ELAN

Spec sheet

Purpose

ELAN is an annotation tool for audio and video recordings.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Intended users

ELAN is presented as a tool for annotating audio and video recordings, with features such as tiers, time alignment and controlled vocabularies.Read 28 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Free plan

YesRead 20 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Support

Users can search or post on the ELAN forum, contact the support desk through a form, and subscribe to release announcements by mailing list.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Headquarters

Nijmegen, NetherlandsRead 28 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Annotations

Users can add an unlimited number of textual annotations, including sentences, words, glosses, comments, translations, and descriptions.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Current release

The download page lists ELAN 7.1 and provides packages for Windows, macOS and Linux.Read 28 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Documentation

Documentation includes an online manual, a downloadable PDF manual, a short introductory guide, and a media encoding guide.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

File format

Annotation content uses Unicode text and documents are stored in XML format (EAF).Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Integrations and export

Release 7.1 added export to REFI project files (.qdpx) for qualitative data analysis software; the release notes describe it as a one-time integration with no current plans for further extension.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Intended audience

ELAN is specifically designed for analysis of languages, sign languages, and gestures, and can also be used by people working with audio or video media corpora.Read 29 Sep 2026 · mpi.nl

Media compatibility

Media support builds on native frameworks such as Windows Media Player, QuickTime, or VLC, and supported formats depend on the operating system.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Media support

Audio and video format support depends on the operating system and uses available native media frameworks, including Windows Media Player, QuickTime or VLC.Read 28 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Platforms and license

ELAN is written in Java, has distributions for Windows, macOS and Linux, and its source is available under GPL 3.Read 28 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Security and compliance

The product page states that ELAN is open source under GPL 3; it does not state a security certification or compliance standard.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Tiers and timing

Annotations can be organized into hierarchically connected tiers and time-aligned to media or linked to other annotations.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Video limit

An annotation document can link up to four video files.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Views

ELAN provides several annotation views synchronized with the media timeline.Read 29 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Views and vocabulary

The software provides multiple annotation views synchronized with the media timeline and supports controlled vocabularies.Read 28 Sep 2026 · archive.mpi.nl

Where Specifiction places it

• Transcription Software#36 of 467.4
• Video Annotation Software#27 of 347.3
• AI transcription tools#41 of 466.9