Here is a list of Best Free Open Source Text to Speech Software for Windows. These are basically speech synthesizer software which convert a text to audio to let you hear it. You can use these software for free and can even download, read, and manipulate their source codes.
Some of these support direct text input options, while many let you import a local document to convert it to speech. The supported formats to import a local file mainly include Text and Word documents. One of these software even lets you enter a URL to scrape text from a webpage and read it aloud. Many of these software provide various inbuilt voices (male and female) and accents to choose to listen to synthesized speech. While listening to the speech, you can adjust many settings of the output voice such as speech rate, pitch, volume, etc.
Additionally, many software let you save speech in an audio file in formats like MP3, WAV, etc. In general, these are quite capable text to speech converter that anyone can use without any difficulty.
My Favorite Open Source Text to Speech Software for Windows:
Central Access Reader is one of my favorite software as it provides a useful set of features and even lets you export speech to an MP3 file.
MaryTTS is also nice as it provides some unique audio effects to listen to the text.
You may also try some best free Text to Speech Converter, Text to Braille Converter, and Speech to Text Converter software for Windows.
Central Access Reader
Central Access Reader is a free open source text to speech software for Windows and Mac. You can find its source code from this link.
It is a featured text to speech converter that lets you hear a specific text, phrase, or a whole document. As input, you can paste copied text from the clipboard or you can import a Word document in DOCX format. To convert text to speech, you customize a lot of settings. Let’s check out what are these settings and which features are provided in it.
Main Features:
- You can select a voice from a few inbuilt ones including male and female voices.
- It lets you set various parameters of speech including speech rate/ speed, volume, and pause length.
- You can customize color schemes for content and highlighted words and sentences. And, it also lets you select a font to display text and customize interface theme.
- It supports Math formats including OMML (Word’s Equation Editor) and MathType to read aloud mathematical equations.
Additional Feature:
- The best part of this software is that it lets you save the speech in MP3 audio files. Hence, you can also use it as an audiobook creator.
- It also provides a Batch Convert feature which you can use to import multiple Word documents, convert them to speech, and save MP3 audios.
Conclusion:
It is one of the best free open source text to speech software that also lets you save the converted speech in an audio file.
eSpeak
eSpeak is another open source text to speech software for Windows, Linux, and BSD. You can simply enter text in this software and it will convert text to speech and read it aloud. It also supports text input from locally saved TXT and XML files.
Main Features:
- You can select a male or female voice from some provided ones to speak the text.
- It lets you customize speech speed and volume to read aloud text as per your preferences.
Additional Features:
- You can save the speech in WAV audio format. To do so, you can also select audio bitrate and format.
- It lets you input a speech in WAV file to listen to it.
Conclusion:
It is a simple yet effective open source text to speech converter using which you can also create an audiobook in WAV format.
Text To Speech Converter (by avi-jkiapt)
Text To Speech Converter (by avi-jkiapt) is yet another open source text to speech software for Windows. It is a straightforward software that is designed to convert an entered text to speech. Other than manually typing text, you can also import text from a local text file to convert it to speech.
Main Features:
- Apart from manually typing and importing a local text file, it also provides a handy feature to scrape text from webpage by providing its URL.
- Basic playback features including pause, resume, and stop are provided in it.
Conclusion:
It is an easy to use text to speech converter which reads text aloud.
Note: You can find its application file in its textToSpeechConverter-master \textToSpeechConverter-master\WindowTextSpeak\bin\Debug folder.
MaryTTS
MaryTTS is another open source text to speech software for Windows. It is a nice web based software that converts text to audio. However, to setup and use this software, you need to follow some steps. The setup instructions are mentioned below; let’s check out.
How to setup this text to speech converter:
Firstly, download the Windows installer ZIP folder and extract it. Now, run the marytts.bat file and wait until the set up is completed in command prompt. After that, open a web browser, type “localhost:59125“, and press enter. You can now use this software to convert text to speech.
Main Features:
- It supports various types of input including simple text, phonemes, SSML, intonations, words, etc.
- It comes with only a single female voice to read the text.
- Some interesting audio effects including volume, speed/ rate, robot, stadium, chorus, whisper, and more provided in it.
Additional Feature:
- After converting text to speech, you can save the audio in WAV, AIFF, and AU formats.
Conclusion:
It is a web based text to speech converter that you can use to listen to specific text and also to save the audio.
Text Converter (by therealgemjosh)
Text Converter (by therealgemjosh) is the next open source text to speech converter software for Windows. It is a simple web based software that requires a web browser to work. You can simply launch its index.html file in a browser and start using it.
Main Features:
- You can manually type a text or copy and paste text in it to convert to speech.
- You can customize the speed and pitch of the voice as per your preferences.
- It comes with some male and female voices that you can choose to hear speech.
Conclusion:
It is another basic open source text to speech converter that you can launch in a web browser and use.
TextToSpeechConverter (by Kashan Ahmed)
TextToSpeechConverter (by Kashan Ahmed) is one more free open source text to speech software on this list. It is one of the simplest software to convert text to speech. You can simply enter text in the text section or you can paste the copied text in it. After that, simply press the Speech button to convert text to voice. It reads text aloud in a default male voice. Also, you can pause, resume, or stop speech whenever required.
Conclusion:
It is another alternative to convert text to audio that anyone can use without much hassle.
Text-To-Speech-Converter (by KshitizzB)
Text-To-Speech-Converter (by KshitizzB) is yet another open source text to speech software for Windows. As it is a web based software, you need a web browser to run this software. Open its download folder and simply run the “Text to Speech.html” file in a supported web browser. You can then start converting text to speech.
Main Features:
It only provides speed and volume control features to customize speech playback.
Conclusion:
It is a decent software that you can use to simply convert text to voice.
ONLINE TTS
ONLINE TTS is one more web based open source text to speech software for Windows. Although its name suggests its an online tool, you can use it locally. You can use it through a web browser. You need to open its index.html file in a browser to use it.
Main Features:
- It provides voices in different accents including UK, American, Australian, Japanese, Korean, and Dutch. You can select a desired accent and voice from its drop down menu.
- It lets you control the speed of the speech as per your requirement.
Conclusion:
It is a standard text to speech converter that comes with basic functions to produce speech from text.