Turn a 90-Minute Lecture into a 5-Minute Read
Drop in a lecture PDF, an audio recording, or a YouTube video and our AI lecture summarizer pulls out the TL;DR, the key concepts, and the action items — then turns them into flashcards, a quiz, and a podcast.
Free to start · No credit card · PDFs, audio, video, slides
How to summarize a lecture in minutes
Three steps from a 90-minute class to a summary you can actually read on the bus.
Upload or paste
Drop in a lecture PDF, an audio recording, a YouTube link, or your own lecture-recorder file. Scholarly handles every common format.
AI structures the summary
Within minutes you get a TL;DR, a key-concept table, the worked examples your professor used, and the action items they assigned.
Loop into active recall
Convert the summary into flashcards, a quiz, or a practice exam with one click — and revise instead of just re-reading.
A summary that's actually useful
Most AI summarizers spit out a wall of bullet points. Scholarly produces a structured study artifact you can revise from.
Structured, not a blob
Every summary is split into TL;DR, key concepts, worked examples, and action items — a navigable artifact, not a wall of text.
PDFs, audio, video, slides
Lecture PDFs, MP3/M4A recordings, YouTube videos, and slide decks all work. Mix and match across a single class.
Concept tables, not bullet lists
Comparison tables for paired concepts (SN1 vs SN2, mitosis vs meiosis), so the structure of the lecture stays intact.
Live audio + Lecture Recorder
Pair with Scholarly's lecture recorder app to capture live class audio and get a summary the moment the lecture ends.
YouTube and online lectures
Paste a YouTube URL for a free recorded lecture and get the same structured summary you'd get from a PDF.
Drives the rest of your study
Same lecture becomes spaced-repetition flashcards, a practice exam, and a two-host podcast — one upload, full review loop.
Why summarize your lectures with AI?
A 90-minute lecture is built for delivery, not for review. Re-watching it to find the one concept you're stuck on is a brutal use of time. A good lecture summary is the bridge — it gives you a navigable map of the class so you can jump straight to the section you actually need to re-read, instead of scrubbing a recording or flipping through 60 pages of slides.
The trick is that summarizing well is hard. A list of bullet points loses the argument. A pure transcript wastes your time. Scholarly's AI lecture summarizer organizes the class the way a strong note-taker would: a one-paragraph TL;DR, a table of key concepts with definitions, the worked examples the professor used, and a list of action items the lecture explicitly assigned.
Because Scholarly understands lectures across formats — a PDF deck, an audio file from your phone, a YouTube link, or live audio captured by the lecture recorder — you can summarize anything you sat through. And because every summary lives next to your flashcards, study notes, and practice exams, you don't stop at "read the summary." You drill on it.
This is the part most summarizers miss: a summary is only useful if it loops back into active recall. Scholarly turns the same lecture into spaced-repetition flashcards and a practice test — so reading the summary is the start of revision, not the end of it.
Sample summary output
Organic Chemistry · Lecture 8A real summary structure from a 75-minute orgo lecture on SN1 vs SN2 reactions.
TL;DR
SN1 and SN2 are two nucleophilic substitution mechanisms. SN2 is concerted, one-step, second-order, and favored by strong nucleophiles and unhindered substrates. SN1 is stepwise via a carbocation, first-order, and favored by polar protic solvents and stable carbocations (tertiary > secondary > primary).
Key Concepts
| Concept | SN1 | SN2 |
|---|---|---|
| Rate law | First-order | Second-order |
| Substrate | Tertiary > 2° > 1° | Methyl > 1° > 2° |
| Stereochemistry | Racemization | Inversion (Walden) |
| Solvent | Polar protic | Polar aprotic |
Action Items
- Memorize the SN1/SN2 decision tree (slide 14)
- Practice problems 4.7-4.12 from the textbook before next lecture
- Review Walden inversion mechanism — appears on Friday's quiz
Scholarly vs. Mindgrasp for lecture summaries
Mindgrasp built its reputation on lecture summarization and does it well. Here's an honest comparison.
Mindgrasp
Where it shines: a polished, fast summarizer with a long track record in the student space and strong integrations with Google Drive and YouTube.
Good at producing clean summary text from PDFs, audio, and video — a solid choice if a summary is all you need.
The follow-through is thinner: limited flashcard support, no full practice-exam generator, no two-host podcast format from the same source.
Pricing model is subscription-only after a short trial — no permanent free tier with daily limits.
Scholarly
Where it shines: the summary is the start of a full review loop — flashcards, quiz, podcast, and chat tutor all share the same source.
Structured output by default: TL;DR, key-concept table, worked examples, action items — not just a paragraph blob.
Same upload becomes a spaced-repetition deck and a graded practice exam — active recall, not just reading.
Permanent free tier with daily limits; Premium unlocks longer sources and more generations.
Lecture summarizer — frequently asked questions
How does the AI lecture summarizer work?
Upload a lecture PDF, an audio recording, a YouTube link, or a slide deck. Scholarly processes the source, extracts the structure of the lecture, and returns a summary with a TL;DR, a key-concept table, worked examples, and action items — usually within a couple of minutes.
Can I summarize a lecture PDF for free?
Yes. You can summarize lecture PDFs free with a Scholarly account — no credit card required to start. Free accounts get daily summary credits; Premium plans unlock longer sources and more generations.
