🔊 Free Text to Speech Reader — Nothing Uploaded
Most free text-to-speech tools worth finding stream your text to a cloud voice engine for a more natural-sounding "AI voice" — which means your text has to leave your device first. This takes the other trade-off deliberately: it uses your browser's own built-in speech synthesis (the Web Speech API), so what you paste or import from a PDF is spoken directly on your device and never sent anywhere. The voices sound more like a typical OS narrator than a premium AI voice — that's the honest cost of the privacy, not a bug.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the text I paste (or the PDF I import) sent to a server?
No — this uses your browser's own built-in speech synthesis (the Web Speech API), and PDF import runs entirely in your browser too (via pdf.js). Your text is spoken directly on your device and never leaves it, unlike TTS tools that send your text to a cloud voice service for higher-fidelity narration.
Can I import a PDF instead of pasting text?
Yes — up to 15 pages, checked before anything is processed so an oversized PDF is rejected instantly rather than after a slow extraction. 15 pages is roughly 50-60 minutes of listening at a typical reading pace, already close to how long a browser tab can realistically stay reliable for continuous playback. It works on real text in the PDF, not a scanned image of text.
Why do the voices sound more robotic than some other TTS tools?
That's the direct trade-off for privacy: the more natural-sounding "AI voice" tools are running real-time speech synthesis on a server, which means your text has to be sent there first. This stays entirely on your device using whatever voices your operating system already provides.
Can I download the audio as an MP3?
Not in this version — capturing browser speech synthesis to a downloadable file isn't reliably supported across browsers, and a real audio-export feature would need the same server-side voice engine this tool deliberately avoids for privacy. Play it directly in the tab instead.
Which voices are available?
Whatever your operating system and browser already provide — this varies by device. Windows, macOS, and mobile devices each ship a different built-in voice set.