Project README

Setting Up the Project Environment

Follow the steps below to set up your project environment:

1. Create a Virtual Environment

To isolate the project dependencies and prevent conflicts, create a virtual environment using the following commands:

# Create the virtual environment
python3 -m venv venv

# Activate the virtual environment:
source venv/bin/activate

2. Install Project Dependencies

Once the virtual environment is activated, install the required dependencies using pip:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Make sure you have a requirements.txt file in the project directory with the list of all required dependencies.

Running the Script

To run the Python script transcribe.py, you need to provide an audio file as a parameter. Use the following command:

python transcribe.py <audio_file>

• Replace <audio_file> with the path to your audio file.
• Example:

python transcribe.py sample_audio.wav

Where is downloaded the AI Whisper model ?

When using the openai-whisper package, the AI Whisper model is downloaded and stored in a local cache directory. By default, it is stored under the user's home directory in the following path:

~/.cache/whisper/

Here:

• ~ refers to the user's home directory.
• .cache/whisper/ is the folder where the models are cached.

The cache directory contains the downloaded model files, which are reused in subsequent runs to avoid re-downloading them. Specifically:

• Whisper downloads the model files when they are first used, based on the requested model size (e.g., base, medium, or large).

If you need to modify or relocate the cache directory, you can set the WHISPER_CACHE_DIR environment variable to specify a custom path for storing these files.

Which whisper model for French ?

Model	Multilingual?	Accuracy in French	Speed	Best For
tiny	✅ Yes	❌ Poor	🚀 Fastest	Basic transcription, very simple audio
base	✅ Yes	⚠️ Okay	🔥 Fast	Short/simple French audio
small	✅ Yes	✅ Good	⚡ Fast	General French transcription
medium	✅ Yes	✅✅ Very Good	⏳ Slower	Better accuracy in noisy audio
large	✅ Yes	✅✅✅ Best	🐢 Slowest	High accuracy, complex speech

Notes

• Ensure that your virtual environment is activated before running the script.
• If you encounter any missing dependencies, double-check your requirements.txt file and re-run the installation command.

Happy coding!