type to speech free app

FREE TEXT TO SPEECH AI ONLINE

Unlock unlimited file uploads, speeds up to 4.5x, 200+ voices, 50+ languages, AI summarization, voice cloning, our Chrome Extension/iOS/Android/Mac apps, and more. Try for free!

200+ lifelike voices.

Enjoy over 200 natural, lifelike text to speech AI voices across 60+ languages — TTS is great for Google Docs, news articles, emails, books, fan fiction, PDFs, any website, and more

LISTEN ANYWHERE

Chrome extension.

The fastest way to read any PDF, book, or doc and make it stick. Integrates with Google Drive, Dropbox, Canvas & more.

Let Speechify read to you while you commute, exercise, and run errands. Breeze through PDFs, books, articles, emails — anything.

Let Speechify read to you while you walk to work, go for a run, or do laundry. Get through PDFs, books, articles, docs & emails twice as fast.

Read up to 4.5x faster by listening with Speechify. Listen to Google Docs, emails, articles & more seamlessly on Chrome.

Use Speechify from your Dock to read PDFs, Word docs, emails & more. Listen and read at the same time to read faster and retain more.

Clone Your Voice

Create a custom voice of yourself or your loved ones and enjoy having them read anything to you

Read 4.5x Faster

Our users save up to 9hrs a week by using Speechify to speed read

Instant AI Summaries

We summarize every reading so you get the takeaways right away

Scan & Listen

Use the app to snap a pic of any page and have Speechify read to you

INTRODUCING OUR TEXT TO SPEECH API

We're sharing an API that delivers Speechify's most natural and beloved AI voices directly with developers

OUR LISTENERS LOVE US

Over 250k people have given speechify 5 stars.

Speechify is absolutely brilliant. Growing up with dyslexia this would have made a big difference. I’m so glad to have it today.

This is the only review I’ve ever written. I downloaded this app to help me read books about the stock market and finance while I do my day job. It brough me to the brink of tears at my desk. Love the app.

I absolutely love that this app has been invented. I read a ton of pdf documents as a lawyer and researcher and I will now be able to get through them faster and with much better comprehension than before!

I was skeptical at first, however with my serious issue to be unable to focus reading extensive documentation for work, this program made it a breeze. Well worth the premium dollars! Love it.

Speechify makes it easy to learn at 2x or even 3x the speed you read with your eyes.

I used to hate school because I'd spend hours just trying to read the assignments. Listening has been totally life changing. This app saved my education.

This made my job 10x easier. I read scripts, conversations, and other text files all day, and this made it a lot easier to retain and wayyyyy faster. Thanks y’all!

I have always been a slow reader. As a professional, I have a lot of material to read through between industry emails, new rules and regulations, and continuing education. Speechify helps me power through it.

If there’s one hill I’m going to die on, it’s that speed listening is the best way forward. Speechify is a game-changer for me.

Mighty be one of the GOAT apps This is probably top 5 of greatest apps ever, you can literally read alone an entire book in a day. Easily worth the cost of the app.

Excellent for comprehending medical textbooks more quickly and thoroughly!! This is awesome for keeping up with latest surgical techniques and technology.

best app evaaa I use it because my head be scrambling up words, so I scan pages off books and work, and boom!!!! It works so well I love it. ♥️ ♥️ ♥️

Amazing I have ADHD and I love to read but have piles of book that I have never touched. I downloaded this app and it has helped me read more and obtain information better for school! Love this app, I recommend it to everyone!

I am a resident and this app saves me a ton of time. I listen to PDF’s while walking to clinic, running, making coffee in the morning.

Miracle reader. Been looking for a program like this to proof read my work. Allows me to develop a personalized style of reading. Love it!

Amazing!!! A dream come true! This is simply the best tool as an data specialist and having to do reports my time is limited and this tool is a must have for companies or any individual who is trying to better their reading abilities and increase productivity .

Text to speech, sometimes called TTS , read aloud , or speech synthesis , is the term for using AI voices to turn any input text into speech. The input text can be from a PDF , email , Google doc , epub , website – anything. Speechify has built the most used text to speech applications in the world.

An AI voice refers to the synthesized or generated speech produced by artificial intelligence systems, enabling machines to communicate with human-like speech. Speechify has a large speech research team of PhDs who focus on providing the most cutting edge speech models to Speechify users through our applications.

Speechify has applications that are available on iOS, Android, Chrome, Mac, and Microsoft Edge. All of these applications are available through a single Speechify account. You can start reading an article on your computer using the Speechify Chrome Extension, bookmark it, and find it instantly available for you to listen on your iPhone or Android. Speechify is the most used tool in the world for text to speech listening. It enables millions of people create audiobooks out of anything the need to read.

Everyone. Students use text to speech to get through all of their school reading faster, whether its PDFs , Google Docs , or textbooks . Speechify also helps them to retain more of what they read so they do better on exams. Professionals use text to speech to get through reading for work. They save time by reading during commutes, errands, or working out. Leisure readers use Speechify for their favorite books and fan fiction. People with dyslexia and ADHD use Speechify to overcome any learning differences . Senior with low vision use Speechify to avoid straining their eyes.

Yes. Speechify has the most natural, human-sounding voices available on the market, and they’re getting better each month. Speechify’s text to speech has improved dramatically in the last two years alone with novel advancements from our research team. The voices are now indistinguishable from human voices. Speechify’s voices are also available in several different languages including Spanish text to speech , Portuguese text to speech , German text to speech , French text to speech , and over 50 others.

Voice cloning allows you to upload or record a few seconds of any speaker, with the speaker’s permission, and generate a clone of the voice. This allows you to listen to any email, PDF, or website in the new cloned voice . Speechify users love use voice cloning to listen to books in the voice of a parent, child, or partner. Voice cloning also allows you to clone your own voice, or a hired actor’s voice, so that you or your team can use it through our API or Studio products. Speechify has an AI dubbing product within Studio that allows anyone to clone a voice from a video or voiceover and then have that voice speak a new language.

Yes, we will be making our speech API available to developers later this year with extensive documentation and cookbooks to get started. This is the same API that currently powers all of our products, providing the highest quality AI speech on the market to tens of millions of users. You can sign up for our API waitlist .

Yes! If you would like to purchase text to speech plans in bulk, please contact our sales team for schools or teams . We work with large school districts and governments around the world to provide students with access to Speechify at scale. Speechify helps make education more accessible and improves student outcomes. We also work with companies to provide bulk access to our text to speech reading tools and our voice over studio platform focused on e-learning , voiceover creation, and dubbing .

Text to Speech

Generate speech from text. choose a voice to read your text aloud. you can use it to narrate your videos, create voice-overs, convert your documents into audio, and more..

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Text Reader - Text to speech generator with realistic AI voices

Generate lifelike audio in seconds, ideal for podcasts, video voice-overs, personal greetings, ivr phone systems and more., turn written text into compelling, lifelike speech in seconds. .

Automate time consuming voice recording tasks with Text Reader

Ai text to speech for personal use.

Convert Blogs, Articles, or Any Written Content into Audio

Create personal audio greetings in seconds .

AI Voice Generator For Commercial Use

Engaging prospective clients.

Augment Customer Service

Educational content: making learning accessible  .

Multilingual natural voices for a global audience

Text reader pricing plans, text to speech faq, text-to-speech (tts) technology is revolutionizing the way we consume written content by providing efficient tools to convert text into spoken words with ease. .

Many people have questions about how text-to-speech works, the advantages AI voices have over traditional voiceovers, and the potential uses for TTS in various projects. Below, we explore some of the most frequently asked questions to provide you with clear insights into the groundbreaking world of Text Reader.

Converting text to voice with Text Reader is a user-friendly process that requires minimal effort. Here are the simple steps to follow:

Paste or type the text you wish to convert into the designated text box.

Select the desired language and voice from the available options that align with your project needs.

Click the “Go” button to initiate the process.

The text will be processed, and in moments, you'll hear the natural-sounding speech output. If satisfied, you can download the audio file for your use.

With these straightforward steps, you can transform articles, books, and scripts into high-quality audio content with just one click.

Text Reader stands out for several reasons:

Advanced AI Algorithms: Text Reader employs sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms and linguistic rules that meticulously analyze text for a precise understanding, ensuring high accuracy in voice output powered by Google AI.

Natural-Sounding Speech: The technology simulates realistic human speech patterns, capturing nuances such as tone, emphasis, and rhythm, making the listener experience more engaging.

Multilingual Capabilities: It offers an extensive range of languages and accents to cater to a varied and international audience.

Continuous Improvement: As AI and machine learning evolve, so too does Text Reader's capacity to deliver even more refined and life-like voices.

Opting for AI voiceovers instead of human narration comes with several compelling advantages:

Cost-Effective: Reduces production expenses significantly by eliminating the need for professional voice artists.

Time Efficient: With the ability to convert text rapidly, turnaround times are quicker than coordinating recording sessions with humans.

Versatility and Convenience: Provides the ability to easily modify or update voiceovers without the need to rehire talent.

Consistency: Offers uniform vocal quality that doesn't vary with each reading, ensuring a consistent brand image or user experience.

Absolutely! Text Reader is an excellent tool for creating engaging voice content for a variety of commercial projects. Here's a list of examples where AI voices can be used:

Voiceovers for videos and animations

Audiobook production

Podcast narratives

Gaming character voices

Educational tutorials and courses

Marketing and promotional materials

Our online text to speech converter takes seconds to generate human-like speech in your desired language. Once the audio file is ready, it is available to download in MP3 with a single click.

Turn any text into audio instantly

Listening was Born Before Reading

Listening predates reading in human communication history and remains a natural and intuitive way to absorb information.

