Text to Speech
Have any text read aloud using your browser's built-in voices — adjust the voice, speed, pitch, and volume, and follow along as each word highlights while it's spoken.
How to Convert Text to Speech
- Type or paste the text you want read aloud into the box (a sample sentence is pre-filled to try it instantly). Word count, character count, and estimated speaking time update as you type.
- Choose a voice from the dropdown — the list is populated from the voices installed on your browser and operating system.
- Adjust the Speed (0.5x-2x), Pitch (0-2), and Volume (0-1) sliders to change how the voice sounds.
- Click ▶ Speak to start playback; use ⏸ Pause to pause and resume, or ⏹ Stop to end it immediately. Watch the preview box below — the word currently being spoken is highlighted as playback moves through your text.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do the voices in the dropdown come from?
This tool uses your browser's built-in Web Speech API, so the voice list is pulled directly from the text-to-speech voices already installed on your operating system and browser — not from Fixoona's servers. That's why the available voices differ between Chrome, Safari, and different operating systems.
Why is the voice list empty or very short on my device?
Some browsers don't support the Web Speech API at all, in which case the tool disables the Speak button and shows an error. On supported browsers, voices sometimes load asynchronously after the page opens, so the list can briefly appear empty until the browser reports its voices are ready.
Does this tool record, save, or upload the audio it plays?
No. The speech is synthesized locally by your browser and operating system and played straight through your speakers — nothing is recorded, saved as a file, or sent to a server.
What do the Speed, Pitch, and Volume sliders control?
Speed sets the playback rate from 0.5x to 2x (1.0x is normal speed), Pitch adjusts the voice's pitch from 0 (low) to 2 (high) with 1.0 as the default, and Volume controls loudness from 0 (silent) to 1 (full volume, the default). All three values are passed directly to the browser's speech engine when you click Speak.
Can I download the spoken text as an MP3 or WAV file?
No. The Web Speech API this tool relies on only supports live, in-browser playback — it has no built-in way to capture or export what it speaks as an audio file. That's a limitation of the browser API itself, not something this tool can work around without a server-side text-to-speech service, which this free static site doesn't use. If you need an audio file, you'd need separate screen- or audio-recording software to capture the playback.
How does the word-by-word highlighting work while it speaks?
As the browser speaks your text, this tool listens for word-boundary events from the Web Speech API and highlights the matching word in the preview box below the text area. Support for these boundary events varies by browser and voice — most Chrome and Edge voices report them reliably, while some Safari or lower-quality voices may not fire them at all, in which case playback still works normally but the highlight won't move.
How is the estimated speaking time calculated?
It's based on your word count divided by an average spoken pace of 150 words per minute at 1.0x speed, then scaled by the Speed slider — so setting Speed to 2x roughly halves the estimated time. It's an estimate only; actual playback time depends on the voice, punctuation, and pauses in your text.