SpeakCove
PDF
Web and app · Scanning
Scans and paper
Scanned PDFs and photos of paper are recognized, then read aloud.
Web and app
Any file you have.
Books, documents, saved web pages and comics. The free web reader and the app for iPhone and iPad open ten formats, from EPUB to comics, or text you paste.
Dracula, dropped on the reader.
A PDF lands on the free web reader. It opens in your browser and the voice starts at the first sentence.
How it works2
Drop the file on the page.
Or press Open a file. In the app, open it from your files, or share it to SpeakCove from the app it is in.
SpeakCove finds the text.
The words on each page of a PDF, the lines of a text file, the chapters of an ebook. Pictures of text go through text recognition.
Press play.
The voice reads from the start and highlights each sentence as it goes. Tap any sentence to go there.
Notes3
What gets read, and what doesn’t.
All ten formats below open in your browser and in the app, scans and comics included. Pasted text works in the browser.
A file is a container. Inside an EPUB sits a stack of web pages in reading order; inside a CBZ, a folder of page images; inside a Word document, paragraphs wrapped in XML. SpeakCove opens the container, takes out the text a person would read, and hands it to the voice one sentence at a time. Scripts, style sheets and page-number markers stay out, so you hear the book and not the machinery around it.
Usually the format is decided for you. Project Gutenberg hands out EPUB, Calibre libraries and older Kindle downloads come as MOBI or AZW3, and many Russian and Eastern European libraries use FB2. Theses and contracts travel as DOCX, notes from TextEdit as RTF, a saved article as HTML. The app opens all of them without converting. It looks at what is inside the file rather than trusting its name, so a comic shared as a .zip still opens as a comic.1
Some files hold pictures of words instead of words. A scanned PDF is a stack of photographs, and every page of a comic is an image. Those pages go through text recognition first, in your browser or on your phone, never on a server. Scanned PDFs and comics read on the website and in the app. Clean, straight scans and digitally lettered comics work best; handwriting, faint photocopies and hand-drawn sound effects are less reliable, and the artwork is not described.2
The one real wall is copy protection. Kindle store purchases and most library loans are locked with DRM, and only the app that sold or lent them can open them. SpeakCove checks for it and tells you a file is protected instead of failing quietly. Close cousins of the ten, such as Word’s older .doc, CBR comics and TextEdit’s .rtfd packages, open once you save them as .docx, CBZ or .rtf.
Details4
- Opens on
- WebAppWeb: the free reader in your browser. App: SpeakCove for iPhone and iPad.
- WebAppDocuments, papers and scanned pages. The text on each page; pages without a usable text layer go through text recognition. .pdf
- TXT
- WebAppNotes, transcripts, plain-text editions of books. All of it; plain text has no chapters to skip between. .txt
- Pasted text
- WebAny text you copy, pasted straight into the reader.
- EPUB
- WebAppThe open ebook standard, from Project Gutenberg and most ebook stores. Every chapter, in reading order. .epub
- MOBI
- WebAppThe older Kindle and Mobipocket format. The whole text of the book. .mobi, .prc
- AZW3
- WebAppThe newer Kindle format, also called KF8. Kindle store purchases are DRM-protected and don’t open. .azw3, .azw
- DOCX
- WebAppWord documents, or anything exported as one. The text and headings, in order. .docx
- FB2
- WebAppFictionBook, from many Russian and Eastern European libraries. UTF-8 or older Cyrillic encodings such as windows-1251. .fb2, .fb2.zip
- CBZ
- WebAppA comic: a ZIP archive of page images. The lettering in balloons and captions, found with text recognition. .cbz, .zip
- RTF
- WebAppRich Text, as saved by TextEdit and older word processors. The text and its paragraphs. .rtf
- HTML
- WebAppSaved web pages and HTML editions of books. What the page shows; scripts and styles are skipped. .html, .htm, .xhtml
Questions5
Which files open in the browser?
All ten: PDF, EPUB, MOBI, AZW3, DOCX, FB2, CBZ, RTF, TXT and HTML, scanned PDFs and comics included, or text you paste. They open in your browser and are never uploaded.
Can SpeakCove read Kindle books I bought?
No. Kindle store books are DRM-protected and only open in Kindle’s own apps. DRM-free MOBI and AZW3 files open normally in the SpeakCove app.
Can it read a scanned PDF or a comic?
Yes. Pages that are pictures of text go through text recognition first, then get read like any other page. Both work on the website and in the app. Clean scans and digital lettering work best.
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. On the website the file opens in your browser and stays there. In the app it is read on your phone or tablet.
My file isn’t one of the ten. What now?
Save or export it as one of them: a .doc as .docx, a CBR comic as CBZ, a TextEdit .rtfd as .rtf. Most apps can also export a PDF.
Try it6
Drop a file on the reader.
Free, in your browser, with no sign-up and nothing to install. All ten formats open here and in the app for iPhone and iPad.
More features7
In the app · Library
Free library
Public-domain books from Project Gutenberg and papers from arXiv: a shelf on the homepage, the whole collection in the app.
Web and app · Reader
Follow along
The sentence being read is highlighted, and you can tap any sentence to jump there.
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