Forced Alignment quickstart | ElevenLabs Documentation

This guide will show you how to use the Forced Alignment API to align text to audio.

Using the Forced Alignment API

Create an API key

Create an API key in the dashboard here, which you’ll use to securely access the API.

Store the key as a managed secret and pass it to the SDKs either as a environment variable via an .env file, or directly in your app’s configuration depending on your preference.

.env

1 ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=<your_api_key_here>

Install the SDK

We’ll also use the dotenv library to load our API key from an environment variable.

1 pip install elevenlabs
2 pip install python-dotenv

Make the API request

Create a new file named example.py or example.mts, depending on your language of choice and add the following code:

1 # example.py
2 import os
3 from io import BytesIO
4 from elevenlabs.client import ElevenLabs
5 import requests
6 from dotenv import load_dotenv
7 
8 load_dotenv()
9 
10 client = ElevenLabs(
11     api_key=os.getenv("ELEVENLABS_API_KEY"),
12 )
13 
14 audio_url = (
15     "https://storage.googleapis.com/eleven-public-cdn/audio/marketing/nicole.mp3"
16 )
17 response = requests.get(audio_url)
18 audio_data = BytesIO(response.content)
19 
20 # Perform the text-to-speech conversion
21 transcription = client.forced_alignment.create(
22     file=audio_data,
23     text="With a soft and whispery American accent, I'm the ideal choice for creating ASMR content, meditative guides, or adding an intimate feel to your narrative projects."
24 )
25 
26 print(transcription)

Execute the code

1 python example.py

You should see the transcript of the audio file with exact timestamps printed to the console.

Next steps

Explore the API reference for more information on the Forced Alignment API and its options.