How to use it

Paste your text into the box. Line breaks are kept, so paragraphs stay paragraphs.
Pick a language and a voice. The list shows the voices that come with your browser and device.
Press Listen. The sentence being read is highlighted. Click any sentence to jump to it.
Use Pause to stop for a moment, or Stop and edit to change the text.

Finding your listening speed

People usually speak at around 150 words per minute, so 1x feels natural but slow once you are used to listening. A good way to speed up is in small steps: try 1.2x for a few days, then 1.4x. Most people follow everyday articles comfortably at 1.3x to 1.6x. Slow down for dense or technical text, names you don't know, or a language you are still learning.

Want to know how long a text will take before you start? Use the listening time calculator.

Why the voices are different on each device

This tool uses the speech voices that your browser and operating system already have. Windows, macOS, Android and iOS each come with their own set, and Chrome and Edge add some online voices of their own. That is why the list changes from one computer to another. If a language is missing, you can usually add a voice in your system's speech or accessibility settings.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. There is no limit on how much you can listen to and no account to create.

Is my text uploaded anywhere?

No, not to us. The page reads the text with your browser's built-in speech feature. Voices marked "online" are provided by your browser's maker, who may process the text on their servers. Choose a voice without that mark if you want everything to stay on your device.

It doesn't speak on my phone. What can I do?

Check that your phone has a text to speech engine turned on in its settings, and that the phone is not in silent mode. On Android, Chrome works best.

How long can the text be?

There is no fixed limit. Very long texts are read in short pieces, so the voice won't stop halfway through a sentence.

Read aloud online

Want this on any web page?