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Transcription runs over POST /v1/audio/transcriptions (REST) and WS /v1/audio/transcriptions/realtime (streaming). See Speech-to-Text for the full reference.

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422 — the endpoint expects multipart/form-data, not JSON

POST /v1/audio/transcriptions uses multipart/form-data, not a JSON body. Send fields as form parts (-F in curl, files=/data= in httpx). Posting JSON is the most common cause of a 422 here.

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No audio provided

Supply an input source: a file upload, a source_url (public URL), or a cloud_storage_url (S3/GCS). Omitting all three returns 422 with “One of file, source_url, or cloud_storage_url is required.”

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422 on transcribe-and-translate

POST /v1/audio/transcriptions/translate (a legacy alias of POST /v1/audio/translations) requires a model that supports translation. Always pass model explicitly, e.g. openai/whisper-large-v3. If the selected model can’t translate, you get a 422. Confirm capabilities via GET /v1/models.

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Opting out of logging has no effect

enable_logging is a query parameter on POST /v1/audio/transcriptions (?enable_logging=false), not a form field. Sent as a form field it is ignored.

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Realtime WebSocket won’t connect or auth fails

Pass the key one of three ways: Sec-WebSocket-Protocol: Bearer rsk_..., ?api_key=rsk_..., or ?token=rsk_.... In browsers (no custom headers), use the query parameter.

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Realtime transcripts are empty or garbled

  • audio_format must match what you actually send (default pcm_16000; the standard protocol expects PCM s16le, 16 kHz, mono).
  • With commit_strategy: manual you must send input_audio_buffer.commit (or ElevenLabs commit: true) to get a final transcript; auto uses VAD.
  • ElevenLabs realtime only forwards input_audio_chunk frames — any other message type is silently dropped.

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WebSocket closed with an error

Realtime STT sends a JSON error frame and then closes with code 1000, or 1011 while the server is draining for a restart, in which case reconnect. Read the error frame for the reason (auth, balance, too many concurrent sessions, or upstream). An account can hold 5 concurrent WebSocket sessions. REST errors use standard codes: 401, 422, 429, 402.

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Still stuck?

See the Mesh API error reference or email contact@meshapi.ai.