Office365 and Edge both let you open PDF's and use Microsoft's natural voices, that requires an Internet connection I think. If you want to go offline, some of the Piper voices are quite good for longer-form reading, although not designed for screen reader use I think. Eleven Labs seems to be the current gold standard for naturality, but of course not free. I'm sure there will be competition in terms of quality and pricing from other places soon. Answer from retrolental_morose on reddit.com
TechRadar
techradar.com › pro › software & services
Best free text-to-speech software of 2025 | TechRadar
September 19, 2025 - Natural Reader offers one of the best free text-to-speech software experiences, thanks to an easy-going interface and stellar results. It even features online and desktop versions.
LilySpeech
lilyspeech.com › home
Free Speech To Text Software, Free Voice Recognition Software, Free Voice To Text Software, Free Dictation Software, Free Speech Recognition Software | LilySpeech
April 13, 2021 - LilySpeech allows you to type with your voice anywhere in Windows. Download LilySpeech for FREE today to start dictating your emails and documents. Extremely accurate recognition is made possible by leveraging Google Chrome voice to text technology.
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Freeware TTS Review: The 7 Best Free Text-to-Speech Software of ...
Microsoft Store
apps.microsoft.com › detail › 9n6hc0f4l9lt
Text to Speech Free - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
Want to listen to text being read out to you? Simply Install our software today and just paste in the text you want read out. Our text to speech software will begin reading out the text to you. There are over 10+ accents you can choose from as well. Choose the type of voice you wish to listen to.
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Office365 and Edge both let you open PDF's and use Microsoft's natural voices, that requires an Internet connection I think. If you want to go offline, some of the Piper voices are quite good for longer-form reading, although not designed for screen reader use I think. Eleven Labs seems to be the current gold standard for naturality, but of course not free. I'm sure there will be competition in terms of quality and pricing from other places soon.
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online and Free Text-to-speech Converter Same as Speechify and Most Paid Converters https://youtu.be/RORvb1lA6fM
Microsoft Store
apps.microsoft.com › detail › 9p870pxxwj0r
Text-to-Voice - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
The text-to-voice converts text to speech. You can enter your own text, and convert. Text you can store and play button again. The voices are dependent on Windows 10 extra votes can be added to the Windows settings.
Balabolka
balabolka.en.softonic.com › home › windows › multimedia › audio
Balabolka - Download
4 weeks ago - In conclusion, Balabolka is a high-quality and feature-rich text-to-speech program for Windows. Its extensive file format support, customizable voices, and advanced tools make it an excellent free option for a wide range of users.
LilySpeech
lilyspeech.com › home › loc2
Text To Speech Software For Pc Free Download
July 22, 2021 - This is made possible by the fact that the actual speech-to-text conversion occurs in the cloud and does not use your local machines resources. Our Free* version of LilySpeech is fully functional with no limitations.
Epubor
epubor.com › best-text-to-speech-software-for-windows.html
5 Best Free Text to Speech Software for Windows 10 and 11
March 24, 2022 - No need to install any third-party text to speech software. So easy and convenient to use the TTS feature. Choose among all the voices on your computer to read the text to you. Balabolka is a totally free Text-To-Speech (TTS) program. It can save narrations as audio files in a range of formats ...
Speechify
speechify.com › blog › text-to-speech-software-free-download
Text to Speech Software Free Download: A Comprehensive Guide | Speechify
November 9, 2023 - Download the free version from the official website. Install the software on your operating system (Windows, Mac, etc.). Open the software and upload the text file. Select the desired voice and language. Convert the text to audio and save the file in formats like mp3 or wav. OCR Functionality: Converts printed text to digital text, then to speech.
Ttssoft
ttssoft.org › text-to-speech-software
Text to Speech Software Free Download for Windows PC
The software has a lot of features such as reading aloud books with a natural-sounding voice. If you want a text to voice reader, then you are on the right website and are able to use Audio Reader XL.
Microsoft Store
apps.microsoft.com › detail › 9pmv6wxsdhjp
Text to Speech - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
The system may ask to download the required libraries if they are not already installed on your device. With Text to Speech, your device will speak what you type or save as audio file.
NaturalReader
naturalreaders.com › webapp.html
Free Text to Speech Online - NaturalReader
Read along with word-by-word highlight, enlarged text size and the option to turn on dyslexia font. ... NaturalReader is designed to make reading more accessible for individuals with dyslexia, ADHD and other reading-based learning differences. ... We strongly recommend that all customers try before you buy. You can try the application for free from this page or by clicking on the 'Online Reader' link from our website: https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/ By default, all subscriptions are set to auto-renew at the end of the billing period but you can turn this off at any time by selecting 'Cancel Subscription' from your account's Billing Information.
Cross+A
cross-plus-a.com › balabolka.htm
Balabolka
Balabolka is a text-to-speech application (freeware)
Notta
notta.ai › en › blog › speech-to-text-software-free-download-for-windows-10
15 Best Speech to Text Software Free Download for Windows 10
15 best speech to text software for Windows 10 worth trying: 1. Notta. 2. Microsoft-word. 3. Windows Dictation. 4. Windows Speech Recognition. 5. Google Docs Voice typing. 6. Dragon Professional.
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tortoise-tts is a great choice, Its free, open source, and works offline. You can check their repo on Github here: https://github.com/neonbjb/tortoise-tts
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Balabolka fulfills your requirements:
- is gratis (freeware, not open-source)
- works on windows (I use it on Windows 10, but the website says it supports Windows 11 as well)
- works offline
- works "cut and paste"
- can just play the text in order to listen to the text
- can save as WAV and MP3
- no web browser needed
However, the problem with typical TTS is not the program, but the voices. Balabolka works with Microsoft SAPI voices and it'll be hard to get good gratis voices. If you compare Microsoft David or Microsoft Zira to what you get from modern AI generated stuff, that's far behind.
The website lists many places where you can get voices. Please note that even if you buy them, you can still not use most of them commercially (AFAIK, last checked ~2019).
NaturalReader
naturalreaders.com › software.html
NaturalReader Text to Speech Software Download
NaturalReader is a downloadable text-to-speech desktop software for personal use. This easy-to-use software with natural-sounding voices can read to you any text such as Microsoft Word files, webpages, PDF files, and E-mails.
Zapier
zapier.com › app picks › best apps
The 9 best dictation and speech-to-text software in 2026
December 24, 2018 - Windows Voice Access for free dictation software on Windows ... Dictation software is a speech-to-text (or voice-to-text) program that listens to spoken language through a microphone and automatically converts it into written text on a computer ...
PCMag
uk.pcmag.com › mixed roundup › productivity
The Best Text-to-Speech Apps and Tools for 2025
February 24, 2025 - Read on for more information about where to find these features and what you need to know about the best standalone apps. Balabolka is a free app for Windows (I tested it on Windows 11; it works on Windows XP or later).
NaturalReader
naturalreaders.com › online
Free Text to Speech Online with Realistic AI Voices
Convert text into ultra-realistic audio. Have any text read aloud with AI Voices. AI text reader for pdfs, books, documents, and webpages.