Transform any document into a professional AI-hosted conversation in under 10 minutes. No microphone, no editing software, no technical knowledge required.
Audio Overview is NotebookLM's podcast generation feature. It creates a 5–15 minute AI conversation between two hosts who discuss your source material in a natural, accessible style. You can download the audio file and share it anywhere.
1. Create a notebook and add your sources. Upload the documents you want to turn into audio. One focused document or a few related sources works best. Very large source sets tend to produce more general conversations.
2. Click "Notebook Guide" (the magic wand icon above your sources list).
3. Click "Generate Audio Overview." NotebookLM will process your sources — this usually takes 1–3 minutes depending on source length.
4. Listen and review. The player appears in the Notebook Guide panel. Use the playback controls to listen. If the result isn't what you wanted, you can customize it (see below) and regenerate.
5. Download the audio. Click the download icon to save the MP3 file. You can share it, post it, or import it into any podcast host.
Typically 5–15 minutes. More sources tend to produce longer audio. A single 10-page document usually produces 6–8 minutes of conversation. You can't set a target length directly, but source volume is the main lever.
Before generating, you can provide a customization prompt in the "Customize" field in the Audio Overview section. This is the most powerful way to control the output. See our Audio Customization guide for specific prompt templates.
Free users can generate a limited number of Audio Overviews per day (typically 3 per notebook). If you hit the limit, the feature will be available again the next day.
During playback, you can click the microphone icon to enter Interactive Mode — you can interrupt the hosts and ask questions, which they'll incorporate into the conversation in real time. This is useful for steering the discussion toward specific aspects of your sources.