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