What inputs does it accept?
Lecture PDFs (including slide decks exported as PDF), MP3 and M4A audio recordings, YouTube video links, MP4 video files, and live audio captured by Scholarly's lecture recorder. You can mix multiple sources into one summary — e.g., the slides plus your recorded audio.
How is this different from Mindgrasp?
Mindgrasp is a solid summarizer. The main difference is follow-through: Scholarly turns the same lecture into spaced-repetition flashcards, a full practice exam, and a two-host study podcast — all from the same upload. If you want a summary that loops back into active recall, that's where Scholarly's design diverges.
How accurate is the summary?
Summaries are anchored to your uploaded source — Scholarly extracts what's actually in the lecture rather than improvising. As with any AI tool, review the output against the original. Most students treat the summary as a navigable map of the class and re-read the source when a section matters.
Can I export the summary?
Yes. Summaries can be exported as PDF or copied as Markdown, and the key-concept table can be exported as a CSV if you want to drop it into Anki or another study tool.
Does it work for non-English lectures?
Yes. The summarizer handles audio and PDFs in dozens of languages, and you can choose the output language separately from the input — so a Spanish lecture can return an English summary, or vice versa.
Can I summarize a YouTube lecture?
Yes. Paste a YouTube URL and Scholarly will pull the transcript and generate a structured summary. This works for educational channels, open-courseware lectures, and conference talks.
Keep exploring
More ways to study with Scholarly
Pair your lecture summary with the rest of the Scholarly platform.
AI Lecture Recorder
Record live class audio and get a summary the moment it ends.
AI Practice Exam Generator
Turn a summarized lecture into a graded mock exam.
PDF Summarizer
Chat with a PDF and get the parts that matter.
AI Study Notes Generator
Organized notes from PDFs, slides, and lectures.
AI Podcast from PDF
Turn dense reading into a two-host study podcast.
All AI Study Tools
Every Scholarly study tool in one place.
Summarize your next lecture
Upload a lecture, get a structured summary, and turn it into a full review loop. Free to start.
Free
- 3 AI Chat messages per day
- 3 AI creations per day
- 1 file upload per day (8MB)
- 1 research report per day
- 5 quiz questions per day
- 1 exam attempt per day
- 15 voice minutes per day
- 8-page PDF to flashcards
- 500 autocomplete words per day
Use it to generate flashcards, improve a deck, make a podcast, create a video lecture, build slides, or process a recording.
Ultimate
$144 billed yearly
Everything in Free, plus:
- Unlimited AI Chat messages & autocomplete
- Unlimited AI creations
- Unlimited file uploads (up to 300MB)
- Unlimited study sessions
- Unlimited exams & quizzes
- 1,000-page PDF to flashcards
- Export to Anki
- Priority support
Pricing in USD. Local currency available in app.
Compare plans
Feature
Free
Ultimate
AI Chat
3 messages/day
Unlimited
AI Creations
3/day total
Unlimited
Deep Research
1 report/day
Unlimited
Creation Tools
Flashcards, deck edits, podcasts, videos, slides, recordings
All unlimited
File Uploads
1/day (8MB)
Unlimited (300MB)
PDF to Flashcards
8 pages
1,000 pages
Practice Questions
5/day
Unlimited
Practice Exams
1/day
Unlimited
Voice Mode
15 min/day
60 min/day
Autocomplete
500 words/day
Unlimited
Export to Anki
—
Included
Support
Standard
Priority
What students say
Scholarly has been a valuable tool for my studies. The AI-generated flashcards and intuitive features make organizing and retaining information much easier.
Briana
Student
This app is great for studying for big test. Drop your PDF's in the system and it'll do the trick. You can organize it specifically for your needs.
Kelvin
Student
I am currently preparing for a test that covers a substantial amount of material, and I've found that not having to physically write out my flashcards has been incredibly beneficia...
Isabelle
Student
Scholarly is great for students. I am enrolled in online university and my classes are all PDF based. All I do is upload the PDF and it creates flashcards decks for me. The greate...
Alexandra
Student
Your questions, answered
Is Scholarly free to use?
Yes! The free plan includes core study tools with daily limits: AI Chat messages, 3 AI creations per day, research reports, file uploads, quizzes, practice exams, and manual flashcard creation. Upgrade to Ultimate when you want unlimited AI creations and higher limits.
What uses my daily AI creation?
Generating flashcards, improving a flashcard deck, making a podcast, creating a video lecture, building slides, or processing a recording each use the same daily free AI creation allowance. AI Chat messages, uploads, quizzes, and exams have their own separate daily limits.
Can I cancel anytime?
Absolutely. There are no contracts or commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time from your account settings, and you'll keep access until the end of your billing period.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept all major credit and debit cards through Stripe. Pricing is displayed in USD by default, but local currency is available in the app.
Do you offer discounts for educators?
Yes, we offer special pricing for educators and educational institutions. Contact us at [email protected] for details.
What happens when I hit a free plan limit?
You'll see a prompt to upgrade. Your existing work is never lost — limits only apply to new daily actions like AI Chat messages, uploads, quiz questions, and new AI creations. Limits reset every day.
For Educators or Schools
Contact us for special pricing at [email protected].