Natural-Sounding Voices

The AI Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology powers our free reader with high-quality voices so you can enjoy the timeless advantages of listening.

Do More with Your Time

With our app, you can get through documents, articles, PDFs, and emails effortlessly, freeing your hands and eyes.

Listen to Anything, Anywhere

You can listen to any text on desktop or mobile devices. Use our app now and unlock the potential of listening as the ultimate reading companion.

Select your Speechise Plan

Start free, upgrade when you need

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Frequently Asked Questions

If you don't find your answer here, please   contact us .

How does Speechise work?

You just open speechise.com in a browser, paste your text and click Play. The system converts the text to audio and the sound starts almost immediately. The chunk of text that is currently playing is highlighted in your browser. You can pause or continue listening.

Is Speechise Free?

Yes, you can use Speechise for free with the limit of 1000 characters per single request.

All our subscription options are listed on the pricing page   for your convenience. You can upgrade to a paid version if you like Speechise and want to use it fully. Your feedback is appreciated in any case.

What Languages are Supported?

You can use 50+ languages and variants in 380+ voices.

Some of the supported languages are English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Turkish, Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Bulgarian, Czech, Hungarian, Finnish, Greek, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, Korean, Hindi, Japanese, Chinese, Thai.

What is text-to-speech (TTS)?

Artificial intelligence (AI) software reads text or a document aloud for you. The text can be a fragment or a PDF, eBook, email or a webpage. The language can be English, Spanish, Portuguese or other. The voice sounds human and you can select accent/character.

Do I need to install anything?

No installation required. Speechise simply works in your browser on a desktop computer or a mobile device.

Best free text-to-speech software of 2024

Find the best free text-to-speech software for free text to voice conversion

• Best overall
• Best custom voice
• Best for beginners
• Best Microsoft extension
• Best website reader
• How we test

The best free text-to-speech software makes it simple and easy to improve accessibility and productivity in your workflows.

1. Best overall 2. Best custom voice 3. Best for beginners 4. Best Microsoft extension 5. Best website reader 6. FAQs 7. How we test

In the digital era, the need for effective communication tools has led to a surge in the popularity of text-to-speech (TTS) software, and finding the best free text-to-speech software is essential for a variety of users, regardless of budget constraints. 

Text-to-speech software skillfully converts written text into spoken words using advanced technology, though often without grasping the context of the content. The best text-to-speech software not only accomplishes this task but also offers a selection of natural-sounding voices, catering to different preferences and project needs.

This technology is invaluable for creating accessible content, enhancing workplace productivity, adding voice-overs to videos, or simply assisting in proofreading by vocalizing written work. While many of today’s best free word processors , such as Google Docs, include basic TTS features that are accurate and continually improving, they may not meet all needs.

Stand-alone, app-based TTS tools, which should not be confused with the best speech-to-text apps , often have limitations compared to more comprehensive, free text-to-speech software. For instance, some might not allow the downloading of audio files, a feature crucial for creating content for platforms like YouTube and social media.

In our quest to identify the best free text-to-speech software, we have meticulously tested various options, assessing them based on user experience, performance, and output quality. Our guide aims to help you find the right text-to-speech tool, whatever your specific needs might be.

The best free text-to-speech software of 2024 in full:

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

The best free text-to-speech software overall

1. Natural Reader

Our expert review:

Reasons to buy

Reasons to avoid.

Natural Reader offers one of the best free text-to-speech software experiences, thanks to an easy-going interface and stellar results. It even features online and desktop versions. 

You'll find plenty of user options and customizations. The first is to load documents into its library and have them read aloud from there. This is a neat way to manage multiple files, and the number of supported file types is impressive, including eBook formats. There's also OCR, which enables you to load up a photo or scan of text, and have it spoken to you.

The second option takes the form of a floating toolbar. In this mode, you can highlight text in any application and use the toolbar controls to start and customize text-to-speech. This means you can very easily use the feature in your web browser, word processor and a range of other programs. There's also a browser extension to convert web content to speech more easily.

The TTS tool is available free, with three additional upgrades with more advanced features for power-users and professionals.

Read our full Natural Reader review .

• ^ Back to the top

The best free custom-voice text-to-speech software

2. Balabolka

There are a couple of ways to use Balabolka's top free text-to-speech software. You can either copy and paste text into the program, or you can open a number of supported file formats (including DOC, PDF, and HTML) in the program directly. 

In terms of output, you can use SAPI 4 complete with eight different voices to choose from, SAPI 5 with two, or the Microsoft Speech Platform. Whichever route you choose, you can adjust the speech, pitch and volume of playback to create a custom voice.

In addition to reading words aloud, this free text-to-speech software can also save narrations as audio files in a range of formats including MP3 and WAV. For lengthy documents, you can create bookmarks to make it easy to jump back to a specific location and there are excellent tools on hand to help you to customize the pronunciation of words to your liking.

With all these features to make life easier when reading text on a screen isn't an option, Balabolka is the best free text-to-speech software around.

For more help using Balabolka, see out guide on how to convert text to speech using this free software.

The best free text-to-speech software for beginners

3. Panopreter Basic

Panopreter Basic is the best free text-to-speech software if you’re looking for something simple, streamlined, no-frills, and hassle-free. 

It accepts plain and rich text files, web pages and Microsoft Word documents as input, and exports the resulting sound in both WAV and MP3 format (the two files are saved in the same location, with the same name).

The default settings work well for quick tasks, but spend a little time exploring Panopreter Basic's Settings menu and you'll find options to change the language, destination of saved audio files, and set custom interface colors. The software can even play a piece of music once it's finished reading – a nice touch you won't find in other free text-to-speech software.

If you need something more advanced, a premium version of Panopreter is available. This edition offers several additional features including toolbars for Microsoft Word and Internet Explorer , the ability to highlight the section of text currently being read, and extra voices.

The best free text-to-speech extension of Microsoft Word

4. WordTalk

Developed by the University of Edinburgh, WordTalk is a toolbar add-on for Word that brings customizable text-to-speech to Microsoft Word. It works with all editions of Word and is accessible via the toolbar or ribbon, depending on which version you're using.

The toolbar itself is certainly not the most attractive you'll ever see, appearing to have been designed by a child. Nor are all of the buttons' functions very clear, but thankfully there's a help file on hand to help.

There's no getting away from the fact that WordTalk is fairly basic, but it does support SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 voices, and these can be tweaked to your liking. The ability to just read aloud individual words, sentences or paragraphs is a particularly nice touch. You also have the option of saving narrations, and there are a number of keyboard shortcuts that allow for quick and easy access to frequently used options.

The best free text-to-speech software for websites

5. Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader

Despite its basic looks, Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader has more to offer than you might first think. You can open numerous file formats directly in the program, or just copy and paste text.

Alternatively, as long as you have the program running and the relevant option enables, Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader can read aloud any text you copy to the clipboard – great if you want to convert words from websites to speech – as well as dialog boxes that pop up. One of the best free text-to-speech software right now, this can also convert text files to WAV format.

Unfortunately the selection of voices is limited, and the only settings you can customize are volume and speed unless you burrow deep into settings to fiddle with pronunciations. Additional voices are available for an additional fee which seems rather steep, holding it back from a higher place in our list.

The best free text-to-speech software: FAQs

What are the limitations of free tts software.

As you might expect, some free versions of TTS software do come with certain limitations. These include the amount of choices you get for the different amount of voices in some case. For instance, Zabaware gives you two for free, but you have to pay if you want more. 

However, the best free software on this list come with all the bells and whistles that will be more than enough for the average user.

What is SAPI?

SAPI stands for Speech Application Programming Interface. It was developed by Microsoft to generate synthetic speech to allow computer programs to read aloud text. First used in its own applications such as Office, it is also employed by third party TTS software such as those featured in this list. 

In the context of TTS software, there are more SAPI 4 voices to choose from, whereas SAPI 5 voices are generally of a higher quality. 

Should I output files to MP3 or WAV?

Many free TTS programs give you the option to download an audio file of the speech to save and transfer to different devices.

MP3 is the most common audio format, and compatible with pretty much any modern device capable of playing back audio. The WAV format is also highly compatible too.

The main difference between the two is quality. WAV files are uncompressed, meaning fidelity is preserved as best as possible, at the cost of being considerably larger in size than MP3 files, which do compress.

Ultimately, however, MP3 files with a bit rate of 256 kbps and above should more than suffice, and you'll struggle to tell the difference when it comes to speech audio between them and WAV files.

How to choose the best free text-to-speech software

When selecting the best free text-to-speech software is best for you depends on a range of factors (not to mention personal preference).

Despite how simple the concept of text-to-speech is, there are many different features and aspects to such apps to take into consideration. These include how many voice options and customizations are present, how and where they operate in your setup, what formats they are able to read aloud from and what formats the audio can be saved as.

With free versions, naturally you'll want to take into account how many advanced features you get without paying, and whether any sacrifices are made to performance or usability. 

Always try to keep in mind what is fair and reasonable for free services - and as we've shown with our number one choice, you can get plenty of features for free, so if other options seem bare in comparison, then you'll know you can do better.

How we test the best free text-to-speech software

Our testing process for the best free text-to-speech software is thorough, examining all of their respective features and trying to throw every conceivable syllable at them to see how they perform.

We also want to test the accessibility features of these tools to see how they work for every kind of user out there. We have highlighted, for instance, whether certain software offer dyslexic-friendly fonts, such as the number two on our list, Natural Reader.

We also bear in mind that these are free versions, so where possible we compare and contrast their feature sets with paid-for rivals.

Finally, we look at how well TTS tools meet the needs of their intended users - whether it's designed for personal use or professional deployment. 

