Skip to main content
Before you can transcribe or analyze an interview, you need to upload the recording to Pulse Qualitative. Smartinterview accepts a wide range of audio and video formats and handles compression automatically, so you can upload the original file without pre-processing it.

​
Supported file formats

FormatExtension
MP4.mp4
MOV.mov
WebM.webm
The upload area accepts all common media formats. If your file is rejected, convert it to one of the formats listed above using a tool like Handbrake or FFmpeg.

​
How to upload a recording

1

Open Pulse Qualitative

Navigate to Pulse Qualitative from the main dashboard.
2

Drag and drop your file

Drag one or more files from your computer onto the upload area. You can also click the area to open a file picker. You can upload up to 30 files at once.
3

Select the interview language

Use the Language dropdown to choose the primary language spoken in the recording. Smartinterview uses this to improve transcription accuracy. Supported languages include French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
4

Confirm the upload

Click Upload (or proceed to transcription). The file is stored securely and queued for processing.

​
What happens after upload

Once you upload a file, Smartinterview:
  1. Compresses the audio — the recording is automatically converted to a compact format (mono, 16 kHz) to reduce bandwidth and processing time. The original file is not modified.
  2. Stores the file securely — your recording is saved to encrypted cloud storage, accessible only to your account.
  3. Queues for transcription — the file is ready for you to start a transcription job. Processing is asynchronous, so you can upload multiple files and kick off transcription at any time.

​
Estimating token cost

Transcription costs 8 tokens per minute of audio. Use this formula to estimate the cost before you start: 
tokens = duration_in_minutes × 8
Recording lengthToken cost
15 minutes120 tokens
30 minutes240 tokens
60 minutes480 tokens
90 minutes720 tokens
If you are uploading many long recordings, check your token balance first. You can view your balance and purchase additional tokens from your account settings.

​
Managing uploaded files

After uploading, your files appear in the transcription history sidebar. Workspace-grouped recordings are listed under Folders and standalone files under Files. From there you can:
  • View status — see whether a file is pending, processing, completed, or failed.
  • Delete a file — select the file and click the delete icon to remove it and its associated transcript.
  • Move a file — if you have multiple workspaces, drag a file to a different workspace or use the move icon to reassign it.