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Text to Speech – Have Any Text Read Aloud

Paste an article, an email or your own writing and listen to it. The voices come from your device's own speech engine, so your text is never sent to a server.

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Which voices and languages you can choose depends on your device and operating system. If a language such as Urdu is missing, add a voice for it in your system's speech or language settings.

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Listening only: the voice is produced by your device's speech engine, and browsers don't let websites record it, so there is no audio file to download.

How to use text to speech

  1. Type or paste your text into the box. The character count updates as you type.
  2. Choose a voice. Voices are grouped by language, with your page language first. A voice in your language is selected for you if your device has one.
  3. Set the speed and pitch with the sliders, or leave them at normal.
  4. Press Read aloud. The sentence being read is highlighted, along with the current word when the voice supports it. Use Pause, Resume and Stop at any time.

Features

  • Every voice on your device, grouped by language, including online voices your browser provides, which are labelled as such.
  • Speed from 0.5× to 2× and adjustable pitch, applied immediately while reading.
  • Sentence and word highlighting, with the reading view scrolling to keep the current sentence in sight.
  • Reliable with long text: the text is read sentence by sentence, so long articles don't cut off partway.
  • Works with right-to-left and non-Latin text such as Urdu, Arabic and Hindi, as long as your device has a voice for the language.
  • Pause that keeps your place, even on phones where the browser's own pause is unreliable.

Why use Fileora's text to speech

Listening instead of reading helps when your eyes are tired, when you want to proof-read your own writing, when you are learning how words in another language sound, or when reading is simply harder for you. Many online readers send your text to a server and ask you to sign up before you can listen to more than a few lines. Fileora uses the speech engine that is already built into your browser and operating system, so there is nothing to install, no account and no character limit.

We are also upfront about what the tool can't do. It reads text aloud, but it can't produce an audio file to download, because browsers don't let web pages capture the sound of the system voice. Which voices you get depends on your device: a recent Windows PC, Mac, iPhone or Android phone usually has several English voices and a range of other languages, while some Linux setups have none at all. In that case the tool tells you, instead of silently doing nothing.

Tips for natural-sounding speech

Voices sound most natural at normal speed with ordinary punctuation. Full stops, question marks and commas give the voice its pauses, so text copied from a PDF with line breaks in the middle of sentences can sound choppy. Removing those breaks first helps. For proof-reading, a speed around 0.9× makes slips easier to hear, while 1.3× to 1.5× suits listening to a long article you have already skimmed.

If you have text in a scanned document or a photo, extract it first with image to text or pull the text out of a PDF with PDF to text, then paste it here. To hear yourself instead of a synthetic voice, the voice recorder records your microphone just as privately.

Frequently asked questions

Can I download the speech as an MP3?

No, and we'd rather be clear about it. The voice is produced by your device's built-in speech engine, and browsers don't allow websites to record that sound. Creating a downloadable file would mean sending your text to a server, which this tool deliberately doesn't do. You can listen as often as you like, but there is no audio file to save.

Why don't I see a voice for my language, such as Urdu?

The voice list comes from your device and browser, not from us. Windows, macOS, Android and iOS each include different voices, and some browsers add online voices of their own. If a language is missing, add a text-to-speech voice for it in your system's speech or language settings, then reload the page. Chrome and Edge often offer the widest choice.

Is my text sent anywhere?

With voices installed on your device, no: the text is read by your operating system's speech engine without leaving your computer or phone. Voices marked online in the list belong to your browser maker, and your browser may send the text to their service to generate the sound. Choose a voice without the online label if that matters to you.

How do I change the reading speed?

Use the Speed slider, from half speed to double speed. Pitch makes the voice sound higher or lower. If you change either while the text is being read, the current sentence starts again with the new setting, and Reset speed and pitch returns both to normal.

Why does the highlighted word sometimes not move?

The current sentence is always highlighted. Word-by-word highlighting depends on the voice reporting its position as it speaks. Most voices installed on the device do, but some online voices only report the start and end of each sentence, so only the sentence is marked.

Is there a limit on how much text I can read?

There is no fixed limit. The text is split into sentences and read one after another, which also avoids the problem in some browsers where long passages stop after about fifteen seconds. Very long sentences are split again at commas or spaces.

Why do pause and resume start the sentence again?

Built-in pausing is unreliable in several browsers: some drop paused speech after a few seconds, and on Android pause often behaves like stop. Instead, Pause stops the voice and remembers where you were, and Resume reads that sentence again from its beginning, so you never lose your place.

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