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TabBench

Text to Speech

Read any text aloud using your device's own voices, with adjustable speed and pitch.

Runs in your browser. Nothing you add is uploaded.

What the Text to Speech does

Hearing your own writing read back is the fastest proofreading trick there is — the ear catches clumsy sentences the eye slides over. This reads any text aloud using the voices already installed on your device, which means it starts instantly, costs nothing, and sends your text nowhere.

How to convert text to speech

  1. Paste or type the text you want read aloud.
  2. Pick a voice. The list comes from your operating system, so it differs between Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS.
  3. Adjust speed and pitch if the default reading is too fast or too flat.
  4. Press Play. You can pause and resume, or stop and restart after an edit.

The Text to Speech runs entirely in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded, stored, or logged.

When to use it

Proofreading by ear

A sentence that is hard to say is usually hard to read. Listening to a draft surfaces run-ons and repeated words far more reliably than re-reading it.

Listening instead of reading

An article or a long email can be listened to while doing something else, at a speed you control.

Accessibility and language learning

Hearing correct pronunciation alongside the written word helps both people with reading difficulties and anyone learning a new language.

Good to know

  • Speed around 1.2–1.4x is comfortable for listening once you are used to it; 1.0 is better for proofreading.
  • Voices are provided by your operating system. If you only see one or two, more can be installed in your system's speech or accessibility settings.
  • Punctuation matters — commas and full stops become pauses, so badly punctuated text sounds wrong.
  • Very long text may be cut short by the browser. Read it in sections if it stops early.

Frequently asked questions

Why do I only see a few voices?

Voices come from your operating system. Install more in your system's speech or accessibility settings.

Is my text sent to a server?

No. Speech synthesis uses voices installed on your own device through the browser's built-in API, so the text is spoken locally and never transmitted. This is the opposite of the voice-to-text tool, which does rely on a cloud service.

Why do the available voices differ from someone else's?

Because they come from the operating system rather than from this site. macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS each ship a different set, and browsers expose whatever is installed. Nothing here can add voices — that is a system setting.

Can I download the audio as an MP3?

Not from this tool. The browser's speech API plays audio directly and does not expose it as a file that can be captured. Producing a downloadable audio file requires a server-side service, which would mean sending your text away.

Why does it stop partway through long text?

Some browsers impose a limit on the length of a single utterance and cut off after a few thousand characters. Splitting the text into sections and playing them in turn is the reliable workaround.

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