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Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he's written a book, ' The Making of Tomb Raider '. His second book, ' 50 Years of Boss Fights ', came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2025. He also has a newsletter called ' Springboard '. He's usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that's about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.

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Free Text to Speech

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TTSMaker is a free text-to-speech tool that provides speech synthesis services and supports multiple languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, etc., as well as various voice styles. You can use it to read text and e-books aloud, or download the audio files for commercial use (it's completely free). As an excellent free TTS tool, TTSMaker can easily convert text to speech online.

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Quick Tutorial

Enter the text that needs to be converted into speech, the free limit is 20000 characters per week, some voices support unlimited free use.

Select language and voice

Choose the language for the text and your preferred voice style, each language has multiple voice styles.

Convert text to speech

Click the "Convert to Speech" button to start converting the text to speech, which may take a few minutes, longer texts will take longer. To adjust the speaking rate and volume, you can click the "More Settings" button.

Listen and download

After the text is converted to speech, you can listen to it online or download the audio file.

Usage Scenarios

TTSMaker's text to speech can be used for the following main purposes.

Video dubbing

Youtube and TikTok voice generator

As an AI voice generator, TTSMaker can generate the voices of various characters, which are often used in video dubbing of Youtube and TikTok. For your convenience, TTSMaker provides a variety of TikTok style voices for free use.

Audiobook reading

Create and listen to audiobook content

TTSMaker can convert text into natural speech, and you can easily create and enjoy audiobooks, bringing stories to life through immersive narration.

Education & Training

Teaching and Learning Languages

TTSMaker can convert text to sound and read it aloud, can help you learn the pronunciation of words, and supports multiple languages, it has now become a useful tool for language learners.

Marketing & Advertising

Create voiceovers for video ads

TTSMaker generates persuasive voice-overs to help marketers and advertisers explain a product's features to others, with high-quality audio.

Fast speech synthesis

We use a powerful neural network inference model that enables text-to-speech conversion in a short time.

Free for commercial use

You will own 100% copyright of the synthesized audio file and may use it for any legal purpose, including commercial use.

More voices and features

We are constantly updating this text-to-speech tool to support more languages and voices, as well as some new features.

Email and API supports

We offer email support and text-to-speech API services. If you encounter any issues while using our services, please feel free to contact our support team via email or through our support page.

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Free Text to Speech Online

Murf offers 100% natural sounding AI voices in 20+ languages to make professional voice over for your videos and presentations. Start your free trial.

Quality Guaranteed, No Robotic Voices

Our voices are all human sounding and quality checked across dozens of parameters. Gone are the days of robotic text to speech, most people can’t even tell between our advanced AI voices and recorded human voices.

Text to Speech Voices in 20+ Languages

Murf offers a selection of voices across 20+ languages. Most languages have voices available for testing quality in the free plan. Some languages also support multiple accents like English, Spanish and Portuguese.

A Simple Text to Voice Converter

Introducing

Our most advanced, realistic, and customizable speech model.

Explore advanced customization features for AI text-to-speech:

High-Quality Voices for Every Use Case

Not Just a Text to Speech Tool

Emphasize specific words

Want to highlight important information in your elearning script or stress a safety tip in a corporate training module? Use Murf’s ‘Word Level Emphasis’ feature to put that extra force on any word precisely as you desire.

Take control of your narration with pitch

Use Murf’s ‘Pitch’ functionality to tailor the audio to match the intended tone and audience, enhancing the content's overall effectiveness and engagement. 

Elevate your story with pauses

Add pauses of varying lengths to your narration using Murf’s ‘Pause’ feature to give the listener's attention powers a rest and prepare them to receive your message.

Perfect Word Pronunciation

Articulate words accurately and enhance clarity in speech by customizing pronunciation. Use alternative spellings or IPAs to achieve the right pronunciation.

Fine Tune Narration Speed

Effortlessly increase or decrease the pace of the voiceover to ensure it aligns with the rhythm and flow of the message.

Expressive Voice Style Palette

Infuse your narration with the exact emotion your content needs using Murf’s dynamic voice styles. Choose from versatile options like excited, sad, angry, calm, terrified, friendly, and more.

High-performance, Easy to use Text to Speech API

Universally adaptable, advanced api features, top-notch performance, do more with murf api.

Reliable and Secure. Your Data, Our Promise.

Why Use Murf Text to Speech?

Murf's text to audio software changes the way you create and edit voiceovers with lifelike, flawless AI voices. What used to take hours, weeks, or even months now only takes minutes. You can also include images, videos, and presentations to your voiceover and sync them together without the need for a third-party tool. Here are a few reasons why you should use Murf's text to speech.

Save time and hundreds of dollars in recording expensive voice overs.

Editing voice over is as simple as editing text. Just cut, copy paste and render.

Create a consistent brand voice across all your customer touchpoints.

Connect with global customers effectively with our multiple language AI voices.

Transparency and trust: Our Ethical AI promise

Voice over in 20+ languages.

@MURFAISTUDIO

Murf allows me to create TTS voiceovers in a matter of minutes. Previously, I had a tedious process of sending scripts out to agencies and waited days to get voiceovers back. With Murf, I can make changes whenever I like, diversify my speaker portfolio by picking new voices instantly, and even ramp up my course localization.

Murf it's an amazing text-to-speech AI voice generator, easy to work with, flexible and reliable. Its voices, non-pro and pro (either English, Spanish, and French), are both so real that many clients of mine have been surprised to know that they were not from professional voice-over actors.

I recently tried murf.ai and I have to say I am thoroughly impressed. The quality of the generated voice is exceptional and very realistic, which is important for my business needs. The platform is user-friendly and easy to navigate, and the range of voices available is impressive.

This website is so easy and clear that you will find yourself mastering all the tools in no time. The fact that regenerating the voice with different voices, punctuations, and tones does not deduct from your allowed minutes is so fair and reasonable. And the price is affordable too. Highly recommended

This is the most human-like voice I was able to find. It's very lively,and I found it suitable for many types of videos including marketing and e-learning, it kept my audience engaged!

I just started to create a video channel about historical figures, and Murf.ai really brings them to life. I found my top voice for my scripts, and the easy integration of video elements makes it a breeze to create informative videos. I also like the easy changes one can make to the tone of voice from within the editor.

Text to Speech: What is it and how does it work?

In essence, text to speech is the generation of synthesized speech from text. It was primarily designed as an assistive technology to help individuals with hearing impairments, visual and learning disabilities, and aged citizens to understand and consume content in a better manner. Today, the applications of TTS systems have grown manifold, and range from content creation to voiceover generation to customer service, and more. With a touch of a button, TTS can take words on a computer or other digital device and convert them into audio files. Today, the technology is used to create narratives for explainer videos or product demos , turn a book into an audio book, generate voiceovers for elearning materials, training videos, ads and commercials, YouTube videos, or podcasts, among other things.

How does TTS work?

Text to speech software leverages artificial intelligence and deep learning algorithms to process the written input and sythesize a spoken output. The written text is first broken down into individual words and phrases by the TTS software’s text analysis component and then various rules and algorithms are applied to determine the appropriate pronunciation, inflection, and emphasis for each word. The speech synthesis component of the software then takes this information along with pre-recorded samples of individual phonemes and uses it to generate the spoken words and sentences, which is then spoken out loud using a synthesized voice generated by a computer or other device. 

Top Five Use Cases of Text to Speech Software

From increasing brand visibility and customer traction to improving customer service and boosting customer engagement to helping people with visual impairments, reading difficulties, and learning disabilities, text to speech is proving to be a game-changing technology across industries. 

Considering the myriad of benefits offered by TTS technology and how simple they make information retention, businesses are integrating text to speech into their workflow in one form or another. Here is a glimpse of all the ways text to speech is currently being utilized:

TTS in Assistive Technology 

For quite some time now, text to speech software has been used as an accessibility tool for individuals with a variety of special needs linked to Dyslexia, visual impairments, or other disabilities that make it difficult to read traditional text. Using TTS platforms, people facing such problems can convert text to speech and learn by listening on the go. Text to speech solutions also improves literacy and comprehension skills. When used in language education, they can make learning more engaging. For example, it's much easier and faster to apprehend a foreign language when listening to the live translation of written words with correct intonation and pronunciation than when reading. 

TTS in Translations

Given the fact that modern text to speech solutions come with multilingual support, brands can reach local customers by converting their content from text to audio in the local language. This will help target and connect with native-speaking customers or audiences in remote areas. 

Furthermore, text to speech solutions can also be used to translate content from one language to another. This is especially beneficial for users who come across a piece of content in a language they don't understand and can have it read aloud in their native language or a language they are adept at for better understanding.

TTS in Customer Service

With advancements in speech synthesis, it has become easier to create text and convert it to pre-recorded voices for interactive voice response calls. Today's TTS technology comes with human-like AI voices that can make natural human conversations on IVR calls. This helps contact centers provide personalized customer interactions without requiring assistance from live agents. 

TTS serves as both an inbound and outbound customer service tool. For example, when used in tandem with an IVR system, TTS solutions can provide personalized information to callers, such as greeting a customer by name, providing account information, confirming details about the order, payment, or appointment, and more. Furthermore, by tapping into the extensive range of languages, accents, and a wide variety female and male voices offered by TTS software, companies can provide an experience that matches their customer's profiles or help promote an image for their brand. 

TTS in Automotive Industry

Text to speech solutions help make connected and autonomous cars safer and sound truly unique, begetting an on-road revolution. They can be used in in-car conversational systems for navigational prompts and map data, infotainment systems to read aloud information about the car, such as fuel level or tire pressure, and swap music and voice assistants to place phone calls, read messages, and more.

