Why did I build this?

I like listening to written content while working, but every tool I found either imposed a character limit or required an account. So I built my own. The text you paste here is not stored anywhere.

How does it work?

This tool doesn't rely on any paid API. It uses the browser's built-in Web Speech API. Whatever you type or paste is processed directly on your device. Nothing is sent to any server, and there's no character limit. If you want to use it fully offline, you can download the source code from GitHub, setup instructions are included.

If your preferred voice isn't in the list

Voices come from your operating system. If a language's voice isn't installed, it won't appear in the list. Here's how to add voices:

macOS: System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System Voice → Manage Voices.

Windows: Settings → Time & Language → Language → Add a language pack; the TTS voice comes bundled with it. You may need to restart your browser after installing.

Linux: Install espeak-ng or speech-dispatcher. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install espeak-ng

Available voices on Linux tend to sound more robotic compared to macOS or Windows.

Audio quality and downloading

Downloading audio is not available. The browser's Web Speech API doesn't expose the audio output for export. If you need a downloadable file, try TTSMaker (There is a character limit per request, 20,000 characters per week for free).

Voice quality depends entirely on your operating system. Windows uses Microsoft voices, macOS uses Apple voices, Android uses Google voices. The Edge browser generally offers the widest and highest-quality selection.

Compared to paid services like ElevenLabs, Google Cloud TTS, or Amazon Polly, these voices will sound more mechanical. No neural intonation, emphasis, or breath effects. If you need high-quality AI voices, ElevenLabs offers 10,000 characters per month on their free plan.

Why do other free TTS sites have character limits?

Most free TTS sites are actually calling a paid API behind the scenes and paying per character. The limits exist to control costs or push users toward a paid plan. Since this tool calls the browser API directly, there's no cost and no limit.

How to use TTS on your computer without any software?

Besides this tool, you can also listen to any text using your operating system's built-in features.

macOS: Select the text you want to hear, right-click → Speech → Start Speaking. To assign a keyboard shortcut, go to System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → enable "Speak selection".

Windows: Open any webpage or PDF in Edge, right-click → Read Aloud. Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + U. This feature is specific to Edge. Chrome and Firefox do not have a built-in read aloud option, but both support TTS extensions: Chrome Web Store, Firefox Add-ons. For Word documents, go to Review → Read Aloud.

Linux: Can be used via terminal with espeak-ng. Example: espeak-ng "hello world". If you prefer a GUI, Festival or Speech Dispatcher are available as alternatives.