whisper.cpp transcribes speech to text with OpenAI's Whisper models. It is a plain C/C++ program with a command-line tool, whisper-cli, and a library other apps build on.
Apple silicon is a first-class target: inference runs on the GPU through Metal, and the encoder can run on the Neural Engine through Core ML. The project recommends macOS 14 (Sonoma) or newer for Core ML.
It is free and open source (MIT) and runs entirely on your Mac. Install it with Homebrew (brew install whisper.cpp).
How to Get It
brew install whisper.cppOfficial downloads only. MLX never re-hosts an app, and never runs a command for you.
MLX Score
Ranked against the voice & audio listings, from real public data only. How the score works.
Pairs Well With
WhisperKitVoice & audio
MacWhisperVoice & audioInformation
- Developer
- ggml-org
- Category
- Voice & audio
- Price
- Free
- Your data
- Runs on your Mac
- Licence
- MIT
- Mac
- Runs on a Mac (no minimum stated)
- iPhone and iPad
- —
- Facts checked
- 2026-11-01
Sources
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DescriptVoice & audiowhisper.cpp is a product of ggml-org; MLX isn’t affiliated with it. Something wrong? Write to support@mlx.app.