diff --git a/e2e/preview/components/test_transcriber.py b/e2e/preview/components/test_transcriber.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8f927a8172
--- /dev/null
+++ b/e2e/preview/components/test_transcriber.py
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from haystack.preview.components import WhisperTranscriber
+
+
+SAMPLES_PATH = Path(__file__).parent.parent / "test_files"
+
+
+def test_raw_transcribe_local():
+    comp = WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="tiny")
+    output = comp.transcribe(audio_files=[SAMPLES_PATH / "audio" / "this is the content of the document.wav"])
+    assert "this is the content of the document" in output[0]["text"].lower()
+
+
+def test_raw_transcribe_remote():
+    comp = WhisperTranscriber(api_key=os.environ.get("OPENAI_API_KEY"))
+    output = comp.transcribe(audio_files=[SAMPLES_PATH / "audio" / "this is the content of the document.wav"])
+    assert "this is the content of the document" in output[0]["text"].lower()
diff --git a/e2e/preview/test_files/audio/this is the content of the document.wav b/e2e/preview/test_files/audio/this is the content of the document.wav
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..37d651fa9d
Binary files /dev/null and b/e2e/preview/test_files/audio/this is the content of the document.wav differ
diff --git a/haystack/preview/components/__init__.py b/haystack/preview/components/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e34ac32bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/haystack/preview/components/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+from haystack.preview.components.audio.transcriber import WhisperTranscriber
diff --git a/haystack/preview/components/audio/__init__.py b/haystack/preview/components/audio/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e34ac32bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/haystack/preview/components/audio/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+from haystack.preview.components.audio.transcriber import WhisperTranscriber
diff --git a/haystack/preview/components/audio/transcriber.py b/haystack/preview/components/audio/transcriber.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9ab3769c1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/haystack/preview/components/audio/transcriber.py
@@ -0,0 +1,209 @@
+from typing import List, Optional, Dict, Any, Union, BinaryIO, Literal, get_args, Sequence
+
+import os
+import json
+import logging
+from pathlib import Path
+from dataclasses import dataclass
+
+import requests
+import torch
+import whisper
+from tenacity import retry, wait_exponential, retry_if_not_result
+
+from haystack.preview import component, Document
+from haystack.errors import OpenAIError, OpenAIRateLimitError
+from haystack import is_imported
+
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+OPENAI_TIMEOUT = float(os.environ.get("HAYSTACK_OPENAI_TIMEOUT_SEC", 30))
+
+
+WhisperLocalModel = Literal["tiny", "small", "medium", "large", "large-v2"]
+WhisperRemoteModel = Literal["whisper-1"]
+WhisperModel = Union[WhisperLocalModel, WhisperRemoteModel]
+
+
+@component
+class WhisperTranscriber:
+    """
+    Transcribes audio files using OpenAI's Whisper. This class supports two underlying implementations:
+
+    - API (default): Uses the OpenAI API and requires an API key. See the
+      [OpenAI blog post](https://beta.openai.com/docs/api-reference/whisper for more details.
+
+    - Local (requires installing Whisper): Uses the local installation
+      of [Whisper](https://github.com/openai/whisper).
+
+    To use Whisper locally, install it following the instructions on the Whisper
+    [GitHub repo](https://github.com/openai/whisper) and omit the `api_key` parameter.
+
+    To use the API implementation, provide an API key. You can get one by signing up for an
+    [OpenAI account](https://beta.openai.com/).
+
+    For the supported audio formats, languages, and other parameters, see the
+    [Whisper API documentation](https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/speech-to-text) and the official Whisper
+    [github repo](https://github.com/openai/whisper).
+    """
+
+    @dataclass
+    class Output:
+        documents: List[Document]
+
+    def __init__(
+        self,
+        model_name_or_path: WhisperModel = "whisper-1",
+        api_key: Optional[str] = None,
+        device: Optional[str] = None,
+    ):
+        """
+        Transcribes a list of audio files into a list of Documents.
