What is this?
Kaldi is an open-source speech recognition toolkit: C++ code plus example recipes for building speech-to-text, speaker-ID and speaker-verification systems.
Kaldi is an open-source speech recognition toolkit: C++ code plus example recipes for building speech-to-text, speaker-ID and speaker-verification systems.How do I get it running?Clone the repo and follow ./INSTALL for UNIX systems; native Windows builds are documented separately in windows/INSTALL, and the example system builds are described in egs/README.txt.
Clone the repo and follow ./INSTALL for UNIX systems; native Windows builds are documented separately in windows/INSTALL, and the example system builds are described in egs/README.txt.What has to be on my machine before the build?Standard UNIX build tools (make, a compiler) and a BLAS library such as OpenBLAS or ATLAS. On Fedora 41 you first install the distro's development libraries and dependencies.
Standard UNIX build tools (make, a compiler) and a BLAS library such as OpenBLAS or ATLAS. On Fedora 41 you first install the distro's development libraries and dependencies.Is it beginner-friendly, or should I expect a bumpy ride?Expect some friction: the README itself warns that you will probably encounter problems and points users to the developers and the kaldi-help mailing list for support.
Expect some friction: the README itself warns that you will probably encounter problems and points users to the developers and the kaldi-help mailing list for support.Is Linux the only OS it actually works on?No — it targets various Linux flavors, macOS (Darwin) and Windows via Cygwin, and there are also notes for PowerPC 64-bit little-endian systems (RHEL 7+, Ubuntu 16.04+).
No — it targets various Linux flavors, macOS (Darwin) and Windows via Cygwin, and there are also notes for PowerPC 64-bit little-endian systems (RHEL 7+, Ubuntu 16.04+).Do I need an NVIDIA GPU to use it?No — CPU-only builds are fully supported via OpenBLAS or ATLAS; CUDA is mentioned as an optional third alternative, not a requirement.
No — CPU-only builds are fully supported via OpenBLAS or ATLAS; CUDA is mentioned as an optional third alternative, not a requirement.What can I build with it besides plain speech-to-text?Speaker identification and verification are first-class use cases, so you can build systems that recognize who is speaking, not just what they say.
Speaker identification and verification are first-class use cases, so you can build systems that recognize who is speaking, not just what they say.Can Kaldi run on Android or in the browser?Yes: it cross-compiles to Android with the Android NDK, clang++ and OpenBLAS, and to WebAssembly with emscripten and OpenBLAS for in-browser execution.
Yes: it cross-compiles to Android with the Android NDK, clang++ and OpenBLAS, and to WebAssembly with emscripten and OpenBLAS for in-browser execution.Where should I start once I have it built?Build one of the example systems in egs/ (see egs/README.txt), then work through the docs, which include a techniques tutorial, a C++ coding guide and a Doxygen reference.
Build one of the example systems in egs/ (see egs/README.txt), then work through the docs, which include a techniques tutorial, a C++ coding guide and a Doxygen reference.Do I need to write C++ to use it?Not for basic use — the example systems are shell scripts driving the compiled tools. C++ matters mainly if you want to extend Kaldi itself.
Not for basic use — the example systems are shell scripts driving the compiled tools. C++ matters mainly if you want to extend Kaldi itself.What are similar projects?faster-whisper, speechbrain, vosk-api, Speech, whisperX, VibeVoice, WhisperLiveKit, qxotic
faster-whisper, speechbrain, vosk-api, Speech, whisperX, VibeVoice, WhisperLiveKit, qxoticWhich topics is it in?speech, asr, toolkit, c-plus-plus, speech-to-text, speech-recognition, wasm, audio, shell, nvidia, cuda, deep-learning
speech, asr, toolkit, c-plus-plus, speech-to-text, speech-recognition, wasm, audio, shell, nvidia, cuda, deep-learning