Choose a Narrator voice
Compare the on-device and cloud voices in Narrator, then set the voice and speed you prefer.
Choose a voice in Settings → Narrator → Voice and playback. The list shows the voices for the Narrator model chosen in Settings → Models: the EP-1 voices on your Mac, or the cloud library.
Compare the voice types
Narrator offers voices that run on your Mac and a library of voices in Epilude's cloud. New installs start with a cloud voice, except on Pay Once, which starts with the EP-1 voice.
| Voice | Where it runs | Internet | Allowance |
|---|---|---|---|
| EP-1 | Your Apple Silicon Mac | Needed only for the download | No limit |
| Cloud voice | Epilude's cloud | Yes | Metered in minutes |
The EP-1 voice keeps the text and audio on your Mac during playback. Cloud voices send the text to Epilude for speech generation. Putting any narration on the web is a separate action covered in Share a narration.
Choose the on-device voice
Select a EP-1 voice when you want the text read on your Mac with no allowance. The first selection offers the voice download if it is not installed.
English is included in the main voice download, with 28 English voices to choose from. Voices marked British use British pronunciation. Extra English voices and the German, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese voices download when you choose one.
Check the language
English and German have recorded automated speech evaluations. French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese voices are experimental and have not had the same quality evaluation; pronunciation and pacing may be unreliable. German evaluations also found long pauses in some passages.
The voice picker shows each on-device voice's language and marks experimental voices. Preview a voice in the language you plan to read before choosing it.
Download the matching language voice to read non-English text. The English voice alone does not provide a French voice. Narrator uses the matching voice for detected sentences when that language's download is installed. Otherwise, the selected voice attempts to read the sentence and the player shows a notice; that does not guarantee correct pronunciation.
The EP-1 voice needs an Apple Silicon Mac. On an Intel Mac, Narrator reads with cloud voices only.
Choose a cloud voice
To use a cloud voice, choose Cloud on the Narrator model card in Settings → Models. Then pick one in Settings → Narrator → Voice and playback, where you can search the library and preview a voice before choosing it. While a cloud voice is selected, Voice Library… in the floating player's More menu, or in the voice menu on the Narrator page, opens the full library with search, favorites and previews.
The trial includes 5 minutes of cloud voice, and Pro includes 60 minutes each month. Pay Once does not include cloud voices. Read How cloud voice minutes work for what counts and what happens at the limit.
Set the speed
Change Speed in Settings → Narrator → Voice and playback, or with the speed control on the player while you listen, from 0.5× to 3×. Narrator keeps the last speed you chose, including after you quit.
Change what Narrator reads and how it pauses
The Reading card in Settings → Narrator lets you choose what Narrator leaves out, such as citations, web addresses, and code blocks, and change pauses at sentence and paragraph ends. How Narrator works lists each switch and the languages it applies to. Pauses applies in full to the EP-1 voice. Cloud voices keep their own pauses or change only the pause between paragraphs, and the Pauses row says which.
To change how Narrator says a name or a product word, give it a pronunciation in Vocabulary.