TTS in Healthcare

In the healthcare industry, text to speech solutions can be used to read aloud patient information, instructions for taking medication, and provide information to doctors and other medical professionals about upcoming appointments, scheduling calls, and more. 

Why text to speech matters for businesses?

It's an exciting time to stake your claim in the realm of speech synthesis. There are a number of key industries where the text to speech technology has already succeeded in making a dent. Here are a few different ways in which businesses can harness the power of text to speech and save money and time:

Enhances customer experience

Any business can leverage TTS to alleviate human agent workload and offer customized conversational customer support. By integrating these solutions with IVR systems, companies can automate customer interactions, facilitate smart and personalized self-service by providing voice responses in the customer's language and remove communication barriers. Furthermore, organizations can also use TTS to make AI-enabled routine calls to inform customers about promotional offers, payment reminders, and much more. That said, by using text to speech in voice-activated chatbots, businesses can provide customers, especially the visually impaired, with a more immersive experience, thereby enriching the customer experience.

Global market penetration

Text to speech solutions offer synthetic voices in multiple languages enabling businesses to create content in several different languages and reach customers across different countries worldwide. Organizations can build trust with customers by creating voiceovers for ads, commercials, product demos, explainer videos, and PowerPoint presentations, among other content pieces in regional dialects and native languages. 

Increases Web Presence

That said, with the help of TTS solutions, businesses can provide an audio version of their content in addition to a written version, enabling more accessibility to a broader audience, who can choose whether to read or listen to it based on their preferences. This increases the brand's web presence. Moreover, using text to speech, brands can create a familiar, recognizable and unique voice across all their voice channels, making it easy for customers to identify the brand the second they hear it. This way, the brand shows up everywhere and improves its web presence.

Who else can benefit from text to speech?

Today’s online text to speech systems can generate speech that is almost indistinguishable from a human voice, making them a valuable tool for a wide range of applications, from improving accessibility for people with disabilities to providing convenient and efficient ways to communicate information.

Here is a list of everybody that can benefit immensely from using best text to speech softwares for their content and voiceover needs:

Many educators struggle to enhance the value of their curriculum while simplifying their workloads. This is where realistic text to speech technology plays a key role. Firstly, it improves accessibility for students with disabilities. Screen readers and other tools which are speech enabled can make learning an equal opportunity and enjoyable experience for those with learning and physical disabilities. Secondly, it helps teach comprehension in an effective manner. Text to speech software offers an easy way for students to listen to how words are spoken in their natural structure and following the same is easier through audio playback.

TTS software also enhances engagement and makes learning interesting for students. For example, using natural sounding text to speech voices, teachers can create engaging presentations and elearning modules that capture student’s attention. 

In marketing specifically, text to speech technology can help improve data collection, facilitate comprehensive customer profiling, and better data analysis. Online text to speech tools offer an easy way for businesses to reach a broader audience and create customized user experiences.

For instance, marketing teams can create and deliver videos to prospective clients to establish a connection and brief them on queries and complicated products or services in the language and accent the customer is comfortable with. Furthermore, AI voices enable marketing teams to create crisp, high quality professional-sounding voiceovers in a few simple steps without hiring voice actors or requiring any professional recording studios.

Text to speech generators offer authors numerous advantages. One, it serves as an editing aid and helps storytellers proof read their novels and manuscripts to identify grammatical errors and other mistakes in their drafts before publishing. Listening to their stories being read aloud also allows authors to gauge the response to their work on other people. Authors can also use realistic voice generators to convert their books into audiobooks and podcasts and broaden the reach of their work. 

From interviews about true crime to politics and science, there are all sorts of popular podcast formats today. And, regardless of how good your podcast topic is, it won’t matter if the host doesn’t have a good voice. That said, not everyone can have that best podcast voice like an old-school radio anchor or a news presenter. This is where text to speech platforms come in. You don’t have to record scripted intros, prologues, or epilogues, an AI narrator can do it for you. Through text to speech software, you can automatically create the narrative and voiceover for your podcast in the language and tone you want in a matter of minutes by simply uploading the script to the platform. 

Creating good voice overs for your animated explainer videos or product demos or games typically meant investing a lot of money on recording equipment and hiring professional voice actors. Not anymore. With AI text to speech platforms, you can add natural sounding voices to your animated video to make them more engaging and captivating. In fact, with text to speech software, you can give each character in your animated video or game, a unique voice. 

Customer Support Executives

Integrating realistic text to voice software with an IVR system enables customer service agents to concentrate more on complex customers rather than common queries. TTS-enabled IVR systems are capable of gathering information and providing responses to customers as necessary in a way that sounds just like an actual customer service agent.

Furthermore, TTS systems also eliminate the need for IVR businesses to schedule voiceover retakes months in advance. With TTS systems, businesses can render a new voiceover in minutes creating thousands of iterations within a few clicks.

Text to speech is a game-changer for students of all ages and educational levels. By converting written text into spoken words, students can enhance their learning experience and comprehension. Text to speech technology can read content out aloud, making it easier for students to absorb information while multitasking. It is particularly useful for students with dyslexia, ADHD, or other learning disabilities as it provides them with an alternative way to consume educational content. Furthermore, the tool can also be used to add narrations to presentations, explainer videos, how-to videos, and more.

Be it corporate trainers, fitness trainers, or lifestyle instructors, text to speech can be used to create engaging and accessible learning materials. For example, fitness trainers can convert written content into audio-based workout routines and personalized exercise plans. This helps to increase engagement levels and knowledge retention among the audience.

Similarly, corporate trainers can also use TTS to create presentations on employee policies and other organizational practices. It makes the coursework highly engaging and improves employee performance at many levels. Additionally, using audio course materials is a great way to respect the staff with disabilities and give everyone equal access to training.  

Content Creators 

Content creators, including social media users, bloggers, writers, influencers, and authors, can leverage text to speech to enhance their productivity and reach a broader audience.

This technology enables content creators to convert their written articles, scripts, blog posts, or eBooks into high-quality audio files quickly in multiple languages instead of manually recording the voiceover.

Consequently, it opens up new avenues for content consumption. This allows readers to listen to the content while performing other tasks or when reading isn’t feasible, such as during commutes or workouts. 

Video Producers 

Video creators can easily add voiceovers or narration to their videos, eliminating the need for hiring voice actors or spending hours recording audio. This not only saves time and resources but also ensures consistent and professional-sounding voiceovers.

Murf: The Ultimate Text to  Natural Sounding Speech Software

If you are looking for a text to speech generator that can create stunning voiceovers for your tutorials, presentations, or videos, Murf is the one to go for. 

Murf can generate human-like, realistic, and natural-sounding voices that can imitate the subtleties of human voice. This results in better pronunciation of words, as well as capturing nuances like reading speed and intonation to create more human-like speech. Its pièce de résistance is that Murf can do it in over 120+ unique voices in 20+ languages. 

This text aloud reader also allows you to edit text, tweak the pitch of the voice, add pauses or emphasis, and alter the speed of the output to get the output just the way you want it. 

And the best part? Murf is extremely easy to use. With Murf’s intuitive voice user interface, choosing the perfect AI voice for your project is a breeze. The platform provides a wide variety of voices, allowing you to preview and select the one that best matches your needs without any hassle. Murf also offers advanced voice control on aspects such as pitch, speed, and emphasis, ensuring that your text to speech output aligns perfectly with your desired tone and style. That said, whether you require MP3, WAV, or other formats, Murf’s easy export functionality ensures that you can seamlessly integrate your audio into any project.

Create Engaging Content with Murf's AI Voices

Murf text to audio converter can be used in a number of scenarios to elevate the quality of your overall content. Let's look at a few use cases where Murf can help and why it’s the best text to speech reader out there:

E-learning Videos

Murf’s free text to speech reader can help you create e-learning videos in multiple languages that will make your content accessible to a global audience. You can also increase the engagement of your e-learning video by adding emotions and expressions to your content. 

Presentations

Murf’s AI voices can add a touch of professionalism to your presentations to help drive home those key points. You can use Murf to narrate your slides, explain your concepts, or tell the story of your brand in the exact tone and style you envisioned. 

You can also use this free text to speech reader to make your audiobooks sound as if they its been narrated by an actual person.

With Murf, you can also mix and match different voices for the various characters in the audiobook to take your storytelling up a few notches. 

Sales and Marketing Videos

Murf can also enhance your sales and marketing videos with persuasive and professional voiceovers. You can use these videos to showcase your products, services, or offers and tailor them in multiple languages to advertise to a potentially global audience. 

Product Demos

Finally, Murf can help you create informative and engaging product demo videos that showcase your product’s features and benefits in the best possible light, without extra resources.

More than Just a Text to Speech Software

Tired of hearing monotonous, robotic-sounding voiceovers? Not anymore. With Murf, enhance the quality of your content with compelling, nuanced, and natural sounding text to speech that replicate the subtleties of human voice. Fine-tune your voiceover narration and add more character to an AI voice with features such as Emphasis, Pronunciation, Speed, and more! From inviting and conversational to excited and loud to empathetic and authoritative, we have AI voices that span different intonations and emotions. Murf AI text to speech (TTS) supports Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Tamil, and Turkish. Some of these languages also support multiple accents. For example, our English language AI voices support British, Australian, American, and Indian accents. Our Spanish AI voices support Mexican and Spain accents. The TTS online software also offers users the ability to add background audio or music to their content. Murf studio, in fact, comes with a curated selection of royalty-free music in their gallery that the user can choose from to add some music to their video. You can also upload your own audio files or even import from external sources like YouTube, Vimeo, and other video websites. Murf's text to sound has a voice changer feature that lets you upload your existing recording and revamp it with professional AI voice in a single click. You can change your voice to an AI voice in three simple steps: transcribe the audio, choose an AI voice, and regenerate the audio in a new voice. It's as easy as pie.

