Help
The questions this tool actually raises.
Why are some accents missing?
Device voices come from your operating system, so which ones you have depends on your OS and browser. Apple devices, Android and Microsoft Edge tend to carry the most. Chrome on Windows is thin on Australian and Indian; Firefox on Linux often has only one robotic voice. Anything your device lacks is filled in by the server voices, which everyone gets.
How do I install more device voices?
iPhone or iPad: Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices → English. Android: Settings → System → Languages & input → Text-to-speech output → Google TTS → Install voice data. macOS: System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System Voice → Manage Voices. Windows: Settings → Time & language → Speech → Manage voices. Reload this page afterwards.
What's the difference between natural and basic voices?
Natural voices use a neural model and sound close to a recording, but only exist for American and British English. Basic voices use a phonetic synthesiser: audibly robotic, but precise about the sounds, and the only source for accents like Scottish or Caribbean. Each voice is labelled so you know which you are hearing.
Why does the first play of a voice take a moment?
Natural voices load a model on first use, which takes a second or two. Every play after that is near-instant. Device voices have no such delay.
Can I download the audio?
Not for device voices — browsers give no way to capture what the speech engine plays. Server voices are ordinary audio files, so your browser can save them.
Does it work offline?
Device voices marked as offline do. Turn on "Offline voices only" in Settings to hide everything that needs a connection, including all server voices.
How is male and female decided?
Server voices are recorded as one or the other. Device voices are trickier: the browser exposes no gender field at all, so it is inferred from the voice name. When that cannot be determined, the voice is shown with no gender label rather than a guess.
Still stuck?
If a voice is listed but silent, check your device isn't muted and that the page has been allowed to play audio. On iPhone, the first play must follow a tap — the browser blocks speech that starts on its own.