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Utilities & Converters
Text to Speech
Read text aloud with the voices already installed on your device.
What it does. Text to speech converts written text into spoken audio. This tool uses the Web Speech API to drive the voices already installed on your operating system, so there is no character limit, no credit system and no upload. Voice availability depends on your OS and browser.
Runs in your browserNothing uploadsNo signupWorks offline
How to use Text to Speech
- Paste the text you want read aloud.
- Choose a voice from those installed on your system, and set the rate and pitch.
- Press play. Use pause and resume for long passages.
Which voices are available?
Whatever your operating system provides, which varies considerably.
Windows 11 ships with several neural voices per language and lets you add more through Settings → Time & Language → Speech. The neural voices are close to indistinguishable from cloud services.
macOS and iOS include a large voice library, with the high-quality variants available as an optional download in Accessibility → Spoken Content. The default installed voice is the lower-quality one, and downloading the enhanced version is a substantial improvement most people never discover.
Android uses the Google Speech Services engine, generally with good quality across many languages.
Chrome on desktop adds its own network-backed voices on top of the system ones, marked as non-local in the voice list.
This means the same text sounds different on different devices, and a voice you select here may not exist for someone else. It is the trade for having no per-character cost.
What is this actually useful for?
- Proofreading. Hearing your own writing read back catches errors the eye skips — dropped words, repeated phrases, sentences that run too long. This is the single most valuable use and the most underrated.
- Accessibility. Reading long documents for people with dyslexia, visual impairment or reading fatigue.
- Language learning. Hearing pronunciation of written text in the target language, at a rate you can slow down.
- Multitasking. Listening to an article or a document while doing something else.
- Script timing. Checking how long a presentation or video script runs when spoken at a natural rate.
Can I save the audio as a file?
Not directly from the Web Speech API, which is a genuine limitation of the platform rather than of this tool. The API renders audio to the system output device and provides no access to the audio stream.
There is a workaround: capture the system audio with a screen recorder that includes audio, then extract the track. The Screen Recorder tool on this site can capture tab audio while the speech plays, which produces a usable file with a couple of extra steps.
If you need a downloadable audio file as a primary workflow, a cloud TTS service is the right tool — the trade is per-character billing and sending your text to a server. For proofreading, accessibility and previewing, playback without a file is usually all that is needed.
How does this compare to cloud TTS?
| Device voices (this tool) | Cloud TTS | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free, unlimited | Per character, typically $4–16 per million |
| Character limit | None | Per request and per month |
| Privacy | Text never leaves the device | Text sent to the provider |
| Voice quality | Good to excellent, OS-dependent | Consistently excellent |
| Voice consistency | Varies by user device | Identical for everyone |
| Download audio | Not supported | Yes |
| Works offline | Yes, with local voices | No |
The decision is straightforward: for reading text to yourself, device voices are better in every dimension that matters. For producing audio that will be published or distributed, cloud TTS is the right tool because you need a file and consistent output.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a character limit?
No. Long documents are queued in chunks internally to work around a Chrome limitation, but there is no cap you will reach.
Why does the voice sound robotic?
You are likely using a lower-quality default voice. On macOS and iOS, download the enhanced variant in Accessibility settings. On Windows, add neural voices in Speech settings.
Can I download the audio?
Not directly — the Web Speech API does not expose the audio stream. Use the Screen Recorder with tab audio enabled as a workaround.
Does it work offline?
Yes, with locally installed voices. Voices marked as network-based in the list require a connection.
Why are there no voices in my language?
Voices are installed per language by your operating system. Add the language pack in your system settings and the voices appear here after a browser restart.
Does it work on iPhone?
Yes, in Safari. iOS requires the first playback to be triggered by a user gesture, which the play button satisfies.
Is my text sent anywhere?
Not for local voices — synthesis happens on your device. Voices marked as non-local in the list are processed by the browser vendor, and the tool labels them so you can choose.
Guides for Text to Speech
- Focus Timers, Randomness and Recording7 min read