Summing It Up

Murf is a powerful text to speech reader that can help you create engaging and professional voiceovers for your videos, presentations , and so much more. 

To put it in short, with Murf, you can:

• Save a ton of money that would have otherwise been spent on voice actors and renting out studio spaces.
• Widen your reach to a global audience with its support for over 120+ unique voices in over 20+ languages.
• Make your content accessible to anyone with visual or specific cognitive disabilities. 

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up for a free trial of Murf today!

Frequently Asked Questions

What is text to speech, can i try murf tts for free, how to use murf text to speech, does murf tts software have a mobile app, why is murf ai's text to speech better than other tts tools available , what is text to speech commonly used for , what languages are available in murf ai's text to speech platform , does murf offer an api that supports integrating natural sounding voice for developers, what industries use our ai text to speech, how secure is my date with murf ai , can i convert written text to speech to mp3 or other file formats, is there free text-to-speech software for dyslexia, how do i get different custom voice for text-to-speech in multiple languages, can i use the audio generated by murf ai on platforms like youtube and tiktok is it necessary to attribute the source, is there a maximum limit on size of voice over per project, will my voice over project be saved for future editing, can i use the speech generated, for commercial purposes,  can i upload my own music to go with the voice over, what is a text to voice reader, how do i make text to speech read.

• Export Audio

Free Text To Speech Reader

Instantly reads out loud text & pdf with natural sounding voices online - works out of the box. drop the text and click play..

Drag text or pdf files to the text-box, or directly type/paste in text. Select language and click Play. Remembers text and caret position between sessions. Works on Chrome and Safari, desktop and mobile. Enjoy listening :)

Best Text to Speech Online

• Online speech synthesizer, single click to read out loud any text
• Listen instead of reading
• Multiple languages and voices
• Reads PDF files too

TTSReader-X

• Chrome extension
• Listen to ANY website without leaving the page
• Adds a 'play' functionality to Chrome
• Clean page for readability and / or print

Try it Now for FREE

TTSReader / Android

• Podcast any written content
• Save data - works offline too

Get it on the Play store

Fun, Online, Free. Listen to great content

Drag, drop & play (or directly copy text & play). That’s it. No downloads. No logins. No passwords. No fuss. Simply fun to use and listen to great content. Great for listening in the background. Great for proof-reading. Great for kids and more. Learn more, including a YouTube we made, here .

Multilingual, Natural Voices

We facilitate high-quality natural-sounding voices from different sources. There are male & female voices, in different accents and different languages. Choose the voice you like, insert text, click play to generate the synthesized speech and enjoy listening.

Exit, Come Back & Play from Where You Stopped

TTSReader remembers the article and last position when paused, even if you close the browser. This way, you can come back to listening right where you previously left. Works on Chrome & Safari on mobile too. Ideal for listening to articles.

Better than Podcasts

In many aspects, synthesized speech has advantages over recorded podcasts. Here are some: First of all - you have unlimited - free - content. That includes high-quality articles and books, that are not available on podcasts. Second - it’s free. Third - it uses almost no data - so it’s available offline too, and you save money. If you like listening on the go, as while driving or walking - get our free Android Text Reader App .

Read PDF Files, Texts & Websites

TTSReader extracts the text from pdf files, and reads it out loud. Also useful for simply copying text from pdf to anywhere. In addition, it highlights the text currently being read - so you can follow with your eyes. If you specifically want to listen to websites - such as blogs, news, wiki - you should get our free extension for Chrome

Commercial-Ready

Use our apps for commercial purposes. Generated audio can be used for YouTubes, games, telephony and more. To export the generated speech into high-quality audio files, you can either use our Android app , or record them, as explained here . Read more for ttsreader’s commercial terms. Read more

We love to hear your feedback. Here’s what users said about us:

The new male voice is great. It is quite melodic and natural, much more so then other sites I have tried to use. This is a GREAT tool, well done thanks!

ttsreader.com

This product works amazingly well. I use it to edit my books, pasting in a chapter, having it read back to me while I edit the original. Cuts down my book edit time by over 50% !

Multiple voices from different nationalities. Easy to use interface. Paste text and it will speak. Can create mp3 files.

ttsreader for Android

Great app. Can handle long texts, something other apps can’t. Highly recommended!

What a great App! exactly what i needed, a reader to provide me content efficiently.

ttsreader-x for Chrome

Recent Posts

Read about our different products, get the news & tips from our developers.

Amazon's Kindle Fire - Can Now Read Websites

on June 6, 2017

Amazon’s Kindle Fire - Can Now Read Websites As TTSReader is Now Available on Amazon’s App Store Get it now for FREE Exciting news! Kindle lovers now got upgraded with some new great features. TTSReader on the Kindle can read out loud any text, pdf and website. It uses the latest algorithms to extract only the relevant text out of the usually-cluttered websites. Great for listening to Wiki articles for instance, blogs and more.

Continue reading

Android Gets the Best In Class Websites Reader

Android Gets Best In Class Websites Reader - With Latest Update to TTSReader Pro Start listening now for FREE Exciting news, as Android’s TTSReader Pro app, has been updated to use TTSReaderX’s algorithms to extract only the relevant text out of websites. This is super important for a text-to-speech website reader, as otherwise the reader would start reading out loud all the ads, menus, sharing buttons and more clutter.

Commercial Licensing & Terms

on May 10, 2017

When is a Commercial License Necessary Using ttsreader.com within your institution If you are a company, or organization, using ttsreader.com, please use our paypal donate link. If you are a personal user, or an educational institute - ttsreader.com is free, no need to even donate - you are welcome, of course :). Using the generated speech for commercial purposes Recording and using the audio generated by TTSReader in a commercial application (ie publishing)

Export Speech to Audio Files

How to Record Audio Played on PC (Speakers) for Free Need to record audio from TTSReader, YouTube or other? Here’s how in a few simple steps (includes screenshots). No need to record the speakers - you can record the audio from within the pc itself. It will be of higher audio quality - as it’s the original digital signal, clear and without ambient noise. Also, no need to purchase a software for that.

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Visit our company's page, to see more of our speech to text (dictation) and text to speech apps for desktops and mobile. For news and tips from our developers visit our blog.

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Bring Text-To-Speech into ANY website. Add our new TTSReader Extension for free.

See the most popular languages and voices. Learn more →

Free text to speech over 200 voices​ and 70 languages

Luvvoice is a free online text-to-speech (TTS) tool that turns your text into natural-sounding speech. We offer a wide range of AI Voices. Simply input your text, choose a voice, and either download the resulting mp3 file or listen to it directly. Perfect for content creators, students, or anyone needing text read aloud.

Everything you need

What are the features of Luvvoice ?

Real ai voice.

Built on deep learning and Ai breakthrough research to generate sounds that are extremely close to the quality of real human voices.

Lots of Languages and AI Voices

As a professional AI Voice Generator, A large number of high-quality voices, 200 voices in more than 70 languages, your best text reader.

Easily Convert Text to Audio

Copy-paste an existing script or type in the text for your script on text editor. Choose an AI voice of your choice from Luvvoice’s library of voices .

best tts tool

The most powerful creative and business tts tool

Luvvoice is a great tts tool，Luvvoice can generate a variety of character voices that you can use in marketing, and social media such as Youtube and Tiktok, you can use to learn new languages and read books aloud!

Most Popular Languages and TTS AI Voices We Support

Easily convert text to speech, choose your favorite language and voice:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This is a very good text reader and tts tool! It generates realistic ai voice. If you aren’t sure, always go for Luvvoice. Believe me, you won’t regret it. Olivia Walker Consultant

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Really good. Luvvoice is by far the most valuable business resource we have ever purchased. I love this TTS tool. Ashley Taylor Blogger

Frequently asked questions

To add pauses in your text, simply insert a period (.) wherever you want a pause. The voice will pause for one second at each period. This works even in the middle of sentences, allowing you to control the pacing and rhythm of the speech.

Example: “Hello. This is a sentence. With pauses.”

Yes, Luvvoice is completely free to use.Free text to speech over 50 language and 200 voice,no words limit. Listen online and download files in mp3 format.

Text-to-Speech (TTS) technology converts text into natural-sounding speech. Learn more about TTS.

Converting text to speech is easy. Simply paste or type the text into the designated text box, choose the language for the text and your preferred voice style, and click the ‘Submit’ button to initiate the process. The text will be processed, and you can download the audio file.

Yes, all voices from Luvvoice are suitable for commercial projects such as videos, podcasts, gaming characters, Youtube and TikTok, and you are not required to attribute the source.

Luvvoice audio tools are versatile and can be used in various fields including media production, education, gaming, and accessibility services. They help in bridging language barriers, restoring lost voices, and making digital interactions more human-like.

Need to transcribe longer texts or convert entire files?

Our advanced platform handles up to 20,000 characters per session and supports various file formats like TXT and PDF. Experience fast, accurate transcription that saves you hours.

Do you restrict access to the service and platform for any specific countries?

• Updated February 13, 2024 15:40

We are required to restrict access from the following countries:

• North Korea
• The Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine

If you are connecting from one of these sanctioned countries, your access to our service will be blocked. If you believe you have been incorrectly blocked, you can contact us via https://help.elevenlabs.io/hc/en-us/requests/new .

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Misc Highlight spoken words

CloudTTS is a straightforward and free text-to-speech application. Simply type in or paste the text you'd like to hear, and it reads it back to you.

