How to use PDF to Audio
- Drop a PDF, or a photo of a page taken flat and in good light. On a phone, tap to choose the file or take the photo with the camera. A PDF that needs a password asks for it here, on your device.
- The page reads the file: a typed PDF in a moment, a scanned page or a photo in about ten to fifteen seconds a page on a computer, with the page count and the time left shown. Stop keeps the pages already read.
- Check the text in the box and fix anything misread. Choose one of six English voices, four American and two British, and a speed. A long document is split into parts of up to 20,000 characters, about 20 minutes of audio each.
- Tap "Make the audio". The voice downloads once (about 105 MB) and stays in your browser; if you have used Text to Speech here, it is already there. Listen as the sentences are made, then save the MP3 or WAV, named after your file.
Why use PDF to Audio
- PDF to speech on your device
- The text is taken from the PDF or read from the scan in your browser, and the voice is made there too, so a contract, a statement or a chapter never leaves your device. Only the voice itself downloads, once, from this site.
- Scans and photos too
- A scanned page or a photo of a printed page has no text of its own, so the page reads its picture first with PP-OCRv6, the text reader Image to Text uses. Page numbers and running heads are dropped, and a word broken over a line end is joined before it is spoken.
- Checked before it is spoken
- The text appears in a box before the voice starts, so a misread word or a stray line can be corrected. The sentence being read is marked as it plays, and tapping a sentence plays it again.
- Long documents in parts
- A document longer than 20,000 characters is read in parts of about 20 minutes of audio. When a part is done, one tap reads the next with the same voice, and each part saves as its own MP3.
- MP3 and WAV, named after the file
- Save a 64 kbps MP3 (about half a megabyte a minute) to listen anywhere, or a 16-bit WAV to edit. On a phone, Save opens the share sheet, so the file can go to Files or to another app.
- Measured on real documents
- In our test of 51 real documents, the words heard back from the audio matched the page about 9 times in 10: 90 in 100 for typed PDFs, 92 for photos of pages and 93 for single-column scans.
About this tool
PDF to Audio is free, needs no account and does all its work on your device: the text comes out of the PDF or off the scanned picture in your browser, and Kokoro-82M, an open-source text to speech model with six English voices, turns it into speech there too. It reads typed PDFs, scanned book and letter pages, and photos of printed pages, in English. The voices read English only, because no voice model we may use on this site speaks Arabic or Urdu; a document in another language is refused with a note rather than read badly, and if your phone or computer has a voice for that language the page offers it for listening, without a file. Most online PDF to speech services upload the file to a server and cap the free minutes; here the whole PDF to audiobook job, reading and voice, happens in the browser. To turn a PDF into text you can copy instead, use Image to Text; for a Word file, PDF to Word.
We measured this page before it went live: 51 real documents, typed PDFs, scanned pages and photographs of pages, were read aloud and the audio was turned back into text by speech recognition and compared with the page. About 9 words in 10 came back right overall; typed PDFs scored 90 in 100, photos of pages 92 and single-column scans 93. Pages with several columns, such as newspapers, read in the wrong order and scored far lower, so this tool is for one-column pages. Making the voice takes real computing: on a fast computer a minute of audio takes a little over a minute to make, and phones are slower, so the page plays each sentence as soon as it is ready and shows the time left from your own device's speed.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a PDF to audio for free?
Drop the PDF on this page, check the text that appears, pick a voice and tap "Make the audio". The speech is made in your browser and plays as it is made; when it is done, save it as an MP3 or WAV. There is no sign-up and no daily limit.
Is my PDF uploaded?
No. The text is taken from the PDF in your browser, scanned pages are read there, and the voice is made there. Only the voice model downloads, once, from this site and stays in your browser for next time.
Does it read scanned PDFs and photos of pages?
Yes. A scanned page or a photo has no text of its own, so the page reads its picture first with the text reader Image to Text uses (about ten to fifteen seconds a page on a computer). Take a photo flat, in good light, with the whole page in the frame; the text is shown before it is spoken, so you can fix a misread word.
Can it read Arabic or Urdu PDFs?
The AI voices read English only, so an Arabic or Urdu document is refused with a note rather than read badly. If your phone or computer has an Arabic or Urdu voice, the page offers to read the text with it at once; that voice plays but gives no file.
How long a PDF can it read?
Any length. A document over 20,000 characters (about 3,500 words) is read in parts of about 20 minutes of audio each; when one part is done, a tap reads the next with the same voice, and each part saves as its own file. A scanned PDF of about 300 pages is the practical limit on a phone.
Can I save the audio as MP3?
Yes. Save MP3 gives a 64 kbps MP3, named after your file ("annual-report.
Why is a word read wrongly?
Two things can go wrong. The text reader can misread a scanned word, which is why the text is shown first: correct it in the box before making the audio. And the voice reads dictionary words as the dictionary gives them but guesses codes, citations and unusual names from their spelling; write such a word as it sounds and make the audio again.
Does it work on iPhone and Android?
Yes. Open the page in Safari or Chrome, choose the PDF from Files or take a photo of the page with the camera, and the reading and the voice run on the phone. A long document takes longer on a phone than on a computer, so keep the page open while it works, or use a computer for a whole book.
Can I listen to a PDF without making a file?
Yes. The audio plays as soon as the first sentence is ready, and the sentence being read is marked in the text, so you can simply listen on the page. Saving the MP3 is a separate step you can skip.
Built and maintained by Saad Naeem
AI engineer, Doha · Updated