How Urdu is written
Urdu is spoken in Pakistan and India.
Urdu is written right to left in the Perso-Arabic script, traditionally in the flowing Nastaliq style. Spoken Urdu is close to Hindi, but the scripts differ. Books laid out in InPage, a common Urdu publishing program, need exporting to Unicode text or a PDF with a text layer first.
What to upload
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EPUB, DOCX, TXT, HTML, RTF, MOBI, AZW3 or FB2 with real Urdu text, up to 10 MB and DRM-free.
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PDFs need a text layer: a scan of printed pages without one has no text to read. Try selecting a line of Urdu in the PDF: if you can copy it, there is text to read.
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Right-to-left text is read in its natural order; keep the file as Unicode text, as modern ebooks and word processors save it.
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No file? Paste a link to a web article and it becomes a book too.
From Urdu book to audiobook
1.
Drop your file above, or choose it. It opens in seconds.
2.
Book2Speech detects the book’s language from its text. If the book opens with the wrong language, for example because it starts with a long introduction in another language, choose Urdu as the book’s language in the app.
3.
Pick a narrator. Premium voices read Urdu: play a few samples and choose the one that suits the book.
4.
Press play. Chapters, read-along text, speed, a sleep timer and your place synced between devices work as in every other language.
What Beta means for Urdu
Urdu is one of our Beta languages. Premium voices read it well, but the sound varies more from one narrator to the next than in our 42 main languages.
So play a sample with two or three narrators before you start a long book, and keep the one whose Urdu sounds right to you.
Keep your Urdu audiobook
Choose Download audiobook and get one file with chapters, cover and book details, as M4B, MP3, Opus or WAV. Urdu books are narrated with Premium voices, so a download uses your plan’s Premium hours. Play it in Apple Books, any audiobook app or the car, offline.
Questions people ask
Can Book2Speech read Urdu aloud?
Yes. Urdu is a Beta language: Premium voices read it, and quality varies more by voice than in our 42 main languages. Drop a book and hear it in seconds.
Is Urdu narration free?
You can try it free: the Free plan includes 10 minutes of Premium voices, enough to hear your Urdu book. After that, Urdu needs a paid plan, from Listener at $4.99/month or $49.90/year. Standard voices, unlimited on every plan, read English only.
What if my Urdu book is detected as another language?
Choose Urdu as the book’s language in the app, and the narrator reads it as Urdu.
Can I download an Urdu audiobook?
Yes. Download audiobook makes one file with chapters, cover and book details (M4B, MP3, Opus or WAV), narrated with Premium voices from your plan’s Premium hours.