Free browser voices, natural AI voices
Text to Speech Reader
Rest your eyes and never lose your place. This text to speech reader speaks your article, chapter or report one sentence at a time and keeps that sentence lit and in view, so you can glance away and find your spot again in a second.
Peter Pan
J. M. Barrie
Free with your browser’s voices
Narrated by: Isolde (AI Voice)
What you hear
All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother. I suppose she must have looked rather delightful, for Mrs. Darling put her hand to her heart and cried, “Oh, why can’t you remain like this for ever!” This was all that passed between them on the subject, but henceforth Wendy knew that she must grow up. You always know after you are two. Two is the beginning of the end.
- your file is opened on your device
- 0 uploads
- PDF, EPUB, DOCX, TXT and MD
- 5 file types
- free browser voices, no sign-up
- Unlimited
- every word highlighted as it is said
- 40 AI voices
How does a text to speech reader work online?
Paste text or open a PDF, EPUB, DOCX, TXT or MD file, choose a voice and press play. The text to speech reader speaks one sentence at a time, highlights it and keeps it on screen; click any sentence to start from there. Voices built into your browser are free with no account, and AI voices read for credits with every word highlighted.
How to use the text to speech reader
Three steps in the box above, with nothing to install.
Add text or open a file
Paste anything you want to hear, drop a PDF, EPUB, DOCX, TXT or MD file onto the box, or start with Pride and Prejudice or Lu Xun’s 故乡. Your browser opens the file by itself.
Text to Speech ReaderAll children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this.
Read this textChoose a fileepubpdfdocxtxtmdChoose a browser voice or an AI voice
The voice menu has three groups: “On this device”, “Online” and “AI voices”. Browser voices cost nothing; AI voices sound like a narrator and use credits. The speed list holds only speeds the chosen voice handles.
Text to Speech ReaderOn this device
Zira · en-USUp to 3×Online
Aria · en-USUp to 2×US English · en-USUp to 1.75×AI voices · use credits
Isolde · Easy-going, AmericanUp to 3×Press play and follow the highlight
With Follow along switched on, the sentence being spoken stays highlighted and in view. Click any sentence to jump there, or step one sentence or one paragraph back and forward with the buttons.
Text to Speech ReaderPauseFollow alongAll children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother.
Sentence 2 of 7
What makes this text to speech reader stand out
It is built for long reading: it holds your place, tidies messy PDFs, and lets you choose between free voices and AI narrators in the same menu.
Browser voices
Free
- Account
- Not needed
- Daily limit
- None
- On this device
- Work offline
Listen free in all 4 major browsers
Plenty of reading sites want a sign-up before the first sentence. Here the voices built into Chrome, Edge, Safari and Firefox start at once with no account, no credits and no daily cap, and voices under “On this device” even work offline.
IsoldeEasy-going, American
40 AI voicesAll children, except one, grow up.
A text to speech reader with 40 AI narrators
Built-in voices can sound flat over a long chapter. Pick one of 40 AI voices in 9 languages, the same narrators as our audiobook maker. Every word lights up as it is spoken, at speeds from 0.5x to 3x.
Screen locked, still reading
- Play
- Pause
- Previous sentence
- Next sentence
Keep listening with the screen off, 4 controls in reach
Long chapters suit a walk or a commute. AI voices play as real audio, so the reading continues with the screen off, and play, pause, previous and next work from your lock screen and headset. The next passages load ahead, so nothing pauses between them.
On the page
Read aloud
All children, except one, grow up. They soon know that they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this. One day when she was two years old she was playing in a garden, and she plucked another flower and ran with it to her mother.
- Running header
- Page number
- Footnote
- Line-end hyphen joined
Skip 4 kinds of PDF clutter
Printed pages repeat things nobody wants read out. Running headers, page numbers and footnotes go before reading starts, words hyphenated across lines are joined, two columns are read left then right, and the page tells you how many parts it left out.
Pick up where you left off
Peter Pan · sentence 670 of 3,145, at 1.25×.
Chapter IV: The Flight
“Second to the right, and straight on till morning.” That, Peter had told Wendy, was the way to the Neverland; but even birds, carrying maps and consulting them at windy corners, could not have sighted it with these instructions.
Return to your sentence in 1 click
Closing a tab usually means starting over. This page keeps the document in your browser, and a reload offers to continue from the saved sentence with the same browser voice and speed. Chapters are listed with their minutes, so any one is a click away.
- enSaying Good-bye to Cambridge Again is a poem by Xu Zhimo.Zira · en-US
- zh轻轻的我走了，正如我轻轻的来；我轻轻的招手，作别西天的云彩。Huihui · zh-CN
Hear English and Chinese in 2 matching voices
A mixed document trips up a single voice. With browser voices, each sentence goes to a voice for its own language, so a Chinese quotation inside an English essay is spoken in Mandarin, and the 2 samples let you hear both languages before you paste anything.
Starts or pauses when the controls have focus
Buttons on phones
Paused. Press resume to carry on from where you stopped.
The status line is read out by screen readers
Control it from the keyboard, with 44 px buttons on phones
Listening by ear should not depend on a mouse. Space starts or pauses whenever the controls have focus, status changes are announced politely to screen readers, scrolling follows your reduced motion setting, and phone controls are 44 px.
