espeak
compact open-source speech synthesizer
TLDR
SYNOPSIS
espeak [options] [words]
DESCRIPTION
eSpeak is a compact, open-source text-to-speech synthesizer supporting many languages. It uses formant synthesis, producing a distinctive robotic voice but requiring minimal resources.The tool converts text to speech output through speakers or audio files. Multiple languages and voices are available with adjustable speed, pitch, and other parameters.eSpeak is useful for accessibility, automated announcements, and applications requiring speech synthesis without large voice databases.
PARAMETERS
WORDS
Text to speak.-f FILE
Read text from file.-v VOICE
Voice name or language.-s SPEED
Speed in words per minute.-p PITCH
Pitch (0-99).-w FILE
Write output to WAV file.--voices
List available voices.-a AMPLITUDE
Amplitude/volume (0 to 200, default 100).-g GAP
Word gap, in units of 10 ms.-m
Interpret SSML markup in the input.-x
Write phoneme mnemonics to stdout instead of speaking.--stdout
Write WAV audio to standard output.--help
Display help information.
INSTALL
CAVEATS
Voice quality robotic compared to neural TTS. Some language support limited. Pronunciation may need tuning. SSML support is partial.
HISTORY
eSpeak was created by Jonathan Duddington and released as open source. Its formant synthesis approach prioritizes small size and multi-language support over naturalistic voice quality. Development of the original eSpeak stopped around 2015; the actively maintained fork espeak-ng is now the recommended version, and on many distributions `espeak` is a compatibility wrapper around it.