Read text aloud
Paste any English text and listen to it in a natural voice, right in your browser.
Sometimes you just want to listen instead of read: a long article at the end of the day, a report while you cook, a dense email you keep skimming past, or notes you want to absorb while your eyes rest. Built-in read-aloud options can sound flat and lose your place if you click away. This page is about the everyday version of text to speech: paste, press play, and listen, with a few habits that make it easier to follow and easier to come back to.
Open the tool → Opens the tool with the American female voice Heart selected and fills in an example article paragraph if the box is empty.- Free, no limitNo account, no character cap, no watermark.
- Nothing is uploadedYour text is turned into speech on your device and never reaches a server.
- Works offlineAfter the first use the tool keeps working with no connection.
- Audio and subtitlesDownload MP3, WAV, or an SRT file timed to the speech.
Paste, play, and listen
Copy the text from wherever it lives and paste it into the box, then press play. You do not need to download anything to listen; the audio plays in the page. Long text is split into short parts and playback starts while later parts are still being prepared, usually after about a second on a recent computer. On a slower device the tool waits until enough audio is ready so it does not stutter, and tells you how long that will be.
The very first time, there is a one-time download of the voice engine, and some computers need up to a minute of preparation on the first generation. After that, it starts almost instantly and works offline.
Clean up copied text before listening
Text copied from a web page often brings along menu items, share buttons, captions and "Read more" links. Delete those before pressing play, or you will hear them read out in the middle of the article. It takes a few seconds and makes the listening far less distracting.
Headings help the ear too. If the article has section titles, keep each on its own line; the tool pauses briefly after a line break, so you hear where a new section starts. Numbers, dates, percentages, units and titles like Dr. are read in their spoken form automatically, so you do not need to rewrite them.
Keeping your place
After generating, the parts list shows the text in short chunks. If your attention drifts, click the part you remember and playback continues from there, instead of starting the whole article over. This is also useful when you want to hear one tricky paragraph twice.
Your draft stays in this browser between visits on the same device, so you can paste a long report in the morning and pick it up again later without copying it over again.
A voice and speed you can listen to for a while
Heart is the default because it is the most natural-sounding voice, and it is a good choice for general reading. If you find a voice tiring, try Nicole, whose softer, slower style is gentler over long stretches, or switch to a British voice such as Emma or George.
Speed is the other thing worth adjusting. For relaxed listening, 1 or 0.9 works well. When you already know the topic and just want to get through it, try 1.1 or 1.25. If you want to catch errors in your own writing rather than just take in content, proofreading by listening covers that use.
Reading files, not just pasted text
If the text is in a document, you can skip copy and paste. Drag a TXT, Markdown, Word or PDF file onto the text box, or use Import text, and the text is read on your device. See PDF to speech and Word to speech for tips on each format.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to download an audio file?
No. You can just press play and listen in the page. Downloading as MP3 or WAV is optional, for when you want to listen later on another device.
Is what I paste kept private?
Yes. The text is never sent to a server; everything runs in your browser. Your draft is saved only in this browser on this device.
Does it work without an internet connection?
After the first use, yes. The voice engine is a one-time download, and once it is on your device the tool works offline.
Can it read text in other languages?
No. It reads English only, in American or British accents. Text in other languages will not be read correctly.
Can it read a web page directly from a link?
No. Copy the text from the page and paste it in, or save it as a file and import it.
It mispronounced a name. Can I fix that?
Yes. Spell the name the way it sounds, for example "Win" for "Nguyen", then generate again. Only the changed part is regenerated.