Talkie
< 8000 a id="user-content---talkie" class="anchor" aria-label="Permalink: Talkie" href="#--talkie">Text-to-speech (TTS) browser extension button
|
|
|
- Install Talkie from Google Chrome Web Store when using:
- Google Chrome
- Microsoft Edge
- Brave, Chromium, Vivaldi, etcetera.
- Install Talkie from Mozilla Firefox Addons when using:
- Mozilla Firefox
Developer option: use the source code directly.
Talkie: free to use as much as you like
Talkie Premium: donate what you want for more options and features
You choose how much you want to donate for Talkie Premium, depending on how much the additional features are worth to you. You can even choose to donate nothing.
- Install Talkie in your browser.
- Enable Talkie Premium on the features tab in Talkie's options.
- Before you donate, make sure you are happy with all that Talkie Premium can offer.
- Donate from the features tab in Talkie's options.
New TTS voices, languages, dialects can be downloaded for free from for example Microsoft, Google, Apple. Restart your computer after adding voices; afterwards Talkie should auto-detect and list them in the voice options.
You can test installed TTS voices in the live demo by Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).
| Operating system | Where to look |
|---|---|
| Windows 11 | Settings → Time & Language → Language & Region → Add a language |
| Windows 10 | Settings → Time & Language → Language → Add a language |
| Windows 8 | Control Panel → Language → Add a Language |
| Windows 7 | |
| ChromeOS | Settings → Accessibility → Text-to-Speech → Speech Engines |
| macOS | System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System voice |
| Linux | Varies per distribution, packaging system, and browser. |
Note that not all voices work with all browsers; you may try installing Talkie in another browser. In Microsoft Windows the TTS voice support is generally the best in Microsoft Edge.
Voice installation in Linux
TTS voices on Linux have varying quality; from recently developed "natural" voices to ancient "robotic" voices. Not all distributions nor browsers include TTS software, and may have no (zero) TTS voices available by default.
There are many open source alternatives for TTS software on Linux, although their integration with the operating system and browser varies. Addtitionally, the browser may be sandboxed (Flatpak, Snap, etcetera) and require separate TTS integration.
The topic is too broad to give specific voice installation instructions; please consult your systems documentation, or other sources of information.
- Stack Exchange: Questions tagged [text-to-speech] at Unix & Linux.
- Stack Exchange: Questions tagged [text-to-speech] at Ask Ubuntu.
- Stack Exchange: Questions tagged [speech-synthesis] at Software Recommendations.
- Stack Exchange: How can I change the voice used by Firefox in Ubuntu? at Ask Ubuntu.
There are several convenient ways to use Talkie.
- Select desired text on any web page.
- Click the Talkie button in your browser toolbar ↗︎↗︎↗︎
- Select the text, then right click on it
- Choose
The right-click menu also works in most PDF-files and some special types of web pages in the browser.
- Copy text to the clipboard from any program.
- Use the "read from clipboard" shortcut key from anywhere.
You can also right-click on the Talkie Premium button, or in an empty area of a website, and select read from clipboard.
A fast, easy, and convenient option is to use Talkie's configurable keyboard shortcuts.
| Action | Edition | Windows, Linux, ChromeOS | macOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start/stop | Alt+Shift+A | ⌥+Shift+A | |
| Start/stop and show menu | Ctrl+Shift+A | ⌘+Shift+A | |
| Read text from clipboard in any program | Ctrl+Shift+1 | ⌘+Shift+1 |
If the shortcut key does not work, please check that it is not already in use by another extension or program.
How to check or change the Talkie shortcut keys in Google Chrome
- In Chrome, click Extensions in the Window menu.
- Click Keyboard shortcuts in the left side menu.
- From the Keyboard Shortcuts window you can check or change keyboard shortcuts for all Chrome extensions and apps. You can also verify that there are no shortcut key collisions between extensions.
- You can also reach the extensions page in Google Chrome directly with
chrome://extensions/and the keyboard shortcut configuration withchrome://extensions/shortcuts, but you might have to copy-paste the address manually.
How to check or change the Talkie shortcut keys in Firefox
See also the official documentation on how to manage extension shortcuts in Firefox.
- In Firefox, click Add-ons in the Tools menu.
- From the Add-ons page, click Extensions in the left side menu.
- At the top right of the extensions list, click Manage Extension Shortcuts in the gear button menu.
- From the Manage Extension Shortcuts window you can check or change extension shortcuts for all Firefox extensions. You can also verify that there are no shortcut key collisions between extensions.
- You can also reach the extensions page in Firefox directly with
about:addons, but you might have to copy-paste the address manually.
| Feature | Edition | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Ease-of-use | Just highlight the text you want to hear, and hit play. | |
| Unlimited text | Listen to short snippets or entire articles without limits. | |
| Automatic language detection | Picks the correct language from installed voices. | |
| Keyboard shortcuts | Fast, easy, configurable. | |
| Privacy aware | No unnecessary tracking or external services. | |
| Choose your favorite voice | Great if you get tired of the system voice. | |
| Choose speed and pitch | Adjust voices to your liking. | |
| Read from the clipboard | Just copy text from anywhere in any program. | |
| Warm, fuzzy feeling | Support open source software by independent developers. | |
| Free | Free to use as much as you like. | |
| Pay what you want | Pay what you want. |
Web Speech API
Talkie uses your browser's built-in Web Speech API for text-to-speech (TTS), also known as Speech Synthesis.
- As the Web Speech API is implemented by your browser, your choice of browser and browser settings may affect Talkie.
- All text and speech is processed internally by your browser. While ultimately depending on your specific browser, processing is expected to be done on your own machine and not use a server.
- Sound is only produced, never recorded.
See also:
- Web Speech API at Web Incubator Community Group (WICG).
- Web Speech API at Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).
- Speech Synthesis at Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).
- Speech synthesizer live demo by Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).
Language detection
Not all languages are supported; consult your browser's voice documentation.
The language detection is performed in four steps, where the first valid value is chosen. If no language was detected, a notice is spoken (in English).
- Your browser's text language detection for the selection, using word and sentence analysis.
- The first available
lang="..."attribute from the selected text's parent HTML elements. - The
lang="..."attribute from the HTML root element of the current page (or frame). - Your browser's page primary language detection.
The Web Speech API can use more than one voice per language (currently over 20 for en-US in Google Chrome version 55), as well as modify speech rate (speed) and pitch. These options have been implemented in Talkie Premium as a paid feature.
Installing voices
The voices for each language are provided by your browser. For this reason the list may differ depending on your browser, browser version, operating system, and any other installed extensions/software.
To see the list of languages/voices available in your specific browser, as well as speak out sample text, check the Talkie options page after installation. This is a good start in figuring out why a certain language might not be read out loud as expected.
You can install additional voices to support new languages and dialects; see separate installation instructions for your operating system.
See also:
- Speech synthesiser live demo by Mozilla Developer Network (MDN).
Acknowledgements
- Thanks to Liron Tocker for coming up with the name Talkie, the fancy icons, and promotional graphics (2016-12-31, 2017-04-09):
- Thanks to Miroslava Jovičić for the fancy user interface redesign (2017-05-29), and promotional graphics (2017-07-30, 2017-08-01).
Talkie Copyright © 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Joel Purra. Released under GNU General Public License version 3.0 (GPL-3.0).