+
+        :param api_key: OpenAI API key. If None, a local installation of Whisper is used.
+        :param model_name_or_path: Name of the model to use. If using a local installation of Whisper, set this to one
+            of the following values:
+                - `tiny`
+                - `small`
+                - `medium`
+                - `large`
+                - `large-v2`
+            If using the API, set this value to:
+                - `whisper-1` (default)
+        :param device: Device to use for inference. Only used if you're using a local installation of Whisper.
+            If None, CPU is used.
+        """
+        if model_name_or_path not in (get_args(WhisperRemoteModel) + get_args(WhisperLocalModel)):
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Model name not recognized. Choose one among: "
+                f"{', '.join(get_args(WhisperRemoteModel) + get_args(WhisperLocalModel))}."
+            )
+
+        if model_name_or_path in get_args(WhisperRemoteModel) and not api_key:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Provide a valid API key for OpenAI API. Alternatively, install OpenAI Whisper (see "
+                "[Whisper](https://github.com/openai/whisper) for more details) "
+                f"and select a model size among: {', '.join(get_args(WhisperLocalModel))}"
+            )
+
+        if model_name_or_path in get_args(WhisperLocalModel) and not is_imported("whisper"):
+            raise ValueError(
+                "To use a local Whisper model, install Haystack's audio extras as `pip install farm-haystack[audio]` "
+                "or install Whisper yourself with `pip install openai-whisper`. You will need ffmpeg on your system "
+                "in either case, see: https://github.com/openai/whisper."
+            )
+
+        if model_name_or_path in get_args(WhisperLocalModel) and api_key:
+            logger.warning(
+                "An API Key was provided, but a local model was selected. "
+                "WhisperTranscriber will try to use the local model."
+            )
+
+        self.api_key = api_key
+        self.model_name = model_name_or_path
+        self.use_local_whisper = model_name_or_path in get_args(WhisperLocalModel)
+
+        if self.use_local_whisper:
+            self.device = torch.device(device) if device else torch.device("cpu")
+
+        self._model = None
+        if not self.use_local_whisper and api_key is None:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Provide a valid API key for OpenAI API. Alternatively, install OpenAI Whisper (see "
+                "[Whisper](https://github.com/openai/whisper) for more details)."
+            )
+
+    def warm_up(self):
+        """
+        If we're using a local model, load it here.
+        """
+        if self.use_local_whisper and not self._model:
+            self._model = whisper.load_model(self.model_name, device=self.device)
+
+    def run(self, audios: List[Path], whisper_params: Dict[str, Any]) -> Output:
+        documents = self.transcribe_to_documents(audios, **whisper_params)
+        return WhisperTranscriber.Output(documents)
+
+    def transcribe_to_documents(self, audio_files: Sequence[Union[str, Path, BinaryIO]], **kwargs) -> List[Document]:
+        """
+        Transcribe the given audio files. Returns a list of Documents.
+
+        For the supported audio formats, languages, and other parameters, see the
+        [Whisper API documentation](https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/speech-to-text) and the official Whisper
+        [github repo](https://github.com/openai/whisper).
+
+        :param audio_files: a list of paths or binary streams to transcribe
+        :returns: a list of transcriptions.
+        """
+        transcriptions = self.transcribe(audio_files=audio_files, **kwargs)
+        return [
+            Document(content=transcript.pop("text"), metadata={"audio_file": audio, **transcript})
+            for audio, transcript in zip(audio_files, transcriptions)
+        ]
+
+    def transcribe(self, audio_files: Sequence[Union[str, Path, BinaryIO]], **kwargs) -> List[Dict[str, Any]]:
+        """
+        Transcribe the given audio files. Returns a list of strings.
+
+        For the supported audio formats, languages, and other parameters, see the
+        [Whisper API documentation](https://platform.openai.com/docs/guides/speech-to-text) and the official Whisper
+        [github repo](https://github.com/openai/whisper).
