How do voice overs for audiobooks work? What’s the best AI-powered voice over platform for audiobook narration?

9 text to speech apps that read EPUB files

EPUB is a file format used for ebooks. This ebook format is a widely accepted abbreviation which stands for electronic publication. There are various benefits of switching to EPUB files instead of physical books. It’s definitely more sustainable, more easily concealed, and accessible. Plus, you can use text to speech engines and apps to read the content aloud and make any EPUB text into an audiobook. Speaking of accessibility, text to speech (TTS) tools can be found in many ebook readers to help readers who have difficulty reading due to conditions such as dyslexia or visual impairment. While there may be some DRM issues, reading can never be a barrier again thanks to TTS tools.

General overview

EPUBs usually don’t have a read out loud option, so if you have any kind of reading difficulty or simply prefer listening over reading, you’ll need to find an adequate text to speech tool to help you in this endeavor. TTS tools are different in many ways—depending on your device’s operating system, file formats, personal preferences, language and voice options, and many more factors. We are here to help you find yours!

@Voice Aloud Reader

This text to speech app can read aloud web pages, emails, TXT, PDF files, DOC, DOCX, RTF, OpenOffice documents, EPUB, MOBI, PRC, AZW, and FB2 ebook text files. @Voice Aloud Reader is available for mobile devices, iOS and Android. Customer reviews on Amazon give @Voice Aloud Reader 3.9 out of 5 stars. Languages available on this app are Arabic, Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

eReader Prestigio: Book Reader

eReader Prestigio is a multi-lingual, multi-format text and audio book reading app. While available in 25 different languages, eReader Prestigio is obtainable on Android mobile devices only, meaning you can’t use it on your iPhone. This TTS app also has 3.9 out of 5 ratings. As far as the formats go, this app can read aloud epub, epub3, fb2, fb2. zip, mobi, pdf, html, doc, rtf, txt files, and Adobe DRM.

Librera Reader

Librera Reader enables you to read ebooks on your Android device. While not a TTS app itself, Librera can read your books out loud by using a third-party TTS engine installed on your Android. This epub reader can be used for PDF, EPUB, MOBI, DjVu, FB2, TXT, RTF, AZW, AZW3, HTML, CBZ, and CBR formats. Librera can also convert text and serves as a screen reader with available bookmarks.

Pocket

The Pocket app was previously known as Read It Later. Pocket is a good choice for saving articles and stories, but it’s not a text to speech tool itself. However, it can easily be integrated with another TTS app for the best experience. Forgotten bookmarks are known to all of us, and with Pocket, there are multiple ways to save content, and even access it offline. Add a TTS tool to it, and you can have an audiobook of your favorite articles.

Narrator's Voice

Narrator’s Voice is an app that lets you create and share content using a narrator’s voice of your choice. Amazon’s verdict for this app is 3 out of 5 stars. This is a popular program for those looking to create voiceovers. With many voice effects, you can create messages and videos using various voices and styles of speech. This app is currently only available for Android.

Google Text to Speech

Google TTS, also known as Google Speech Services, is a screen reader application developed by Google for its Android operating system. This tool converts text into speech in more than 220 voices across 40+ languages and dialects. You can either choose a voice to read the text aloud to you, or even create a custom one. Speech Services are not free, however, and their pricing is based on the number of characters turned into audio files each month.

Talk FREE

Talk FREE is another TTS app you can find on Google Play. Apart from reading aloud, Talk FREE can also customize font and text size for you. While Talk FREE is a good text to speech app, it’s limited to only work on Android phones. With Talk FREE, you can turn all your messages to voice messages, which is great for people with vision disabilities.

Speechify

We saved the best for last. Speechify is a mobile and desktop text to speech app that, besides reading any digital text aloud, turns physical books or printed text into audio. It’s also the #1 rated app in the App Store. With over 150,000 5-star reviews, Speechify is available as a Chrome extension, for all iOS and Android devices, as well as for Mac and Microsoft Windows. Speechify users, over 20 million of them, are mostly students, working professionals, people who prefer listening to reading, and people who want to be more productive by speed-listening. Speechify supports over a dozen different languages with customizable and natural-sounding voices. Virtually any file type can be converted from text to speech, including epub, and audio can be exported in both WAV and MP3 formats. The premium version also includes optical character recognition (OCR) support, which means you can take a picture of any text and have the TTS app instantly read to you out loud. Give Speechify a try for free today to listen to all of your epub files and more.

FAQs

Can EPUB books be read aloud?

Yes! EPUB readers can easily be”brought to life” (i.e., be read aloud) with the help of helpful text to speech engines such as Speechify. This is also convenient for digital rights management (DRM).

Does EPUB have text to speech?

While EPUBs function as digital text only, there are useful TTS tools you can use to listen to your favorite electronic publications. One of them is Speechify with over 20 million users.

Is there an app that will read text aloud from a book?

Yes, Speechify will gladly do it for you! If you’re an iOS user, you can easily download Speechify on Apple Store. It’s also available on Google Play Store and as a Chrome extension.

How do you use text to speech in eBooks?

If you’re using Kindle to read books, keep in mind that a lot of TTS apps aren’t available for these devices. However, there are many great apps like Speechify that you can use on your phone, your computer, iPad, and even within your browser.

What are the benefits of text to speech?

With text to speech tools, reading is no longer a barrier. It’s a true game changer for people with dyslexia, but it can also increase your productivity by adjusting the reading speed, enriching your vocabulary and improving your pronunciation.