Browser voices play aloud only. They can’t be saved as an audio file.
Reads Japanese text aloud with the Japanese voices installed on your device, starting from a short Japanese sample. Japanese voices have to guess the reading of each kanji, so names and words with several readings can come out wrong; writing them in kana fixes that.
How to use
- Type or paste your text.
- Pick the language and a voice. The list shows the voices installed on your device and browser.
- Set speed, pitch and volume, then press Play. The sentence being read is shaded and the current word is highlighted.
- Pause and resume at any time. Tap the text to stop and edit it.
- The voices come from your system and browser. Chrome and Edge add extra online voices; macOS, iOS, Windows and Android let you install more in their speech settings.
- Audio can’t be downloaded: browsers play these voices directly and don’t give websites access to the sound.
- Long texts are read sentence by sentence, so even very long articles play to the end.
- Your text stays in your browser. Some online voices (marked “online”) are provided by your browser’s maker.
Where the voices come from
Browsers expose the speech voices of your operating system through the Web Speech API. Windows, macOS, iOS and Android each include voices for many languages, and you can install more in the system’s speech or accessibility settings. Chrome and Edge add online voices that sound more natural; they are marked as online and are processed by the browser maker. The list therefore differs from device to device: a voice you hear on your laptop may not exist on your phone.
Speed runs from 0.5× to 2×. Around 1.2× to 1.5× suits proofreading and listening to long articles, while 0.7× to 0.9× helps when learning a language.
What it is good for
Listening to an article while you cook or commute, proofreading your own writing by ear (mistakes you overlook on screen often stand out when heard), practising pronunciation in a foreign language, and making text easier to take in for people with dyslexia or low vision. Long texts are read sentence by sentence, so even a long chapter plays to the end.
Frequently asked questions
Can I download the audio as MP3?
No. Browsers play these system voices directly and do not give websites access to the sound, so the audio cannot be saved from a web page.
Why can’t I find a voice for my language?
Your device has no voice installed for it. Add one in the system speech settings (Windows: Time & language > Speech; macOS and iOS: Accessibility > Spoken Content; Android: Text-to-speech output), then reload the page.
Is text to speech free?
Yes. It uses voices already on your device or in your browser, with no account and no character limit.
Does the text get uploaded?
Your text stays in the browser when you use system voices. Voices marked online are generated by your browser maker’s service, so the text is sent there.
Why does the voice mispronounce some words?
Speech engines guess pronunciation from spelling, which fails for some names, abbreviations and words with more than one reading. Writing a word phonetically or spelling out an abbreviation usually helps.