Whisper doesn’t support streaming — is there a roadmap for it?

[Santoshchodipilli]

I have a challenge, that I want to convert speech-to-text using whisper API.

Note : I am expecting the streaming response only.

[MansoobeZahra]

OpenAI's Whisper API (and the open-source model) does not natively support real-time streaming transcription cuz of offline batch processing, not low-latency streaming and API limitations.
If you need near-real-time transcription, here are some approaches:

1. Chunked Processing (Pseudo-Streaming)
   Split Audio into Short Segments (e.g., 5–10 sec chunks) and send them sequentially to Whisper.
   Pros: Works with existing Whisper API.
   Cons: Higher latency, no cross-chunk context.

2. Use Whisper in Local Mode with Buffering
   Run faster-whisper (optimized implementation) locally and stream mic input in chunks.

3. Alternative Streaming ASR Services
   AssemblyAI / Deepgram / Rev.ai offer real-time streaming APIs.
   Google Speech-to-Text has live streaming support.

   OpenAI has not officially announced streaming support for Whisper.
   You can +1 the issue in the Whisper GitHub repo or request it via OpenAI’s support.

[SameerSenapati17]

If you need speech-to-text with Whisper API in streaming mode, you can’t get true “word-by-word” streaming directly from OpenAI’s current Whisper endpoint — it only supports batch transcription.

To achieve streaming behavior, the common and effective approach is:

1. Stream audio chunks from the client (WebSocket or WebRTC).

2. Send each chunk to a lightweight real-time STT service (e.g., Vosk, Deepgram, AssemblyAI) that supports streaming.

3. Optionally pass partial or full segments to Whisper for higher accuracy after the stream completes.