Practical overview
When it fits
Use it when you want a desktop workflow for live audio transcription or translation, text-to-speech, or image OCR, especially when local processing or caption output to VRChat or a browser overlay is useful.
Who it is for
- People who need live transcription or translation of microphone or computer audio.
- Users who want local speech and text processing after downloading models.
- VRChat users or browser-overlay setups that display recognized text.
Documented uses
- Transcribe microphone speech or desktop audio.
- Translate audio streams or written text.
- Read text aloud with text-to-speech.
- Extract text from images using OCR.
- Send recognized text to VRChat through OSC or browser overlays through WebSockets.
Requirements & limits
The project describes the application as free and open source, and publishes Windows and Linux desktop releases.
- The UI and model-running backend are separate components; the backend is downloaded during setup.
- Selected models download on first use, so local offline processing depends on completing that download.
- Compute support varies by task and model: CPU and compatible NVIDIA CUDA are supported, with Vulkan for audio.cpp STT/TTS.
- Linux has specific architecture, glibc, desktop-display, and audio-service requirements.
Check current requirements in the official documentation. Source-based guidance does not mean OpenViST has run or independently tested this project.
Install and configure Whispering Tiger UI
Prepare a desktop profile with selected audio devices, models, and compute devices.
Before you start
- A Windows or Linux desktop and the matching release ZIP.
- A writable local folder with space for the backend and models.
- For Linux: x86-64, glibc 2.36 or newer, an OpenGL-capable X11/XWayland desktop, and PulseAudio or PipeWire's PulseAudio compatibility service.
Steps
Download the matching Windows or Linux ZIP and extract it to a writable local folder; do not run the application from inside the ZIP.
Launch the Windows executable or, on Linux, run
chmod +x whispering-tiger-linux-amd64followed by./whispering-tiger-linux-amd64in the extracted folder.Accept the backend download when prompted, create a profile, and select audio devices, models, and compute devices.
Start the profile; selected models download on first use.
Expected outcome
A configured profile with its selected models downloaded for use.
Guide limitations
- Linux desktop audio capture requires choosing a PulseAudio or PipeWire monitor source.
- CUDA acceleration requires compatible NVIDIA hardware and driver support; the documented audio.cpp path uses CPU or Vulkan on Linux.
Sources & review
Source record details
- Source availability
- Active
- Sources checked
- 14 October 2026
- Original website title
- Sharrnah/whispering-ui · Official homepage title · retained in its source language

