macOS, Linux planned) and a faster, more reliable development workflow going forward.

What changed / why it matters

• Unified UI across platforms with consistent layout + behavior
• Faster iteration (React + Vite, easier UI/feature work)
• TypeScript codebase for safer refactors and more reliable IPC/renderer/main boundaries
• Safer process boundaries
  • Renderer UI has no direct Node access
  • Privileged operations live in the Electron main process
  • A narrow preload bridge (window.easyWhisper) handles IPC safely
• Cleaner installs + predictable storage
  • Per-user workspace (app data) keeps binaries/models/downloads organized
• Better foundation for long-term UX improvements

This rewrite required reworking core UI flows, IPC, and install/dependency handling. The Electron build has been tested multiple times on a fresh Windows system to validate clean installs and end-to-end transcription.

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Features

• Live transcription (beta)
• Batch transcription queue (multiple files processed sequentially)
• Translation support for 100+ languages
• Output formats:
  • .txt
  • .srt (timestamps)
• Drag & drop + Open With integration
• Automatically converts media to the required format via FFmpeg
• Model selection (e.g. tiny, medium-en, large-v3)
• Language selection (e.g. en)
• Optional “additional arguments” textbox
• Automatically downloads models when missing
• Console output view during processing
• Custom model support: select a local whisper.cpp-compatible model file directly via a file picker

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Acceleration

• Windows: Vulkan acceleration (supported GPUs)
• macOS (Apple Silicon): Metal acceleration

If GPU acceleration isn’t available, EasyWhisperUI can still run using CPU only (slow).

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Custom model support

EasyWhisperUI supports custom Whisper models now!

Use a custom model

1. Open the Model selector and select custom
2. Choose Select Model File
3. Pick your local model file (.gguf/.ggml/.bin)
4. Start transcribing

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Requirements

Windows 10/11

• AMD / Intel / NVIDIA GPU with Vulkan support
  (Most modern discrete + integrated GPUs work.)
• Virtual machines require Vulkan support (e.g., GPU passthrough)

macOS

• Apple Silicon (M1 / M2 / M3 / M4 / M5)

Linux

• Not supported yet (install/compile flow not implemented)

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Install

Windows

1. Download the latest Windows installer from Releases
2. Run it (installs per-user under app data)
3. Desktop + Start Menu shortcuts are created

macOS

1. Download the .dmg from Releases
2. Open it and drag EasyWhisperUI into Applications

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Donate

Thanks to supporters ❤️

• Craig H: $50
• Jan P: $5
• Minh P: $5
• Rödvarg R: $2

This project takes a lot of time to maintain and test across systems. If EasyWhisperUI helped you, consider supporting development:

👉 Donate via PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?business=5FM6Y27A3CK58&no_recurring=0&currency_code=USD

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Credits

• whisper.cpp by Georgi Gerganov
• FFmpeg
• Windows FFmpeg builds: gyan.dev
• Packaging: electron-builder

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License

Copyright (c) 2025 Mehtab Mahir
All rights reserved.

This software is proprietary and the following is not allowed for commercial purposes:
it may not be copied, modified, distributed, or used without explicit permission from the author.

Those actions are permitted for personal use ONLY.

This application includes the following open-source components:

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whisper.cpp by Georgi Gerganov
License: MIT
[https://github.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp](https://github.com/ggerganov/whisper.cpp)

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FFmpeg
License: LGPL 2.1
[https://ffmpeg.org](https://ffmpeg.org)
Windows builds by: [https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/](https://www.gyan.dev/ffmpeg/)

The FFmpeg binary is provided as a separate file and may be replaced with a compatible version.

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Build steps (for developers)

Electron app (TypeScript)

From the electron/ folder:

npm install

Package (generates installer artifacts):

```bash
npm run dist

Build output:

• build/electron-dist