# Text to Speech: PDF, DOCX → MP3 + Subtitles, Ukrainian +22 More (`ai_admin/text-to-speech`) Actor

Natural neural voices licensed for commercial use: text, PDF and Word files to MP3/WAV/OGG with SRT/VTT subtitles. 37 voices in 23 languages incl. 3 Ukrainian voices (rare on the market), English, German, Spanish. No API key, no per-character fees.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ai_admin/text-to-speech.md
- **Developed by:** [Andriy Kuzmenko](https://apify.com/ai_admin) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, Videos, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $10.00 / 1,000 audio minute (standard voice)s

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Text to Speech: PDF, DOCX → MP3 + Subtitles, Ukrainian +22 More

Turn text, articles, PDFs and Word documents into natural-sounding speech — MP3, WAV or OGG — with SRT and VTT
subtitles. Neural voices run inside the Actor: no API key, no account elsewhere, no per-character fees.

**Listen first:** [Ukrainian — Mykyta (recommended)](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/FloomuI2DrQCJazY8/records/tts-sample-uk_UA-mykyta-high.mp3) · [Ukrainian — Tetiana](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/FloomuI2DrQCJazY8/records/tts-sample-uk_UA-tetiana-high.mp3) ·
[English HQ — LJSpeech](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/FloomuI2DrQCJazY8/records/tts-sample-en_US-ljspeech-high.mp3) · [English fast — John](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/FloomuI2DrQCJazY8/records/tts-sample-en_US-john-medium.mp3) ·
[German — Thorsten](https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/FloomuI2DrQCJazY8/records/tts-sample-de_DE-thorsten-high.mp3)

### Why this Actor

| | This Actor | Typical alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| **Commercial use** | Every voice is CC0, public domain, Apache 2.0 or CC BY 4.0 — safe for YouTube, courses, ads and client work | Many free voices are "non-commercial only" (CC BY-NC); unofficial Edge or Google voices may break those services' terms |
| **Ukrainian** | 3 natural high-quality Ukrainian voices (українська озвучка тексту), word stress from a Ukrainian dictionary, lively intonation | Rarely offered at all; open voices often stress Ukrainian words wrongly |
| **Documents in** | PDF, DOCX, HTML, Markdown, TXT — menus, scripts and Markdown symbols skipped | Plain text only; you copy and clean the text yourself |
| **Subtitles** | SRT + VTT timed per sentence, free | Extra tool or extra fee |
| **Cost** | Per minute of audio; no API key or subscription elsewhere | ElevenLabs-style wrappers need your own paid key and bill per character |

### Features

- **37 neural voices in 23 languages:** Ukrainian, US and UK English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Polish,
  Portuguese, Dutch, Czech, Russian, Romanian, Finnish, Hungarian, Slovak, Swedish, Danish, Greek, Latvian, Slovenian,
  Chinese, Persian, Vietnamese.
- **Speed control** 0.5×–2×, natural pauses between sentences and paragraphs.
- **Delivery:** "Lively" (more varied intonation) or "Standard" (even and calm); "Auto" uses Lively for Ukrainian.
- **Audiobooks, podcasts, e-learning, accessibility:** long texts (up to 1,000,000 characters per item) are read
  sentence by sentence.

### Input

```json
{
  "text": "Hello! This is a natural-sounding neural voice.",
  "sources": [{ "url": "https://example.com/article.pdf" }],
  "voice": "en_US-john-medium",
  "speed": 1.12,
  "style": "auto",
  "format": "mp3",
  "subtitles": true
}
```

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `text` | Text to read; blank lines separate paragraphs |
| `sources` | Links to TXT, Markdown, HTML, PDF or DOCX files — one audio file each. Files in your own Apify key-value store work too: set the store's access to "Anyone with ID can read" and use `https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/<store ID>/records/<key>` (the Actor runs with limited permissions and does not use your token). |
| `voice` | Voice ID from the table below |
| `speed` | 0.5–2; default 1.12 (smoother, fewer hesitations than the voice's own pace 1.0) |
| `style` | `auto` (default), `lively` or `standard` |
| `format` | `mp3` (64 kbit/s), `wav`, `ogg` (Opus) |
| `subtitles` | Also return `.srt` and `.vtt` |
| `maxCharactersPerItem` | Longer texts are cut; ~750–900 characters ≈ 1 minute of speech |

### Voices

| Language | Voice IDs |
|---|---|
| Ukrainian | `uk_UA-tetiana-high`, `uk_UA-mykyta-high`, `uk_UA-oleksa-high` |
| English (US) | `en_US-ljspeech-high`, `en_US-john-medium`, `en_US-kristin-medium`, `en_US-bryce-medium`, `en_US-norman-medium`, `en_US-joe-medium` |
| English (UK) | `en_GB-cori-high`, `en_GB-alba-medium` |
| German | `de_DE-thorsten-high`, `de_DE-kerstin-low` |
| French | `fr_FR-siwis-medium`, `fr_FR-gilles-low` |
| Spanish (Spain) | `es_ES-davefx-medium` |
| Spanish (Mexico) | `es_MX-claude-high` |
| Italian | `it_IT-serena-high` |
| Polish | `pl_PL-gosia-medium`, `pl_PL-darkman-medium` |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | `pt_BR-faber-medium` |
| Dutch | `nl_NL-pim-medium` |
| Czech | `cs_CZ-jirka-medium` |
| Russian | `ru_RU-denis-medium`, `ru_RU-dmitri-medium` |
| Romanian | `ro_RO-mihai-medium` |
| Finnish | `fi_FI-harri-medium` |
| Hungarian | `hu_HU-anna-medium` |
| Slovak | `sk_SK-lili-medium` |
| Swedish | `sv_SE-nst-medium` |
| Danish | `da_DK-talesyntese-medium` |
| Greek | `el_GR-rapunzelina-medium` |
| Latvian | `lv_LV-aivars-medium` |
| Slovenian | `sl_SI-artur-medium` |
| Chinese | `zh_CN-chaowen-medium` |
| Persian | `fa_IR-amir-medium` |
| Vietnamese | `vi_VN-vais1000-medium` |

`high` voices sound best and cost more per minute; `medium` and `low` are a little more synthetic, but about 7× faster.