+
+        :param audio_files: a list of paths or binary streams to transcribe
+        :returns: a list of transcriptions.
+        """
+        transcriptions = []
+        for audio_file in audio_files:
+            if isinstance(audio_file, (str, Path)):
+                audio_file = open(audio_file, "rb")
+
+            if self.use_local_whisper:
+                transcription = self._transcribe_locally(audio_file, **kwargs)
+            else:
+                transcription = self._transcribe_with_api(audio_file, **kwargs)
+
+            transcriptions.append(transcription)
+        return transcriptions
+
+    @retry(retry=retry_if_not_result(bool), wait=wait_exponential(min=1, max=10))
+    def _transcribe_with_api(self, audio_file: BinaryIO, **kwargs) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        """
+        Calls a remote Whisper model through OpenAI Whisper API.
+        """
+        translate = kwargs.pop("translate", False)
+
+        response = requests.post(
+            url=f"https://api.openai.com/v1/audio/{'translations' if translate else 'transcriptions'}",
+            data={"model": "whisper-1", **kwargs},
+            headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {self.api_key}"},
+            files=[("file", (audio_file.name, audio_file, "application/octet-stream"))],
+            timeout=600,
+        )
+
+        if response.status_code != 200:
+            if response.status_code == 429:
+                raise OpenAIRateLimitError(f"API rate limit exceeded: {response.text}")
+            raise OpenAIError(
+                f"OpenAI returned an error.\n"
+                f"Status code: {response.status_code}\n"
+                f"Response body: {response.text}",
+                status_code=response.status_code,
+            )
+
+        return json.loads(response.content)
+
+    def _transcribe_locally(self, audio_file: BinaryIO, **kwargs) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+        """
+        Calls a local Whisper model.
+        """
+        if not self._model:
+            self.warm_up()
+        if not self._model:
+            raise ValueError("WhisperTranscriber._transcribe_locally() can't work without a local model.")
+        return_segments = kwargs.pop("return_segments", None)
+        transcription = self._model.transcribe(audio_file.name, **kwargs)
+        if not return_segments:
+            transcription.pop("segments", None)
+        return transcription
diff --git a/test/preview/components/__init__.py b/test/preview/components/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e34ac32bd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/preview/components/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+from haystack.preview.components.audio.transcriber import WhisperTranscriber
diff --git a/test/preview/components/test_component_base.py b/test/preview/components/test_component_base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d684061f4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/preview/components/test_component_base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+from canals.testing import BaseTestComponent as CanalsBaseTestComponent
+
+
+class BaseTestComponent(CanalsBaseTestComponent):
+    """
+    Base tests for Haystack components.
+    """
+
+    @pytest.fixture
+    def request_mock(self, monkeypatch):
+        request_mock = MagicMock()
+        monkeypatch.setattr("requests.request", MagicMock())
+        return request_mock
diff --git a/test/preview/components/test_transcriber_whisper.py b/test/preview/components/test_transcriber_whisper.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ecd97e84a4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/preview/components/test_transcriber_whisper.py
@@ -0,0 +1,138 @@
+import os
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+import torch
+import whisper
+from generalimport import FakeModule
+
+from haystack.preview.dataclasses import Document
+from haystack.preview.components import WhisperTranscriber
+
+from test.preview.components.test_component_base import BaseTestComponent
+
+
+SAMPLES_PATH = Path(__file__).parent.parent / "test_files"
+
+
+class TestTranscriber(BaseTestComponent):
+    """
+    Tests for WhisperTranscriber.
