What does the prosody tag control?

The SSML tag controls three aspects of synthesized speech — pitch (how high or low), rate (how fast), and volume (how loud). Wrapping text in a prosody tag with these attributes lets you shape delivery without changing the words.

Should I use presets or relative values?

Presets (x-low to x-high, x-slow to x-fast) are simple and portable. Relative values — semitones for pitch, percent for rate, dB for volume — give finer control and are well supported across AWS Polly and Azure Speech. Use relative values when a preset is too coarse.

Is the output compatible with both AWS Polly and Azure?

Yes. The builder emits standard SSML using widely supported prosody attributes (relative semitone pitch, percent rate, relative dB volume, and named presets), which both AWS Polly and Azure Speech accept. Some engines support extra attributes not generated here.

Why is my text being escaped?

SSML is XML, so characters like &, must be escaped or they break the markup. The builder escapes your text automatically so the output is always valid XML you can paste directly.

SSML Prosody Builder

Building SSML prosody tags

Text-to-speech engines read plain text in a flat, neutral voice by default. SSML prosody tags let you shape the delivery — raising pitch for a question, slowing the rate for emphasis, or lowering volume for an aside — without changing a single word. This builder assembles a valid <prosody> tag from your inputs and escapes the text so the markup never breaks.

How it works

You enter a text segment and set three controls: pitch, rate, and volume. Each offers a preset mode (named values like high or x-slow) and a relative mode — semitones for pitch (+2st), percent for rate (120%), and dB for volume (+6dB). The tool wraps your escaped text in a <speak><prosody> block with only the attributes you set, producing clean SSML compatible with AWS Polly and Azure Speech.

Tips and notes

Relative semitones are the most musical pitch control. +2st shifts pitch predictably; the named presets are coarser steps.
Percent rate beats presets for fine pacing. 90% is a subtle slowdown that slow would overshoot.
Keep segments short. Apply prosody to the specific phrase that needs it rather than a whole paragraph, so the rest reads naturally.
Test in your engine. Most prosody attributes are portable, but always preview in the actual TTS voice — engines interpret extremes differently.