What makes it different?

• It is absolutely free. There are no plans, no fees, no quotas.
• Words are highlighted while being read, making the text easier to follow.
• Large, user-friendly controls allow easy navigation and interaction.
• Mobile-friendly. You can use it from your cell phone or tablet.
• Keeps your voice and language choices for the next time you visit.

• Personal Listen to your documents
• Commercial Create voiceovers for professional use
• EDU Group plans for personal use
• Mobile For Android and iOS
• Chrome Extension Listen to webpages directly
• AI Voices Realistic voices using deep learning and neural networks
• LLM Voices Next generation AI voices using large language models
• Voice Cloning Synthetic voice replication using LLM
• AskAI ChatGPT-powered assistant
• PDFAI Smart document filtering

Realistic Voice AI

Lifelike and Powerful AI-Powered Free Online Text to Speech

Try the tool (any language)

How it works

Welcome to Realistic Voice, the leading AI Text-to-Speech platform that brings your written words to life with astonishing realism. Our advanced system utilizes state-of-the-art neural network models to generate natural and human-like speech patterns. So, how does it work? First, you simply input your text into our intuitive interface. Our powerful algorithms then analyze the input, taking into account various linguistic and contextual factors. Next, the system employs deep learning techniques to generate an audio waveform that closely resembles human speech. The resulting output preserves nuances such as intonation, rhythm, and even emotional expressions, ensuring an immersive and authentic auditory experience. Whether you’re a content creator, a developer, or someone looking for a lifelike voice for their project, Realistic Voice is your ultimate solution for converting text into captivating spoken content.

Text-to-Speech technology has revolutionized the way we engage with written content, opening up a wide range of exciting possibilities. With its versatility and natural-sounding voices, TTS can be utilized across various domains. For instance, authors and publishers can transform their books into engaging audiobooks, reaching a wider audience and providing an immersive storytelling experience. Documentaries and educational videos can benefit from TTS by adding a professional and captivating voiceover that enhances the viewer’s understanding and engagement. Content creators on platforms like YouTube and vlogs can use TTS to generate dynamic and expressive voices that accompany their videos, making them more engaging and accessible to diverse audiences. Additionally, TTS can bring poetry to life, providing a unique way to experience and appreciate literary works. From accessibility solutions for individuals with visual impairments to interactive voice-based applications and virtual assistants, the applications of TTS are vast and continually expanding, enabling seamless integration of written content into the auditory realm.

Speech to Text - Voice Typing & Transcription

Take notes with your voice for free, or automatically transcribe audio & video recordings. amazingly accurate, secure & blazing fast..

~ Proudly serving millions of users since 2015 ~

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Dictate Notes

Start taking notes, on our online voice-enabled notepad right away, for free. Learn more.

Transcribe Recordings

Automatically transcribe (& optionally translate) recordings, audio and video files, YouTubes and more, in no time. Learn more.

Speechnotes is a reliable and secure web-based speech-to-text tool that enables you to quickly and accurately transcribe & translate your audio and video recordings, as well as dictate your notes instead of typing, saving you time and effort. With features like voice commands for punctuation and formatting, automatic capitalization, and easy import/export options, Speechnotes provides an efficient and user-friendly dictation and transcription experience. Proudly serving millions of users since 2015, Speechnotes is the go-to tool for anyone who needs fast, accurate & private transcription. Our Portfolio of Complementary Speech-To-Text Tools Includes:

Voice typing - Chrome extension

Dictate instead of typing on any form & text-box across the web. Including on Gmail, and more.

Transcription API & webhooks

Speechnotes' API enables you to send us files via standard POST requests, and get the transcription results sent directly to your server.

Zapier integration

Combine the power of automatic transcriptions with Zapier's automatic processes. Serverless & codeless automation! Connect with your CRM, phone calls, Docs, email & more.

Android Speechnotes app

Speechnotes' notepad for Android, for notes taking on your mobile, battle tested with more than 5Million downloads. Rated 4.3+ ⭐

iOS TextHear app

TextHear for iOS, works great on iPhones, iPads & Macs. Designed specifically to help people with hearing impairment participate in conversations. Please note, this is a sister app - so it has its own pricing plan.

Audio & video converting tools

Tools developed for fast - batch conversions of audio files from one type to another and extracting audio only from videos for minimizing uploads.

Our Sister Apps for Text-To-Speech & Live Captioning

Complementary to Speechnotes

Reads out loud texts, files & web pages

Listen on the go to any written content, from custom texts to websites & e-books, for free.

Speechlogger

Live Captioning & Translation

Live captions & simultaneous translation for conferences, online meetings, webinars & more.

Need Human Transcription? We Can Offer a 10% Discount Coupon

We do not provide human transcription services ourselves, but, we partnered with a UK company that does. Learn more on human transcription and the 10% discount .

Dictation Notepad

Start taking notes with your voice for free

Speech to Text online notepad. Professional, accurate & free speech recognizing text editor. Distraction-free, fast, easy to use web app for dictation & typing.

Speechnotes is a powerful speech-enabled online notepad, designed to empower your ideas by implementing a clean & efficient design, so you can focus on your thoughts. We strive to provide the best online dictation tool by engaging cutting-edge speech-recognition technology for the most accurate results technology can achieve today, together with incorporating built-in tools (automatic or manual) to increase users' efficiency, productivity and comfort. Works entirely online in your Chrome browser. No download, no install and even no registration needed, so you can start working right away.

Speechnotes is especially designed to provide you a distraction-free environment. Every note, starts with a new clear white paper, so to stimulate your mind with a clean fresh start. All other elements but the text itself are out of sight by fading out, so you can concentrate on the most important part - your own creativity. In addition to that, speaking instead of typing, enables you to think and speak it out fluently, uninterrupted, which again encourages creative, clear thinking. Fonts and colors all over the app were designed to be sharp and have excellent legibility characteristics.

Example use cases

• Voice typing
• Writing notes, thoughts
• Medical forms - dictate
• Transcribers (listen and dictate)

Transcription Service

Start transcribing

Fast turnaround - results within minutes. Includes timestamps, auto punctuation and subtitles at unbeatable price. Protects your privacy: no human in the loop, and (unlike many other vendors) we do NOT keep your audio. Pay per use, no recurring payments. Upload your files or transcribe directly from Google Drive, YouTube or any other online source. Simple. No download or install. Just send us the file and get the results in minutes.

• Transcribe interviews
• Captions for Youtubes & movies
• Auto-transcribe phone calls or voice messages
• Students - transcribe lectures
• Podcasters - enlarge your audience by turning your podcasts into textual content
• Text-index entire audio archives

Key Advantages

Speechnotes is powered by the leading most accurate speech recognition AI engines by Google & Microsoft. We always check - and make sure we still use the best. Accuracy in English is very good and can easily reach 95% accuracy for good quality dictation or recording.

Lightweight & fast

Both Speechnotes dictation & transcription are lightweight-online no install, work out of the box anywhere you are. Dictation works in real time. Transcription will get you results in a matter of minutes.

Super Private & Secure!

Super private - no human handles, sees or listens to your recordings! In addition, we take great measures to protect your privacy. For example, for transcribing your recordings - we pay Google's speech to text engines extra - just so they do not keep your audio for their own research purposes.

Health advantages

Typing may result in different types of Computer Related Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI). Voice typing is one of the main recommended ways to minimize these risks, as it enables you to sit back comfortably, freeing your arms, hands, shoulders and back altogether.

Saves you time

Need to transcribe a recording? If it's an hour long, transcribing it yourself will take you about 6! hours of work. If you send it to a transcriber - you will get it back in days! Upload it to Speechnotes - it will take you less than a minute, and you will get the results in about 20 minutes to your email.

Saves you money

Speechnotes dictation notepad is completely free - with ads - or a small fee to get it ad-free. Speechnotes transcription is only $0.1/minute, which is X10 times cheaper than a human transcriber! We offer the best deal on the market - whether it's the free dictation notepad ot the pay-as-you-go transcription service.

Dictation - Free

• Online dictation notepad
• Voice typing Chrome extension

Dictation - Premium

• Premium online dictation notepad
• Premium voice typing Chrome extension
• Support from the development team

Transcription

$0.1 /minute.

• Pay as you go - no subscription
• Audio & video recordings
• Speaker diarization in English
• Generate captions .srt files
• REST API, webhooks & Zapier integration

Compare plans

Privacy Policy

We at Speechnotes, Speechlogger, TextHear, Speechkeys value your privacy, and that's why we do not store anything you say or type or in fact any other data about you - unless it is solely needed for the purpose of your operation. We don't share it with 3rd parties, other than Google / Microsoft for the speech-to-text engine.

Privacy - how are the recordings and results handled?

- transcription service.

Our transcription service is probably the most private and secure transcription service available.

• HIPAA compliant.
• No human in the loop. No passing your recording between PCs, emails, employees, etc.
• Secure encrypted communications (https) with and between our servers.
• Recordings are automatically deleted from our servers as soon as the transcription is done.
• Our contract with Google / Microsoft (our speech engines providers) prohibits them from keeping any audio or results.
• Transcription results are securely kept on our secure database. Only you have access to them - only if you sign in (or provide your secret credentials through the API)
• You may choose to delete the transcription results - once you do - no copy remains on our servers.

- Dictation notepad & extension

For dictation, the recording & recognition - is delegated to and done by the browser (Chrome / Edge) or operating system (Android). So, we never even have access to the recorded audio, and Edge's / Chrome's / Android's (depending the one you use) privacy policy apply here.

The results of the dictation are saved locally on your machine - via the browser's / app's local storage. It never gets to our servers. So, as long as your device is private - your notes are private.

