Overview
Text-to-speech turns written words into spoken audio — the voice that reads your articles aloud, announces navigation, and gives screens a voice for people who cannot see them. This page uses the speech engine already built into your browser and device: no audio files are generated on a server, no text is uploaded, and it works offline once the page is loaded.
Pick a voice from the ones your system provides, tune the speed, pitch and volume, and press Speak. It is genuinely useful: proofread by ear (you will catch errors your eyes skip), rest your eyes on long articles, or give a presentation script a test run.
How does text-to-speech work?
In three stages. First the text is normalised: numbers, abbreviations and symbols are expanded into speakable words (“Dr.” becomes “doctor”, “1990” becomes “year nineteen ninety”). Then a linguistic front-end converts words into phonemes — the sound units of the language — with stress and intonation marks. Finally a synthesiser turns that phoneme sequence into an actual waveform.
Older systems stitched together recordings of a human voice (concatenative synthesis); modern ones use neural networks trained on hours of speech, which is why today's voices sound strikingly natural. Your browser exposes whichever engine your operating system ships, through the SpeechSynthesis API this page uses.
Features
- System voices listed automatically, English voices sorted first.
- Speed control from half-speed to double-speed for skimming or careful listening.
- Pitch and volume sliders for comfort and character.
- Pause, resume and stop with proper state handling.
- Plain error messages if speech fails or the browser lacks support.
- Fully local: synthesis happens on your device, not on a server.
Benefits
- Proofread by ear. Hearing your writing exposes errors reading misses.
- Rest your eyes. Long articles become listening sessions.
- Accessibility, free. The same engine screen readers build on.
- No uploads, no cost. Your text never leaves the machine.
Who can use it
Writers proofreading drafts, students revising notes aloud, language learners checking pronunciation rhythm, people with eye strain or reading difficulties, and presenters rehearsing a script's timing. Developers testing how their app sounds to assistive technology get the same engine for free.
How to use
- Paste or type your text in the box.
- Choose a voice from the dropdown (English voices are listed first).
- Adjust speed, pitch and volume to taste.
- Press Speak — Pause and Stop control playback.
- If a voice sounds wrong, try another: quality varies a lot between systems.
Frequently asked questions
Why do the voices sound different on my phone vs my laptop?
Because the voices belong to the operating system, not the page. Apple, Google, Microsoft and Linux distributions each ship different speech engines, and quality ranges from robotic to near-human. The page simply lists whatever your device provides.
Can I download the audio as an MP3?
Not from this page. Browser speech synthesis plays audio directly and does not expose a recording tap, by design. If you need audio files, dedicated TTS services (many with free tiers) generate downloadable files on their servers.
Does it work offline?
Usually yes, once the page has loaded and the voices are installed. Most desktop voices are on-device. Some mobile browsers fetch premium voices from the cloud on first use — after that they work offline too.
Which languages are supported?
Whichever your system has voices for. The dropdown shows each voice's language tag (en-US, es-ES, …). Pick a voice matching your text's language for the best pronunciation — an English voice reading French will be enthusiastic but wrong.
Is my text sent to a server?
No. The SpeechSynthesis API synthesises locally on your device. Nothing you paste is uploaded anywhere.
Conclusion
Your device already contains a voice; this page just hands it a script. Paste, pick, press Speak — and consider proofreading your next important email by ear. Your eyes will thank you.