Text to speech reader guide
What a text to speech reader is for
A text to speech reader turns words on a screen into speech you follow with your ears: a research paper on the bus, a long report while you cook, a novel when your eyes are tired at the end of the day. The voice matters, and so does the page around it.
A good reader starts quickly, keeps the sentence being spoken in front of you, lets you step back one sentence without hunting for it, and remembers where you stopped. This page was built around exactly those habits.
Opening PDFs, EPUBs and Word files
Paste text straight into the box, or open a PDF, EPUB, DOCX, TXT or Markdown file. Your browser reads the file and lists its chapters with an estimate of the minutes each one takes, so you see the shape of a book before you press play. A position slider shows how far along you are.
- 1Paste an article or a chapter, then press Read this text.
- 2Or press Choose a file, or drag the file onto the box.
- 3Look over the chapter list, then press play or click the sentence you want to begin with.
Peter Pan
Chapters: 17 · Sentences: 3,145
- Chapter I: Peter Breaks Through20 min
- Chapter II: The Shadow19 min
- Chapter III: Come Away, Come Away!27 min
- Chapter IV: The Flight19 min
- Chapter V: The Island Come True23 min
- 12 more chapters
How PDFs are tidied before reading
A PDF is laid out for print, so every page repeats its running header and page number, and many add footnotes. Heard straight through, those break in every few sentences. The reader takes them out first, joins words hyphenated at a line break, and reads two-column pages down the left column before the right.
The page counts the parts it left out. Press Show them to put them back into the reading without losing your place. For a scanned PDF, the page reports that it found no text layer; PDFs saved from Word, Google Docs, LaTeX or a browser carry their text and read cleanly.
Free voices and AI voices in one text to audio reader
Browser voices come with your browser and cost nothing. The voice menu splits them in two. Voices under “On this device” begin instantly and keep working offline. Online voices, such as Edge’s natural voices and Chrome’s Google voices, sound closer to a person and use a connection; the sentence being spoken goes to that browser maker’s speech service.
Word highlighting with browser voices follows the voice: Windows system voices and Edge’s natural voices light up each word, and Chrome’s Google voices highlight the sentence. Speeds work the same way, so the list only offers what your chosen voice handles well.
AI voices are the 40 narrators of the audiobook maker, listed under “AI voices” in the same menu. They highlight every word as it is spoken, keep their pitch at any speed from 0.5x to 3x, and prepare the next passages while one plays, so a long chapter runs on without a break.
Speeds each kind of voice offers
- Windows voices3×
- Edge natural voices2×
- Chrome’s Google voices1.75×
- Safari, Firefox and others2×
- AI voices3×
What AI voices cost
One credit reads about 1,000 characters, or about 500 Chinese, Japanese or Korean characters. Credits go for what is actually read and are not rounded up per passage, and hearing a passage again in the same voice is free for 30 days. Credit packs and plans are on the pricing page.
No account yet? Try an AI voice on one passage of up to 600 characters, up to three times a day, then sign in to carry on in that voice. Before an AI voice reads a document, you tick once that you wrote it, have the right to have it read aloud, or that it is in the public domain.
446 characters left for the next passage
Where your text goes
Your file stays on your device. The reader opens it in the browser and keeps the document there, which is how a reload can pick up at the saved sentence. A browser voice receives only the sentence it is speaking; with an Online voice, that sentence goes to the browser maker’s service.
An AI voice is sent each passage it reads, and its audio is kept for 30 days so replays cost nothing. The file itself is never uploaded. For a session with no network at all, pick a voice listed under “On this device”.
VoiceSent
- On this deviceNothing leaves your device0 characters
- OnlineThe sentence being spoken, to the browser maker’s service34 characters
- AI voicesThe passage being read, up to 600 characters; its audio is kept 30 days554 characters
Listening on a phone
The reader runs in phone browsers, with 44 px controls that are easy to hit with a thumb. For a long listen on the move, choose an AI voice: it plays as audio, keeps reading with the screen off, and responds to the play, pause and next buttons on your lock screen and headset.
Want files to keep? This page is for listening as you read. For an MP3 per chapter and an M4B audiobook, the audiobook maker narrates a whole book chapter by chapter.
Who listens with a text to speech reader
Five everyday ways people use it.
Students with long reading lists
Hear a paper or a textbook chapter while you take notes, then click back to the sentence you want to quote.
Writers checking a draft
A repeated word or a clumsy sentence is easier to hear than to see. Play the draft back before you send it.
Readers who prefer to listen
Follow the highlighted sentence by ear and by eye, pick a comfortable speed, and run everything from the keyboard.
Commuters and walkers
Choose an AI voice, lock your phone and keep a report or a novel going on the train, with pause on your headset.
enzhBilingual documents
Notes and articles that mix English and Chinese are read sentence by sentence; browser voices give each one a voice for its language.
Text to speech reader FAQ
Voices, prices, files and privacy.
Try the text to speech reader now
Paste a page, drop a file or play an example. Free browser voices start at once, and AI voices are one menu away.