VoiceWave is a free, open-source dictation app for Windows. Hold Ctrl+Win, talk, and the text lands in whatever app you're using, including terminals. Speech is transcribed on your PC with Parakeet (default) or Whisper models, using any GPU through Vulkan or the CPU.
Local-only transcription (no audio leaves your device)
Global hotkey push-to-talk and toggle dictation
Say "press enter" to submit after the text lands
Custom dictionary words for names and jargon
Direct insert with clipboard and history fallbacks
What's new in 0.7.5
Parakeet becomes the default speech model, with your dictionary words built in. Also dictation into terminals, "press enter" to send, Try again after a failed transcription, and an easy way to report problems. New - Parakeet, the new default speech model. NVIDIA's Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3 is about 3 to 4 times faster than Large Turbo on a graphics card, faster than Small on a processor, and returns nothing instead of made-up words when you say nothing. It understands English and 24 European languages. Existing users see a one-time card on Home to switch; your current model keeps working until Parakeet is downloaded, and Small and Large Turbo stay in Models. Parakeet is by NVIDIA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. - Your dictionary words steer Parakeet, so names like "Claude" come out right more often. - Dictation into terminals. Windows Terminal, PowerShell, Command Prompt and Git Bash get the text pasted at the prompt. Line breaks become spaces, so dictated text never runs a command on its own. - Say "press enter" to send. End a dictation with "press enter" and VoiceWave presses Enter after the text lands. Esc still cancels the Enter. - Try again after a failed transcription. The pill offers Try again, which transcribes the same recording. The audio stays in memory only, until your next dictation. - Your first word is no longer clipped. The mic stays ready for 2 minutes after a dictation, and Settings → Audio → Keep mic ready keeps it on while VoiceWave runs. - Start with Windows (Settings → General, off by default) loads the speech model at sign-in, so the first dictation after a reboot is fast. - Choose your own dictation shortcut in Settings → Dictation. - Report a problem and Copy diagnostics in Help and Settings → Diagnostics fill in a GitHub issue with app, Windows, speech engine and microphone details plus recent warnings. Never audio or anything you dictated. - Log files. A week of daily logs, including any crash. Logs never contain what you dictated. - More reliability counts in the anonymous usage count, if it's on: setup steps, failed dictation and download types, speech helper crashes, and whether speech runs on the GPU or CPU. Fixed categories only, never content. Settings → Diagnostics turns it all off. Changed - Smaller installer, and upgrades remove the old speech runtime first. - Everything is free, so the Pro screens are gone. The sign-in screen is hidden too. …
Yes. VoiceWave Local Core is free and open-source software released under the Apache-2.0 license.
What is the latest version of VoiceWave Local Core?
The latest version is 0.7.5, released on Oct 24, 2026.
Is it safe to download VoiceWave Local Core?
The download button links to the official installer published on github.com, the same file Windows Package Manager installs. You can verify the downloaded file by comparing its SHA-256 checksum with deb3398644e57061fb936372dd3edc100a5a79079f63632faf0221a47d06b2a5.
Which Windows versions does VoiceWave Local Core support?
VoiceWave Local Core runs on Windows and is available for 64-bit (x64) systems.
How do I install VoiceWave Local Core silently?
Run the offline installer with "VoiceWave.Local.Core_0.7.5_x64-setup.exe" /S, or install it with Windows Package Manager: winget install --id=VoiceWave.LocalCore -e --silent.
How do I uninstall VoiceWave Local Core?
Open Settings › Apps › Installed apps, find VoiceWave Local Core and select Uninstall. From the command line, run winget uninstall --id=VoiceWave.LocalCore -e.
