How to use the text to speech reader
- Paste your text. Type directly into the box or paste an article, an email, your notes or a chapter draft.
- Choose a voice. The dropdown lists every speech voice installed on your device — different languages and accents included.
- Set speed and pitch. Slow it down to follow along, speed it up to skim, or nudge the pitch to find a voice that is comfortable to listen to.
- Play, pause or stop. Press Play to start, Pause to hold your place and resume later, or Stop to end it.
What can you use it for?
Listening to text instead of reading it has a surprising number of everyday uses. You can proofread your own writing by ear — hearing a sentence read back makes clumsy phrasing and missing words jump out in a way that silent reading often hides. It is a genuine help for accessibility, giving people with dyslexia, low vision or reading fatigue another way to take in a document. You can rest your eyes while still getting through a long article, turn study notes into something you can revise while doing chores, or check how a script, a speech or a product description actually sounds when spoken. Language learners use it to hear pronunciation, and busy readers use it to power through their inbox hands-free.
This tool is powered by the Web Speech API that is built into modern browsers. Because the voices come from your own operating system, the list you see is unique to your device, and you can add more by installing extra system voices — for example through your computer's accessibility or language settings. The speed slider ranges from a slow, deliberate pace up to roughly double speed, while the pitch slider lets you shift the voice higher or lower to taste.
Is it private?
Yes. Unlike many online "text to speech" services that upload what you type to a cloud server to generate the audio, this reader uses the speech engine that already lives inside your browser. The text you paste is never sent anywhere and never stored — which matters when it is a draft, a private message or anything personal. Once the page has loaded, the core reading works without any further server contact at all.
Frequently asked questions
Does it upload my text?
No — your browser generates the speech locally, so nothing you type leaves your device.
Why is the voice list different on each device?
Voices are provided by your operating system and browser, so the choices depend on what is installed on the machine you are using.
Can I save the audio as a file?
The browser speech engine plays audio live rather than producing a download, so this tool reads aloud but does not export an MP3.
It is silent — what is wrong?
Check that your device volume is up, that a voice is selected, and that you are using an up-to-date Chrome, Edge, Safari or Firefox.
Related: need to work with the words first? Try the Word Counter or the Case Converter.