Skip to main content
A transcription job holds two kinds of file, and they follow different rules. Media is the recording itself — the audio or video that gets transcribed. Attachments are supporting documents that help whoever types it: a caption page, a witness list, an earlier transcript from the same matter.

​
Media: upload it as you received it

There is no list of accepted recording formats. The media dropzone takes every file type, and says so on its face: “All file types are accepted”. Courts hand out recordings in whatever their system produces, so there is nothing to convert — send the file exactly as it reached you. A short list of file types is refused everywhere in the app, for security reasons rather than transcription ones:
  • Programs and installers, such as .exe, .msi and .jar.
  • Scripts, such as .bat, .sh, .js, .vbs, .ps1 and .php.
  • Macro-enabled Office documents: .docm, .dotm, .xlsm and .pptm.
  • A few web and system formats: .svg, .html, .htm and .reg.
A file also needs an extension on the end of its name. recording is refused where recording.mp3 goes through. Both cases give you the same message, Media file has an invalid file type.
Accepting a recording is not the same as reading it. The app works out a recording’s length by loading it in the browser’s own media player, so any format the browser can’t play — including archives and several courtroom and dictation formats — arrives as 00:00:00 and you type the length in by hand. Submission Errors covers what that looks like.

​
Attachments: documents only

The attachment dropzone takes .doc, .docx and .pdf, and nothing else. Anything else is turned away as you drop it, with a File Rejected notification naming the file. That is a real restriction rather than a suggestion — unlike media, there is no “send it and let the agency sort it out” here. If you have something useful that isn’t one of those three formats, put it in the job’s notes or send it to the agency handling your matter directly rather than trying to force it through the dropzone.

​
Limits

These numbers are fixed. They are not a setting on your account, and nobody can raise them for one job — if you are up against the file count, the answer is a second job rather than a bigger allowance. You can keep adding files to a job right up until it reaches Ready for Delivery. From that point on the Upload Media and Upload Attachment buttons are gone, and so is the drag-and-drop area on the Files tab.

​
When the recording arrives on a disc

Courts often send recordings on a CD, DVD or USB drive. You have two ways to get that onto the job, and picking the right one saves a lot of time.

​
If you can read the disc

Copy the files off the disc onto your computer and upload them like any other media. Nothing special applies — the same 25 files, the same 10 GB ceiling.

​
If you can’t read it, or you’d rather send the original

Register the media instead of uploading it. Registering tells the agency what is coming and how long it runs, so your estimate can be worked out while the disc is still in the post. On the create form, turn on the Physical Media switch at the top of the Media section. The dropzone is replaced by a short list where each row is one physical item:
  • Media Reference — a name or label for the item, ideally matching whatever is written on the disc itself so both ends are talking about the same thing. Two characters minimum.
  • Duration — how long that item runs, entered as hours, minutes and seconds.
Add a row per item, up to the same limit of 25. A running total sits under the list, and that total is what your estimate is built from, so get it as close as you can. On a job that already exists, open the Files tab, choose Upload Media, and pick the Physical Media card in the window that opens. The button at the bottom changes from Upload to Register. Registered items show up in the job’s Media list alongside anything you uploaded, carrying the name and length you gave them and a — where a file size would normally be. There is no file behind them, so they can’t be downloaded or selected for download. Then send the disc. Registering an item does not move it — the agency handling your matter can tell you where it needs to go.