Smart Formatting

smart_format boolean Default: false

Deepgram’s Smart Format feature applies additional formatting to transcripts to optimize them for human readability.

Smart Format capabilities vary between models. When Smart Format is turned on, Deepgram will always apply the best-available formatting for your chosen combination of model, model option and language.

At minimum, Smart Format applies:

• Punctuation
• Paragraphs (for whitespace delineated languages, such as English or Spanish)

Smart Format has the broadest support for English-language models. In English, Smart Format is capable of formatting things like dates, times, currency amounts, phone numbers, emails, and URLs.

On non-English models, Smart Format will apply all available formatters for that language. This will always include punctuation and paragraphs, with numerals support also available for select languages.

Enable Feature

To enable Smart Formatting, when you call Deepgram’s API, add a smart_format parameter in the query string and set it to true:

smart_format=true

To transcribe audio from a file on your computer, run the following cURL command in a terminal or your favorite API client.

$
curl \
>
  --request POST \
>
  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \
>
  --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \
>
  --data-binary @youraudio.wav \
>
  --url 'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?smart_format=true'

Results

Once applied, results will appear in the transcript.

Streaming Finalization Behavior

When using Smart Format with streaming audio, Deepgram will attempt to format entities as they are spoken. For entities that seem like they may be incomplete, our system will:

• Wait until the speaker continues to non-entity speech, OR
• Finalize the transcript after 3 seconds of silence
• Format the entity based on the available audio at that point

This approach ensures transcripts are returned promptly while maintaining formatting precision.

For more control over finalization timing:

• Send a Finalize message to end transcription earlier than the 3-second threshold
• Use the no_delay parameter (see below)

Using No Delay

To override the default waiting behavior and return results immediately, add the parameter no_delay=true to your streaming API request:

$
curl \
>
  --request POST \
>
  --header 'Authorization: Token YOUR_DEEPGRAM_API_KEY' \
>
  --header 'Content-Type: audio/wav' \
>
  --data-binary @youraudio.wav \
>
  --url 'https://api.deepgram.com/v1/listen?smart_format=true&no_delay=true'

Additional Formatters

These formatters are not included in Smart Formatting but may be enabled individually.

Measurements

Read the Measurements documentation.

Dictation

Read the Dictation documentation.