### Output

```json
{
  "url": "https://example.com/article.pdf",
  "voice": "en_US-ljspeech-high",
  "language": "English (US)",
  "format": "mp3",
  "characters": 5240,
  "truncated": false,
  "durationSeconds": 352.4,
  "sentences": 61,
  "audioUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/0002-article.mp3",
  "srtUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/0002-article.srt",
  "vttUrl": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/.../records/0002-article.vtt"
}
```

A document that cannot be downloaded or read gets an `error` field instead and is **not charged**.

### Pricing

| Event | Price | What counts |
|---|---|---|
| `audio-minute` | **$10 per 1,000** (1 cent a minute, $0.60 per hour) | one started minute of audio with a `medium` or `low` voice |
| `hq-audio-minute` | **$40 per 1,000** (4 cents a minute, $2.40 per hour) | one started minute of audio with a `high` voice (needs ~7× more computing) |

Plus Apify's standard start fee of $0.05 per 1,000 runs. Subtitles are free. The run stops before it would exceed your
maximum charge per run.

### Related Actors

- [Audio & Video Transcriber](https://apify.com/ai_admin/audio-transcriber) — the other direction: speech to text and subtitles
- [Document to Markdown for AI](https://apify.com/ai_admin/document-to-markdown) — PDFs, scans and Office files → Markdown
- [Image to Text OCR](https://apify.com/ai_admin/image-to-text-ocr) — scanned pages to text, then to speech

Open source: [github.com/AndriyVK/-apify-document-tools](https://github.com/AndriyVK/-apify-document-tools)

### Use with AI agents and code

- **MCP (Claude, Cursor, VS Code, any MCP client):** add `https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ai_admin/text-to-speech` as an MCP server —
  the agent gets one tool with this Actor's input schema and pays per use through your Apify account.
- **One HTTP call that returns the results:**

```bash
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ai_admin~text-to-speech/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"text": "Hello! This is a natural-sounding neural voice.", "voice": "en_US-john-medium", "format": "mp3", "subtitles": true}'
```

### Limits

- Scanned PDFs without a text layer are not read — run them through Image to Text OCR first.
- Numbers, abbreviations and foreign words are read by the voice's rules and may sound unusual.
- Speech engine: [Piper](https://github.com/OHF-Voice/piper1-gpl) (GPL-3.0). Voice models: [rhasspy/piper-voices](https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices);
  CC BY 4.0 voices (`en_GB-alba`, `fr_FR-siwis`, `it_IT-serena`, `sl_SI-artur`, `vi_VN-vais1000`) are credited to their
  dataset authors as listed in each voice's model card.

# Actor input Schema

## `text` (type: `string`):

Text to read aloud. Blank lines separate paragraphs (a longer pause).

## `sources` (type: `array`):

Links to TXT, Markdown, HTML, PDF (with a text layer) or DOCX files; each becomes one audio file. Files in your own Apify key-value store work too: set the store's access to "Anyone with ID can read" and use https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/<store ID>/records/<key>.

## `voice` (type: `string`):

Pick a voice in the language of your text. "high" voices sound most natural and cost more per minute (see Pricing); "medium"/"low" voices are fast and cheap.

## `speed` (type: `number`):

0.5 = slow, 1 = the voice's own pace, 1.12 = default (smoother, fewer hesitations), 1.5 = fast.

## `style` (type: `string`):

"Lively" varies intonation and rhythm more, "Standard" is even and calm. "Auto" picks Lively for Ukrainian voices (rated best by ear) and Standard for other languages.

## `format` (type: `string`):

MP3 plays everywhere; WAV for editing; OGG Opus is smallest.

## `subtitles` (type: `boolean`):

Also return SRT and VTT files with a cue per sentence (free).

## `maxCharactersPerItem` (type: `integer`):

Longer texts are cut (the result shows truncated: true). About 750–900 characters = 1 minute of speech.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "text": "Hello! This is a natural-sounding neural voice. It can read articles, documents and books aloud, and it creates subtitles too.",
  "sources": [],
  "voice": "en_US-john-medium",
  "speed": 1.12,
  "style": "auto",
  "format": "mp3",
  "subtitles": true,
  "maxCharactersPerItem": 200000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Dataset items: durationSeconds, audioUrl, srtUrl, vttUrl or error.

## `files` (type: `string`):

Audio and subtitle files in the run's key-value store.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "text": "Hello! This is a natural-sounding neural voice. It can read articles, documents and books aloud, and it creates subtitles too."
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ai_admin/text-to-speech").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "text": "Hello! This is a natural-sounding neural voice. It can read articles, documents and books aloud, and it creates subtitles too." }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ai_admin/text-to-speech").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "text": "Hello! This is a natural-sounding neural voice. It can read articles, documents and books aloud, and it creates subtitles too."
}' |
apify call ai_admin/text-to-speech --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ai_admin/text-to-speech"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/oEbOsViJ6a0qEL1bp/builds/YoXOvz4aUu32Asu2k/openapi.json