Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader

Read out loud the current web-page article with one click. Supports 40+ languages.

Read Aloud: Text to Speech Voice Reader Firefox Add-on

Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader is a versatile Firefox add-on that uses text-to-speech technology to translate webpage text to audio. This add-on supports over 40 languages and works with a wide array of online platforms including news sites, blogs, and educational materials. It offers customizable settings like voice selection, pitch, and reading speed. Particularly beneficial for individuals with dyslexia, learning disabilities, children learning to read, or simply users looking for an alternative method to consume online content.

Add-on stats

Daily users: 181,098
1.61K
Version: 1.77.0 (Last updated: 2024-12-23)
Creation date: 2018-03-19
Weekly download count: 4,276
Firefox on Android: Yes
Risk impact: Moderate risk impact
Risk likelihood:
Manifest version: 2
Permissions:
  • activeTab
  • menus
  • identity
  • storage
  • https://translate.google.com/
Size: 571.49K

Other platforms

Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader (v2.18.0)
4.19 (3,239) 6,000,000
Not available on Android
Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader (v2.17.0)
4.30 (98) 486,271
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Add-on summary

Tired of sitting, tired of reading? Click a button, jump on your bed, and have the article read aloud to you. You can choose from many available male and female voices. You can also set the pitch of the voice and the reading speed. Supports PDF. Supports EPUB (via the excellent EPUBReader extension).

Read Aloud is a Firefox extension that uses text-to-speech technology to convert webpage text to audio. It works on a variety of websites, including news sites, blogs, fan fiction, publications, textbooks, school and class websites, online universities and course materials.

Read Aloud is aimed at users who prefer to listen to content instead of reading, people with dyslexia or other learning disabilities, children learning to read, or simply to provide users with alternative way to consume web content.

Read Aloud allows you to select from a variety of text-to-speech voices, including those provided natively by the browser, as well as by text-to-speech cloud service providers such as Google Wavenet, Amazon Polly, IBM Watson, and Microsoft. Some of the cloud-based voices may require additional in-app purchase to enable.

Recent developments in machine learning and artificial intelligence has enabled very high-quality speech synthesis. Google Wavenet, Amazon Polly voices, for example, use bleeding edge technology to provide life-like synthetic speech that is close to that of human speech. Read Aloud allows you to use your own Google Cloud Platform and Amazon Web Services account to enable these voices.

To use Read Aloud, simply navigate to the web page you want to read, then click the Read Aloud icon on the Firefox menu. In addition, the shortcut keys ALT-P, ALT-O, ALT-Comma, and ALT-Period can be used to Play/Pause, Stop, Rewind, and Forward, respectively. You may select the text you want to read before activating the extension. Right clicking on the selected text will provide you with yet another context-menu option to activate Read Aloud.

To change the voice, reading speed, pitch, or enable text highlighting, go to the Options page either by right clicking on the Read Aloud icon and choose Options, or by clicking the Gear button on the extension popup (you'll need to stop playback to see the Gear button).

Privacy Policy

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User reviews

These summaries are automatically generated weekly using AI based on recent user reviews. Firefox Browser Add-ons does not verify user reviews, so some user reviews may be inaccurate, spammy, or outdated.
Pros
  • Helps users with dyslexia and visual impairments
  • Supports multiple voice options, especially Piper voices which are generally praised
  • Simple to use and convenient for reading text out loud
  • Free to use, making it accessible for all
  • Import functionality for custom voices is highly appreciated
Cons
  • Default voice is often described as robotic and difficult to understand
  • Some functionality issues reported recently causing disruption in usage
  • No ability to read text from images
  • Lack of control over voice speed and pausing options
  • High CPU usage causing performance issues
Most mentioned
  • Robotic and uncomprehensible default voice
  • Piper voices improve listening experience
  • Recent functionality issues affecting usability
  • Need for more customization options
  • High CPU usage leading to performance problems
User reviews

Amazing!! I am dyslexic and this has helped me so much. Just install the piper voices and it isn't robotic and works so well. Thank you!
by yuniffle, 2025-02-02

Great, the Piper voices are excellent too👍🏻
View all user reviews

Add-on safety

Risk impact

Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader requires a few sensitive permissions. Exercise caution before installing.

Risk impact analysis details
  • Critical Request access to the following domains: google.com, ttstool.com
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Risk likelihood

Read Aloud: A Text to Speech Voice Reader has earned a fairly good reputation and likely 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.
  • Low **** ********* *** ***** **** **** * ****** **** ***** ********** *** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
  • Low **** ********* *** **** **** ****** ******* ********** **** ****** ** ** ****** *** *****
  • Good **** ********* *** **** **** *******
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