Payments method privacy

The whole payments process is delegated to PayPal / Stripe / Google Pay / Play Store / App Store and secured by these providers. We never receive any of your credit card information.

More generic notes regarding our site, cookies, analytics, ads, etc.

• We may use Google Analytics on our site - which is a generic tool to track usage statistics.
• We use cookies - which means we save data on your browser to send to our servers when needed. This is used for instance to sign you in, and then keep you signed in.
• For the dictation tool - we use your browser's local storage to store your notes, so you can access them later.
• Non premium dictation tool serves ads by Google. Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Ads Settings . Alternatively, users can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting https://youradchoices.com/
• In case you would like to upload files to Google Drive directly from Speechnotes - we'll ask for your permission to do so. We will use that permission for that purpose only - syncing your speech-notes to your Google Drive, per your request.

Free Text-To-Speech and Text-to-MP3 for US English

Easily convert your US English text into professional speech for free. Perfect for e-learning, presentations, YouTube videos and increasing the accessibility of your website. Our voices pronounce your texts in their own language using a specific accent. Plus, these texts can be downloaded as MP3. In some languages, multiple speakers are available.

Woah, that is quite some text...

Please give us a moment to process your request...

Input limit: 3,000 characters / Don't forget to turn on your speakers :-)

Hint: If you finish a sentence, leave a space after the dot before the next one starts for better pronunciation.

Here are some features to use while generating speech:

Add a break, emphasizing words, conversations.

Please note: Remove any diacritical signs from the speakers names when using this, Léa = Lea, Penélope = Penelope

Need more effects or customization? Please refer to the Amazon SSML Tags for Amazon Polly

Facts about the us english language:.

English was brought to Britain in the mid 5th to 7th centuries. If you were to ask those who don't speak English whether or not it's a hard language to learn, you'd likely get more than a few who insist that it is among the hardest.

Though, it can be argued that English is easy since it has no gender, no word agreement, and no cases. Yet, it does have words such as through, threw, and thru, all sounds the same, but are spelled differently, and can't be used interchangeably.

English also has polish, and Polish. One is used to make furniture shine, while the other is a language. Or take resume and resume, one is used when you're filling out job applications, and the other is used when you want to tell someone to carry on with what they're doing.

As you can see above, the English language can be challenging, however, it's far from the most difficult language to learn. With a bit of study, and some practice, almost anyone can learn English. One of the best ways to learn the language is to find a friend who speaks English, and is willing to have conversations with you. This will help you immerse yourself in the language and pick up on the nuances, and speech patterns of English. With a bit of practice, you'll soon be speaking English like it's your native language.

Supported voice languages:

Current Limit: ~375 words or 3,000 characters / day | Powered by AWS Polly

Need to convert more text to speech? Register here for a 24 hour premium access.

© 2024 ttsMP3.com | AI Voices | FAQ | Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | API Documentation

Voice   Generator

This web app allows you to generate voice audio from text - no login needed, and it's completely free! It uses your browser's built-in voice synthesis technology, and so the voices will differ depending on the browser that you're using. You can download the audio as a file, but note that the downloaded voices may be different to your browser's voices because they are downloaded from an external text-to-speech server. If you don't like the externally-downloaded voice, you can use a recording app on your device to record the "system" or "internal" sound while you're playing the generated voice audio.

Want more voices? You can download the generated audio and then use voicechanger.io to add effects to the voice. For example, you can make the voice sound more robotic, or like a giant ogre, or an evil demon. You can even use it to reverse the generated audio, randomly distort the speed of the voice throughout the audio, add a scary ghost effect, or add an "anonymous hacker" effect to it.

Note: If the list of available text-to-speech voices is small, or all the voices sound the same, then you may need to install text-to-speech voices on your device. Many operating systems (including some versions of Android, for example) only come with one voice by default, and the others need to be downloaded in your device's settings. If you don't know how to install more voices, and you can't find a tutorial online, you can try downloading the audio with the download button instead. As mentioned above, the downloaded audio uses external voices which may be different to your device's local ones.

You're free to use the generated voices for any purpose - no attribution needed. You could use this website as a free voice over generator for narrating your videos in cases where don't want to use your real voice. You can also adjust the pitch of the voice to make it sound younger/older, and you can even adjust the rate/speed of the generated speech, so you can create a fast-talking high-pitched chipmunk voice if you want to.

Note: If you have offline-compatible voices installed on your device (check your system Text-To-Speech settings), then this web app works offline! Find the "add to homescreen" or "install" button in your browser to add a shortcut to this app in your home screen. And note that if you don't have an internet connection, or if for some reason the voice audio download isn't working for you, you can also use a recording app that records your devices "internal" or "system" sound.

Got some feedback? You can share it with me here .

If you like this project check out these: AI Chat , AI Anime Generator , AI Image Generator , and AI Story Generator .

Free Text to Speech Online

The text to speech (TTS) online is a free reader that allows you to convert your text into a natural-sounding voice.

About Online Text to Speech Converter

The online text to speech tool helps to convert the written text into realistic speech or voice easily. Also, there is no word limit or restrictions. You can listen to a single word or a big paragraph smoothly.

The tool uses a speech synthesizing technique in which the text is first converted into its phonetic form. Our database already has the human audio for all the phonetics. The matching phonetics and their sounds are adjoined and as a result, you can hear the transcripted voice.

Why Use Text to Speech Reader?

• Audio Clarity: The output audio is transparent and high quality. Therefore, anyone can easily recognize each character or word. No one will find it difficult to understand the speech.
• Natural-Sounding Voice: The tool returns the natural human voice as an output. You can also get many options to choose the voice's gender or accent.
• High-Speed Conversion: The conversion process takes less than a second to convert the given text into speech. However, it depends on your Internet speed. But our tool is lightweight and also gives instant conversion results with a slower connection.
• Easy to Use: We have put simple 4 buttons to operate the tool. Play, Stop, Copy, and Clear. Also, the user interface is simple. So, anyone can easily go through the tool.
• No Login or Signup Required: You don't need to log in or sign up to use the tool. Simply type or paste the text and hear it. It's completely free to use.
• Browser Compatibility: Our tool works on almost all web browsers. To get more voice options, use the Microsoft Edge browser.
• Mobile Responsive: The text to voice reader is mobile-friendly and smoothly works on all handy devices such as smartphones and iPads.

Where Does the Text to Voice Tool Used?

• Alternative to Reading: If you like to listen rather than read, then this tool will be very useful for you. Put all the texts into the tool and listen to them.
• Learn Pronunciation: It's used to learn the proper pronunciation of words. Paste the word and listen to it. You can also change the accent to know how the word sounds in different dialects.
• Best for Visually Impaired Persons: Blind people or kids who struggle with reading can use this tool to hear the text conversion.
• Decrease Linguistic Dialect: Some people are familiar with a particular form of a language. So, it makes it difficult for them to adapt to the other forms. Using this tool, they can decrease that barrier and learn new forms of speaking easily.
• Voiceovers for Videos: If you are a content creator then you can use our text to voice tool for creating natural voiceovers for your videos. It saves time as well as money.

How to Use the Text to Speech Converter?

There are four steps that you need to follow to use this tool. Let's discuss each one by one.

1. Enter Text

When you open the tool, there is a big input box at the top of the page. You can enter or paste your text in this box.

2. Select Speed

The next step is to choose the speed of the voice. You can use the slider to increase or decrease the speech speed. Drag right to speed up and drag left for speed down.

3. Select Language and Gender

There is a dropdown option where you can choose the speech-language and gender (male or female).

4. Play, Pause/Resume, Stop

Lastly, you can click on 'Play' button to start and listen the conversion audio. Also, you can 'Pause/Resume' and 'Stop' the speech conversion anytime.

Voice Over App

Try our text to voice app free - no registration required. Use 700 natural reader text to speech voices in 100 languages.

For more voices (we have more than 700 text to voice voices online), check out our Text to Audio tool . You can use it to generate content in other languages ( more than 100 languages and accents available ), set additional options such as voice speed and output format (MP3, WAV, MP4).

Voice Artificial Intelligence

Using voice artificial intelligence brings significant benefits for content production, particularly in efficiency and consistency. A voice over app such as Narakeet enables creators to generate high-quality audio content quickly, reducing the time and effort traditionally required to record a narrator’s voice. This is especially useful for projects with tight deadlines, where re-recording sections due to errors or changes can be time-consuming.

What’s really cool about a voice to-speech app is how consistent it is. Once you’ve got your text ready, the app can produce the same high-quality audio every time, without any of the little variations that come with recording live. This is perfect for things like e-learning, audiobooks, or podcasts, where you want your narrators to sound the same each time your audience hits play.

Free text to voice

Try our text to voice app free, and make content with voice artificial intelligence easily. With a free account, without even registering, you can create 20 free text to voice conversions.

Get Started

If our artificial intelligence voice generator free account is not enough for your needs, check out paid plans . You can get significantly higher conversion capacity and commercial usage rights for a fraction of the price you’d pay narrators.

Text to Voice Generator

Imagine using a voice over app to quickly generate audio without the hassle of setting up recording sessions. No more worrying about getting the perfect take from a narrator’s voice—just type out your script, and tools like natural reader text to speech handle the rest. It’s like having a reliable narrator ready to go whenever you need them.

Plus, using voice artificial intelligence means you don’t have to juggle schedules or manage different narrators. Everything is streamlined, making the whole process faster and easier. With a voice over app or a voice to-speech app like natural reader text to speech, creating consistent, professional audio content has never been simpler.

