Text to speech, right in your browser
This tool reads any text aloud using the voices already installed on your device — no account, no upload, no audio service needed. It is handy for proofreading by ear (your brain catches errors it misses when reading silently), accessibility testing, language practice, or simply listening to an article hands-free while doing something else.
How the Web Speech API works
The tool uses the browser’s built-in Web Speech Synthesis API, which is available in all major modern browsers. When the page loads, it requests the list of voices from the browser — these come from your operating system’s speech engine, not from any server. On macOS you get voices like Samantha and Daniel; on Windows you get voices via Microsoft Speech Platform; on Android and iOS, the OS voices are available as well.
When you press Speak, the tool creates a SpeechSynthesisUtterance with your text and applies three parameters:
| Setting | What it controls | Natural default |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | Which installed voice to use | OS default |
| Rate | Speaking speed (0.1 = very slow, 10 = very fast) | 1 |
| Pitch | Frequency of the voice (0 = deep, 2 = high) | 1 |
Press Stop to interrupt speech at any point. If you replace the text while speech is playing, Stop first, then press Speak again.
Practical uses
Proofreading. Listening to your own writing catches awkward phrasing and missing words that reading silently often misses. Set the rate slightly slower than normal (try 0.85) and follow along while the text is read back.
Accessibility testing. Paste your page copy and listen to it as a screen reader user would encounter it. Poorly structured sentences and ambiguous abbreviations become obvious immediately.
Language learning. Paste a foreign-language passage and listen to a native-language voice read it at a reduced rate. Note: the quality depends on whether your system has a voice for that language installed.
Long documents. Paste a long article and listen while commuting or exercising. The tool works offline once the page is loaded, so connectivity is not required.
Voice availability notes
The voices you see depend entirely on your operating system and browser. Windows and macOS include several English voices by default; many systems also include voices for Spanish, French, German, Chinese, and other languages. If you see no voices, try reloading the page or switching to a Chromium-based browser or Safari, where the Speech API is most reliably supported. The Web Speech API does not expose a download option — audio plays live through your speakers and cannot be saved as a file from this tool.