tigtools

Text to Speech

Paste text and listen to it with your browser's speech voices. The sentence being read is highlighted so you can follow along.

Runs in your browser No sign-up

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Voices come from your operating system and browser, so the list and the sound differ between devices; this site does not provide its own voices. The Web Speech API plays audio directly and gives web pages no access to it, so the speech cannot be downloaded as an MP3 or other audio file here.

How to use it

  1. Paste or type your text, or try the example.
  2. Pick a language and a voice from the ones your device offers.
  3. Set the speed, pitch and volume.
  4. Press Play. Use Pause, Resume and Stop to control playback while the current sentence is highlighted.

How it works

The tool uses the speech synthesis part of the Web Speech API, which is built into modern browsers. The browser passes the text to a speech engine on your device, such as the voices of Windows, macOS, iOS or Android. The available voices therefore depend on your operating system, the browser and the language packs you have installed. Chrome and Edge also offer online voices from Google or Microsoft; these are marked “online” because the browser sends the text to that company's service.

The text is split into sentences, and very long sentences into parts of about 220 characters at commas or spaces. Each part is spoken in turn, which allows the current sentence to be highlighted in every browser and avoids the cut-off that some browsers have with long passages. If the voice reports word boundaries, the current word is underlined as well; many voices, especially online ones, do not report them.

Speed ranges from 0.5× to 2×, pitch from 0 to 2 and volume from 0 to 100%. Not every voice supports every setting; some ignore pitch, for example. The time estimate assumes about 150 words per minute at normal speed.

The Web Speech API sends audio straight to your speakers and does not give the page the audio data, so this tool cannot save the speech as a file. Recording it would need separate screen or audio recording software. Up to 50,000 characters are read at a time.

Examples

Proofreading an email

Paste a draft and listen at 1.1× speed. Hearing “I will sent the file tomorrow” read aloud makes the wrong verb stand out more than reading it silently.

Practising pronunciation

Choose Spanish, pick a Spanish voice and play a short paragraph at 0.8× speed to hear the pronunciation more slowly, sentence by sentence.

Listening to a long article

Paste an article and press Play. The highlighted sentence shows where you are, and Pause lets you stop and continue from the same point.

Frequently asked questions

Can I download the audio as MP3?

No. Browsers play Web Speech API audio directly and do not let web pages capture it, so no website using this API can offer a genuine download. You would need recording software to capture your device's sound output.

Why do I see different voices on my phone and computer?

The voices are part of your operating system and browser. Each device has its own set; you can often add more in the system's speech or accessibility settings.

Is my text sent anywhere?

This site does not send it anywhere. With a local voice the text stays on your device. With a voice marked “online”, your browser sends the text to its maker's speech service (for example Google or Microsoft) to create the audio.

Why does the current word not get underlined?

Word highlighting depends on the voice reporting word boundaries. Many voices, especially online ones, only report the start and end of each sentence, so only the sentence is highlighted.

Privacy

Your text is spoken by your browser and is not sent to this site, stored or included in analytics. Voices marked “online” are provided by your browser's maker, which receives the text to synthesise it.