Read Aloud: Text to Speech (TTS, Listen to Text)

Name: Read Aloud: Text to Speech (TTS, Listen to Text)
Rating: 4.265230312035661 (2692 reviews)
Author: https://thereadme.com

Text to Speech (TTS) reads aloud text, PDFs & e-books with natural voices.

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Read Aloud: Text to Speech (TTS, Listen to Text) is a powerful Chrome extension that converts web pages, articles, PDFs, and e-books into natural-sounding speech. It supports multiple languages, male and female voices, and customizable voice settings including tone and speed, enabling users to listen effortlessly instead of reading.

This extension runs directly in your browser with no registration required. Users can select entire pages or specific sections to be read aloud, control playback with pause, rewind, and fast-forward features, and even generate summaries for YouTube videos, PDFs, and web articles. It works offline for local files and offers a time-saving, eye-friendly alternative for learning, research, and casual reading. Its intuitive interface and high-quality voice synthesis make it ideal for students, professionals, and anyone who prefers auditory content consumption.

Accessibility Productivity Education Utilities

By:

https://thereadme.com

Users:

500,000+

Rating:

4.27

(2,692) 6 new ratings

Version:

1.1.9 Last updated: 2025-03-24

Creation date:

2020-09-18

Risk:

Permissions:

tts
ttsEngine
contextMenus
unlimitedStorage
storage
webRequest
sidePanel
scripting

Host permissions:

<all_urls>

Size:

2.72M

Email:

an*****@gmail.com

URLs:

Website ,Privacy policy

Full description:

See detailed description ⏷

Source:

Chrome Web Store

Updated:

a day ago

Ranking

# 697 ▲ 24

Other rankings

#355 in Accessibility ▲ 4

#2 in text to speech keyword 77 ▲ 1

#4 in listen keyword 14 ▲ 4

#4 in speech keyword 76 ▲ 5

#10 in speech to text keyword 45 ▲ 5

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Other platforms

Read Aloud: Text to Speech (TTS, Listen to Text) (v1.1.9)

29,297+ 4.30

(59)

User reviews

Users praise Read Aloud for its usefulness in proofreading, aiding those with reading difficulties, and its customization options. Many rely on it daily for smooth, natural reading with AI enhancements. However, several users report issues after recent updates, such as the extension stopping after each sentence, persistent rating prompts, and compatibility problems with robot detection on some sites. Minor glitches and privacy concerns about data transmission have also been noted. Overall, it remains a highly recommended, practical tool despite some recurring technical issues.

Pros

Very useful for proofreading scripts and texts out loud.
Helps with multitasking and is efficient for users with visual or reading challenges.
Multiple voice options and customization features like volume, speed, and background color.
Works on a variety of webpage texts, including some behind paywalls.
Regular updates improve usability and add features like AI-powered summarization.

Cons

Stops reading after each sentence, requiring frequent manual clicks to continue reading.
Annoying rate prompt that appears repeatedly even after rating.
Negatively impacts robot detection on some webpages, making it unusable in those cases.
Some minor reading glitches like pauses or freezes during reading.
Privacy concerns about sending accessed content to external servers.

Recent reviews

Tool works like a TTS. My only grumble about it is that I can't change the placement and size of the sidebar. It takes up a lot of valuable work space and I don't need 2 views of the text being read.

Kai Tilvan, 2025-05-09

Has stopped working since a month with this message - Something went wrong. This page cannot be read because it may be a Chrome system page or the content script is not loaded. Please try refreshing the page or opening another one and re-opening the extension window. Same thing everytime.

Sidd zaz, 2025-05-09

confusing interface and opens side bar that has to be closed unless you are ok with so much space being taken away. not enough voice manipulation. tested voice doesn't match actual when used on page. have spent too much time already trying to figure out how to use this thing, so i'm not going to continue with detailing issues. There is a much better extension to read allowed that I've been using for a long time and it is much easier to use and straight forwaard in its presentation. Unfortunately it has a lower rating than this thing. I don't recommend this extension.

Larry Hirschhorn, 2025-05-08

View all user reviews ›

Extension safety

Risk impact

Read Aloud: Text to Speech (TTS, Listen to Text) requires some sensitive permissions that could impact your browser and data security. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details

Critical Allows access to all websites, posing a significant security risk as it can monitor and modify data from any visited site.
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Risk likelihood

Read Aloud: Text to Speech (TTS, Listen to Text) has earned a good reputation and can be trusted.

Risk likelihood analysis details

Medium This extension was updated in the past 3 months. New updates may not be stable or safe.
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