+    """
+
+    @pytest.fixture
+    def components(self):
+        return [WhisperTranscriber(api_key="just a test"), WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="large-v2")]
+
+    @pytest.fixture
+    def mock_models(self, monkeypatch):
+        def mock_transcribe(_, audio_file, **kwargs):
+            return {
+                "text": "test transcription",
+                "other_metadata": ["other", "meta", "data"],
+                "kwargs received": kwargs,
+            }
+
+        monkeypatch.setattr(WhisperTranscriber, "_transcribe_with_api", mock_transcribe)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(WhisperTranscriber, "_transcribe_locally", mock_transcribe)
+        monkeypatch.setattr(WhisperTranscriber, "warm_up", lambda self: None)
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_remote_unknown_model(self):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="not recognized"):
+            WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="anything")
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_default_remote_missing_key(self):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="API key"):
+            WhisperTranscriber()
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_explicit_remote_missing_key(self):
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="API key"):
+            WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="whisper-1")
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_remote(self):
+        transcriber = WhisperTranscriber(api_key="just a test")
+        assert transcriber.model_name == "whisper-1"
+        assert not transcriber.use_local_whisper
+        assert not hasattr(transcriber, "device")
+        assert hasattr(transcriber, "_model") and transcriber._model is None
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_local(self):
+        transcriber = WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="large-v2")
+        assert transcriber.model_name == "large-v2"  # Doesn't matter if it's huge, the model is not loaded in init.
+        assert transcriber.use_local_whisper
+        assert hasattr(transcriber, "device") and transcriber.device == torch.device("cpu")
+        assert hasattr(transcriber, "_model") and transcriber._model is None
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_local_with_api_key(self):
+        transcriber = WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="large-v2")
+        assert transcriber.model_name == "large-v2"  # Doesn't matter if it's huge, the model is not loaded in init.
+        assert transcriber.use_local_whisper
+        assert hasattr(transcriber, "device") and transcriber.device == torch.device("cpu")
+        assert hasattr(transcriber, "_model") and transcriber._model is None
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_missing_whisper_lib_local_model(self, monkeypatch):
+        monkeypatch.setitem(sys.modules, "whisper", FakeModule(spec=MagicMock(), message="test"))
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="audio extra"):
+            WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="large-v2")
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_init_missing_whisper_lib_remote_model(self, monkeypatch):
+        monkeypatch.setitem(sys.modules, "whisper", FakeModule(spec=MagicMock(), message="test"))
+        # Should not fail if the lib is missing and we're using API
+        WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="whisper-1", api_key="doesn't matter")
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_warmup_remote_model(self, monkeypatch):
+        load_model = MagicMock()
+        monkeypatch.setattr(whisper, "load_model", load_model)
+        component = WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="whisper-1", api_key="doesn't matter")
+        component.warm_up()
+        assert not load_model.called
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_warmup_local_model(self, monkeypatch):
+        load_model = MagicMock()
+        load_model.side_effect = ["FAKE MODEL"]
+        monkeypatch.setattr(whisper, "load_model", load_model)
+
+        component = WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="large-v2")
+        component.warm_up()
+
+        assert hasattr(component, "_model")
+        assert component._model == "FAKE MODEL"
+        load_model.assert_called_with("large-v2", device=torch.device(type="cpu"))
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_warmup_local_model_doesnt_reload(self, monkeypatch):
+        load_model = MagicMock()
+        monkeypatch.setattr(whisper, "load_model", load_model)
+        component = WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="large-v2")
+        component.warm_up()
+        component.warm_up()
+        load_model.assert_called_once()
+
+    @pytest.mark.unit
+    def test_transcribe_to_documents(self, mock_models):
+        comp = WhisperTranscriber(model_name_or_path="large-v2")
+        output = comp.transcribe_to_documents(
+            audio_files=[SAMPLES_PATH / "audio" / "this is the content of the document.wav"]
+        )
+        assert output == [
+            Document(
+                content="test transcription",
+                metadata={
+                    "audio_file": SAMPLES_PATH / "audio" / "this is the content of the document.wav",
+                    "other_metadata": ["other", "meta", "data"],
+                    "kwargs received": {},
+                },
+            )
+        ]
diff --git a/test/preview/test_files/audio/this is the content of the document.wav b/test/preview/test_files/audio/this is the content of the document.wav
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..37d651fa9d
Binary files /dev/null and b/test/preview/test_files/audio/this is the content of the document.wav differ