> For clean Markdown of any page, append .md to the page URL.
> For a complete documentation index, see https://docs.simplified.com/api-reference/audio/transcription/transcribe-video/llms.txt.
> For AI client integration (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), connect to the MCP server at https://docs.simplified.com/_mcp/server.

# Media · Transcription · Start a video/audio transcription job (step 1 of 3)

POST https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe
Content-Type: application/json

Step 1 — submit a media URL for speech-to-text transcription.

**The response is only `{id}`.** It does not contain the transcript
and it does not contain any status flag. The STT pipeline runs
asynchronously and updates the row later via provider webhooks.

Next steps:

* Step 2: poll `getTranscription` with the returned `id` until
  `job_status="DONE"` (or `"FAILED"`).
* Step 3: optionally call `downloadTranscriptionFile` to get VTT/SRT.

Reference: https://docs.simplified.com/api-reference/audio/transcription/transcribe-video

## Authentication

- `Authorization` header (required) (prefixed with ` Api-Key   `) — Header authentication of the form `Api-Key  <token>`
- `Authorization` header (bearer token, required) — Bearer authentication of the form `Bearer <token>`, where token is your auth token.

## Request

### Body (application/json)

This endpoint expects an object.

- `video_url` (string, required) — URL of the source video or audio file.
- `language_code` (string, optional, default: en-US) — BCP-47 language code of the source audio. Defaults to "en-US".

## Response

### 200

Transcription completed (the apikit middleware blocks until terminal). Response is the full `TranscriptionResponse` when `job_status="DONE"`, or an `{error, id, status, message}` envelope when the job fails or times out.

- `id` (string, optional) — Transcription UUID. Use this with getTranscription and downloadTranscriptionFile.
- `title` (string, optional)
- `creator` (integer, optional) — Creator user ID.
- `video_url` (string, optional) — Source media URL submitted for transcription.
- `transcribed_video_url` (string, optional, nullable) — URL of the captioned/burned-in video, if produced.
- `transcription_url` (string, optional, nullable) — URL of the raw transcript artifact in storage.
- `payload` (map from string to any, optional) — Transcription payload. When job\_status=COMPLETED, contains `language_code` and `phrases` (each with `speaker`, `text`, and `words[{text, start, end, confidence}]` in milliseconds).
- `content` (map from string to any, optional) — Source metadata (e.g. `{source, source_id}`).
- `job_status` (enum, optional) — Lifecycle state of the transcription job. Terminal: `DONE` (success) and `FAILED`. All other values are non-terminal — keep polling.
  - Allowed values: `CREATED`, `PENDING`, `PROCESSING`, `DONE`, `FAILED`, `RENDERING`, `UPDATED`
- `status` (string, optional) — Project status (PUBLIC, PRIVATE, ARCHIVED).
- `project_type` (string, optional) — Always "transcription" for this resource.
- `created` (datetime, optional)
- `modified` (datetime, optional)
- `translation_language` (string, optional, nullable)
- `provider` (enum, optional) — STT engine used for the job.
  - Allowed values: `GGL`, `AWS`, `MS`, `OAI`, `AAI`

## Examples

**Request**

```json
{
  "video_url": "string"
}
```

**Response**

```json
{
  "id": "string",
  "title": "string",
  "creator": 1,
  "video_url": "string",
  "transcribed_video_url": "string",
  "transcription_url": "string",
  "payload": {},
  "content": {},
  "job_status": "CREATED",
  "status": "string",
  "project_type": "string",
  "created": "2024-01-15T09:30:00Z",
  "modified": "2024-01-15T09:30:00Z",
  "translation_language": "string",
  "provider": "GGL"
}
```

**SDK Code**

```python
import requests

url = "https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe"

payload = { "video_url": "string" }
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Api-Key  <apiKey>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.json())
```

```javascript
const url = 'https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe';
const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Api-Key  <apiKey>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: '{"video_url":"string"}'
};

try {
  const response = await fetch(url, options);
  const data = await response.json();
  console.log(data);
} catch (error) {
  console.error(error);
}
```

```go
package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"video_url\": \"string\"\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Api-Key  <apiKey>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(res)
	fmt.Println(string(body))

}
```

```ruby
require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Api-Key  <apiKey>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"video_url\": \"string\"\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body
```

```java
import com.mashape.unirest.http.HttpResponse;
import com.mashape.unirest.http.Unirest;

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe")
  .header("Authorization", "Api-Key  <apiKey>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"video_url\": \"string\"\n}")
  .asString();
```

```php
<?php
require_once('vendor/autoload.php');

$client = new \GuzzleHttp\Client();

$response = $client->request('POST', 'https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe', [
  'body' => '{
  "video_url": "string"
}',
  'headers' => [
    'Authorization' => 'Api-Key  <apiKey>',
    'Content-Type' => 'application/json',
  ],
]);

echo $response->getBody();
```

```csharp
using RestSharp;

var client = new RestClient("https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe");
var request = new RestRequest(Method.POST);
request.AddHeader("Authorization", "Api-Key  <apiKey>");
request.AddHeader("Content-Type", "application/json");
request.AddParameter("application/json", "{\n  \"video_url\": \"string\"\n}", ParameterType.RequestBody);
IRestResponse response = client.Execute(request);
```

```swift
import Foundation

let headers = [
  "Authorization": "Api-Key  <apiKey>",
  "Content-Type": "application/json"
]
let parameters = ["video_url": "string"] as [String : Any]

let postData = JSONSerialization.data(withJSONObject: parameters, options: [])

let request = NSMutableURLRequest(url: NSURL(string: "https://api.simplified.com/api/v1/transcription/transcribe")! as URL,
                                        cachePolicy: .useProtocolCachePolicy,
                                    timeoutInterval: 10.0)
request.httpMethod = "POST"
request.allHTTPHeaderFields = headers
request.httpBody = postData as Data

let session = URLSession.shared
let dataTask = session.dataTask(with: request as URLRequest, completionHandler: { (data, response, error) -> Void in
  if (error != nil) {
    print(error as Any)
  } else {
    let httpResponse = response as? HTTPURLResponse
    print(httpResponse)
  }
})

dataTask.resume()
```