Read Aloud

Read Aloud turns any text on the web into spoken audio with a single keyboard shortcut. Highlight a word, sentence, or paragraph on any web page or PDF, press Cmd+; (Mac) or Ctrl+; (Windows/Linux), and hear it read back to you instantly. Press the shortcut again to stop. That's it. No sign-ups. No accounts. No data collection. It runs entirely in your browser. WHAT YOU CAN CUSTOMIZE Open the extension popup to adjust three settings that are saved automatically: Voice: Pick from four curated, natural-sounding English voices — Atlas, Rosalind, Sterling, and Daniel — each with a distinct tone and accent. Cadence: Slide from 0.3x (slow and deliberate) up to 2.5x (rapid-fire) to match your reading pace. Volume: Set it anywhere from silent to full. Hit the Test Voice button in the popup to preview your settings before you use them. HOW IT WORKS Highlight any text on a page Press Cmd+; or Ctrl+; A small floating indicator appears in the corner while audio plays Press the shortcut again or click the indicator to stop Long selections are automatically broken into sentence-level chunks so playback stays smooth and responsive, even on large blocks of text. WORKS ON PDFs Read Aloud supports Chrome's built-in PDF viewer out of the box. For local PDF files, enable "Allow access to file URLs" in the extension settings. BUILT FOR Proofreading your own writing by ear Accessibility and reading support Language learners hearing pronunciation Reviewing long articles without staring at a screen Anyone who finds it easier to listen than to read PRIVACY Read Aloud uses your browser's built-in speech synthesis. No text is sent to any server. No data is collected, stored, or shared. Your reading stays yours.