Text-to-voice voices

Narakeet’s voice artificial intelligence platform has a huge variety of voices available for text-to-speech conversion, supporting more than 100 languages and regional accents. Whether you’re working on a global project or just want your content to have a specific flavor, our voice over app can provide a voice to perfectly fit your content. From major languages such as British English or Japanese , to regional languages with only a few hundred thousand speakers such as Malthese or Icelandic , we have plenty of options to make your audio sound just right.

Different voices can really set the tone for your content. For instance, a deep, authoritative narrator’s voice might be perfect for an audiobook or a documentary, while a friendly, upbeat voice might be better for a children’s story or an explainer video. With natural reader text to speech conversion, you can easily experiment with different options until you find the one that clicks.

We also have many polyglot voices trained to speak multiple languages seamlessly. These narrators can switch between languages in the same content, which is super handy for multilingual projects. Using a voice to-speech app with these capabilities lets you create content that feels natural and engaging, no matter the language or accent. It’s amazing how voice artificial intelligence can bring such a personal touch to digital content!

Check out the full list of text-to-voice voices for a detailed menu of all the voiceover options.

Check out additional use cases

Ai voice generator: 700 realistic ai voices in 100 languages.

Character Voice Generator

Text to Voice Audiobooks

AI Text to Speech

Program: Elon Musk’s ‘free speech’ fight with Brazil

Program: ABC News Daily

Elon Musk’s X, also known as Twitter, has been banned in Brazil and Pavel Durov, the CEO of encrypted messaging service Telegram has been arrested in France.  

So, as the world becomes more concerned about the dangers of social media, have we finally reached a turning point on big tech or is this merely a crackdown on free speech? 

Today, Professor of Communications and Media Studies at Monash University, Mark Andrejevic on why governments are finally holding tech billionaires to account.

Subscribe to ABC News Daily  on the  ABC listen app .

Image Details

Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo/File Photo ( Reuters: Gonzalo Fuentes )

Sam Hawley: It might seem like they can get away with anything, but is the law finally catching up with the tech billionaires? Elon Musk's ex has been banned in Brazil and the boss of the encrypted messaging service Telegram has been arrested in France. So as the world becomes more concerned about the dangers of social media, have we finally reached a turning point on big tech? Or is this merely a crackdown on free speech? Today, Mark Andrejevic, a media professor at Monash Uni. I'm Sam Hawley on Gadigal land in Sydney. This is ABC News Daily. So, Mark, we're going to chat about these big tech billionaires, their power and their influence, and the fact that, well, there's a couple of nations sort of going after them at the moment. So let's start in Brazil. Brazilians, they like Twitter, which of course is now known as X. There's something like 20 million users of the platform there. It's a huge market for Elon Musk, isn't it? One of these billionaires.

Mark Andrejevic: Yes, as elsewhere, I think it's a very popular social media platform, especially for political discussion. And my understanding is it's the fourth largest international market for X.

Sam Hawley: But over the weekend, Brazilians hoping to refresh their Twitter feeds were met with a blank screen. Tell me what happened.

Mark Andrejevic: Well, there had been some ongoing disputes between Elon Musk, who runs X, and a judge in Brazil who had requested that certain accounts be taken down because they were spreading false information. And Musk refused to do that. And he also refused to appoint a local representative for the company who could be held liable in Brazil. And the Brazilian government shut off access to Twitter. He is still making it available, as I understand, through his satellite network. And it's still being accessed also via VPN, which allows people to make it look like they're somewhere else than in Brazil when they access the internet.

Sam Hawley: Right, yeah, to get around the rules. What was the misinformation that the Brazilians had picked up on? What was that to do with, do we know?

Mark Andrejevic: My understanding was that it was false information being spread by supporters of Bolsonaro, the former president, that were spreading false information about rigged elections, you know, considered to be potentially harmful to democracy, to undermine credibility by spreading lies about how the electoral system was working.

Sam Hawley: So what's Elon Musk had to say about all of this? He's been on X, of course, making his views clear.

Mark Andrejevic: Elon Musk portrays himself as a free speech purist and absolutist. And his claim is he doesn't want to shut down or de-platform anyone because he wants the platform to be open and available to all for free speech. This is a somewhat hypocritical stance on his part because he has in other jurisdictions complied with restrictions to take down particular users. And he apparently does this usually because he feels some affinity for the government or because it's a big market that he wants to continue to have access to. And it's kind of an interesting question, the extent to which he will continue to deprive himself of a quite large market in Brazil, because as we know, the value of Twitter has gone down precipitously since he purchased it. And there is a question, the extent to which he can continue to tolerate the shrinkage of the economic value of that company.

Sam Hawley: So he argues, of course, the move in Brazil is a move made by an oppressive regime and it will hurt free speech. And we better unpack that a bit more in a minute. But first, the timing was really interesting, wasn't it? Because it came just after a decision by the French to also go after another one of these big tech billionaires. In that case, the founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov.

ABC News Reader: The messaging app Telegram says its founder and chief executive has nothing to hide after he was arrested in France. Pavel Durov was detained when his private jet landed in Paris.

ABC News Reader: French media say he's accused of failing to take action against criminals using Telegram.

Mark Andrejevic: Durov, as you say, is the founder of Telegram, an app that he created actually when he was concerned about what he felt were intrusions on free speech in Russia. And he is originally from Russia, although he now has multiple citizenships globally. And he created an app that he wanted people to be able to use to be free from forms of government intrusion and censorship. There's been some interesting description about the level of encryption that it provides. Encryption allows messages to be shared between people in ways that cannot be read by others besides the sender and the recipient. That would be the case of end to end encryption. And Telegram does permit end to end encryption if you specifically select it for a one to one chat. But Telegram also provides one to many chats and group chats. Those are not end to end encrypted. But what it does still allow is encryption as messages travel through the internet, which means they can't be read by other folks who managed to capture them as they go through the internet. But those messages are stored, as I understand it, on servers that Durov has access to. And that may be one of the things that the French police are interested in.

Sam Hawley: What was he actually arrested for then? There was some sort of criminal activity that police came across.

Mark Andrejevic: Yeah, it's not clear to me that they've specified the specific criminal activity. But there's certainly concerns that about the possibility that Telegram can be used for circulating child sexual abuse material, participating in illegal transactions, you know, drug transactions or other forms of criminal activity. And it seems that the French police are interested in seeing what information they're able to get from the Telegram platform that may help them in their criminal investigations. But Durov has been very recalcitrant, not even responding to requests. And it seems they felt they needed to make their points a little bit clearer. So, you know, when it comes to the overall principle, encryption does have a very important role to play in the face of oppressive regimes or in the face of investigative reporting. And even just in terms of private matters that people do not want to disclose publicly for potentially legitimate reasons. The fact that there are legitimate uses of encryption that I don't think would absolve somebody like Durov from having to at least respond to legal requests in a democratic regime like France around legitimate criminal concerns.

Sam Hawley: All right, well, let's look then, Mark, at the wider implications of this decision in Brazil and, of course, the arrest of the founder of Telegram. Do we damage free speech if apps like this are banned in other nations?

Mark Andrejevic: The notion that X itself is a free speech platform, I think, is a little bit misguided. And this is why, A, we know that Musk does de-platform folks at the requests of some governments when that request is issued. But the other thing, which I think is even more important to understand, and it rarely comes up in these discussions that take for granted the notion that this is a free speech platform, is that in important ways, X exerts editorial control. That means it has algorithms to decide what content to elevate and what content to suppress. And those algorithms pick and choose. It decides to do that based on what it thinks is going to get more engagement. So that algorithmic curation, it's commercially beneficial, but it can be socially pathological, because it's making money off of deliberately elevating the content that's the most sensational, the most attention-getting, and often the most polarizing, and very often not the truest. So this is not free speech in the sense in which the term is generally understood, which is that everybody gets equal access to voice their views. That's not the case. One of the things that's going on here is we are getting a sense of the character of what we might call unhinged billionaires who imagine they are above all of the law and all of the nations. They just radiate the sense that somehow they're above it all. And there are different ways to perform, I guess, your role as a tech billionaire. But both Durov and Musk perform that role as kind of high-profile, hyper-libertarian, free speech absolutists who imagine themselves above accountability. And I think these moments of accountability attract attention because, on the one part, there are very real issues at stake, but at the same time, there's also just a concern about the behaviour of these types of characters. And so I think both of those things are going on in the public and political reaction.

Sam Hawley: All right. Well, Mark, both of these stories, do they spell a shift in appetite for holding these tech billionaires to account? Countries are starting to take them on. Is it the beginning, do you think, of something larger?

Mark Andrejevic: Yeah. And I'm not even sure it's the beginning. As somebody who's been following the tech industry for a while, it's been really interesting to watch how it went from being a kind of darling of both journalistic and academic world and also political world to being viewed as something quite different. The tide has shifted. We had an understanding of the way in which these social media platforms are engineered to get us to spend as much time as possible, and they're kind of hacking our reward centres. And we started to be concerned about the level of use of various apps by young people. And that can come at the expense of democracy and the well-being of the populace. And unless they are regulated, they will do what other large-scale companies do, which is push the limits to make as much money as possible. I think the tide turned a while ago, and these folks who have amassed so much power and are behaving in ways that look unaccountable to large portions of the populace and also to political players who are concerned about the role that these folks can play in the political sphere, it's perhaps not surprising that we're starting to see this type of action.

Sam Hawley: Marc Andrejevic is a professor in the School of Media, Film and Journalism at Monash Uni, and a chief investigator with the ARC Centre for Automated Decision Making and Society. This episode was produced by Kara Jensen-Mackinnon. Audio production by Sam Dunn. Our supervising producer is David Coady. I'm Sam Hawley. Thanks for listening.

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