Textbooks, reports, papers, manuscripts: drop a text-based PDF and listen with a narrator you choose. Running headers and page numbers stay out of the audio.
What happens to your PDF
PDF is a page format, not a text format, so Book2Speech rebuilds the reading order first: text is extracted page by page, hard-wrapped lines are joined and end-of-line hyphenation undone, paragraphs split by a page or column break are stitched back together, and repeated running headers, footers and page numbers are removed. Chapters come from the PDF’s own outline when it has one, otherwise from lines set noticeably larger than the body text.
Scanned PDFs work when they carry a text layer (most scanner apps add one). Image-only scans are rejected with a clear message instead of producing silence.
Where PDFs usually trip up text-to-speech
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Paragraphs that continue across a page or column break are merged so sentences are not cut in half.
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Drop caps (the oversized first letter of a chapter) are re-attached to their word instead of being read on their own.
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Tables, equations and figure captions are read as text where they carry text; a dense table is better skimmed on screen.
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Long front matter: Book2Speech classifies the title page, contents and preface and suggests starting at the first real chapter.
Narration built for whole books, not snippets
Generic text-to-speech reads one paragraph at a time. Book2Speech is tuned for long-form listening: chapters are detected and kept in order, front matter (title pages, copyright notices, tables of contents) is recognised so you can start at chapter one, and playback streams ahead so the narrator never stalls mid-sentence.
Pick from 260+ narrators in 40+ languages. Every narrator has a sample, and you can switch voices on a book you have already started.
Three steps
1.
Drop the file above (or open Book2Speech and choose it). Parsing takes a few seconds.
2.
Pick a narrator. Play the samples until one fits the book.
3.
Press play. Narration starts within seconds and keeps generating ahead of you.
Listen where you read
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Web: listen in the browser on any laptop or desktop, with read-along highlighting of the sentence being spoken.
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iPhone and iPad: the Book2Speech app plays in the background, supports a sleep timer and speed control, and accepts files from the share sheet or the Files app.
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Your listening position syncs across devices, so a chapter started on the laptop continues on the phone.
Limitations worth knowing
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Files up to 5 MB; compress image-heavy PDFs first.
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Image-only scans (no text layer) cannot be narrated; run OCR in your scanner app or Preview first.
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Complex layouts (magazines, slide decks) may narrate out of order.
Your files, your rights
Upload files you own or have the right to use, up to 5 MB, without DRM. Books stay in your private library until you delete them; deleting your account removes them. Book2Speech does not resell, publish or train voices on your uploads.
Questions people ask
Will it read the page numbers and headers?
No. Repeated running headers, footers and page numbers are detected and removed before narration.
Does it work with scanned PDFs?
Yes, when the scan has a text layer. Image-only scans are rejected; add OCR in your scanning app first.
Can I listen to a textbook chapter by chapter?
Yes. Headings from the PDF outline (or detected by size) become chapters in the player, and your position is remembered per book.
Is the PDF stored?
The parsed text is stored in your private library so narration can continue where you left off. Delete the book, or your account, to remove it.
Is it free?
The Free plan includes 5 minutes of narration to try any file; paid plans add hours of new narration every month (see Plans).