Comparison of speech synthesizers
Encyclopedia
Here is a non-exhaustive comparison of speech synthesis
programs :
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
programs :
| Creator(s) | First public release date | Latest stable version | Software license | Cost | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple PlainTalk | Apple Inc. | 1984 | 2007, October 26 | Bundled with Mac OS X Mac OS X Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems... |
Bundled |
| AT&T Natural Voices AT&T Labs AT&T Labs, Inc. is the research & development division of AT&T, where scientists and engineers work to understand and advance innovative technologies relevant to networking, communications, and information. Over 1800 employees work in six locations: Florham Park, NJ; Middletown, NJ; Austin, TX;... |
AT&T Natural Voices AT&T Labs AT&T Labs, Inc. is the research & development division of AT&T, where scientists and engineers work to understand and advance innovative technologies relevant to networking, communications, and information. Over 1800 employees work in six locations: Florham Park, NJ; Middletown, NJ; Austin, TX;... |
2008 | Commercial | $295 - $995 | |
| Cepstral Cepstral LLC Cepstral is a provider of speech synthesis technology and services. It was founded by leading scientists from Carnegie Mellon University including computer scientists Kevin Lenzo and Alan W. Black, in June 2000. It is a privately held corporation with headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania... |
Cepstral | Proprietary Proprietary software Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary... |
$29+ | ||
| eSpeak ESpeak eSpeak is a compact open source software speech synthesizer for Linux, Windows, and other platforms. It uses a formant synthesis method, providing many languages in a small size. Much of the programming for eSpeak's languages was based on information found on Wikipedia, with some subsequent... |
Jonathan Duddington | 2006, February 10 | 2011, April 25 | GPLv3+ | Free |
| Festival Speech Synthesis System Festival Speech Synthesis System Festival is a general multi-lingual speech synthesis system originally developed by Alan W. Black at at the University of Edinburgh. Substantial contributions have also been provided by Carnegie Mellon University and other sites... |
CSTR | 2010, November | MIT-like license MIT License The MIT License is a free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . It is a permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software provided all copies of the licensed software include a copy of the MIT License terms... |
Free | |
| FreeTTS FreeTTS FreeTTS is an open source speech synthesis system written entirely in the Java programming language. It is based upon Flite. FreeTTS is an implementation of Sun's Java Speech API.FreeTTS supports end-of-speech markers... |
Paul Lamere Philip Kwok Dirk Schnelle-Walka Willie Walker ... |
2001, December 14 | 2009, March 9 | BSD BSD licenses BSD licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses. The original license was used for the Berkeley Software Distribution , a Unix-like operating system after which it is named.... |
Free |
| IVONA TTS IVONA IVONA is a multi-lingual speech synthesis system developed at Polish IT company .It offers a full text to speech system with various APIs.- Inside IVONA :... |
IVONA Software | 2005 | Commercial | ||
| Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000 Kurzweil Educational Systems Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. is an American based company that specializes in providing reading and writing software to assist people who are blind or partially sighted, or who have learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder... |
Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. | 1996 | 2005 | Commercial | |
| Loquendo Loquendo Loquendo is a multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Torino, Italy, that provides speech recognition, speech synthesis, speaker verification and identification applications... |
Loquendo Loquendo Loquendo is a multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Torino, Italy, that provides speech recognition, speech synthesis, speaker verification and identification applications... |
2011 | Commercial | ||
| Nuance Vocalizer | Nuance Communications, Inc. | Proprietary Proprietary software Proprietary software is computer software licensed under exclusive legal right of the copyright holder. The licensee is given the right to use the software under certain conditions, while restricted from other uses, such as modification, further distribution, or reverse engineering.Complementary... |
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| Praat Praat Praat is a free scientific software program for the analysis of speech in phonetics. It has been designed and continuously developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Amsterdam. It can run on a wide range of operating systems, including various Unix versions, Mac and Microsoft... |
Paul Boersma David Weenink |
2011, September 11 | GPL GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project.... |
Free | |
| Creator(s) | First public release date | Latest stable version | Software license | Cost | |
Technical voice details
| Platform | SSML Speech Synthesis Markup Language Speech Synthesis Markup Language is an XML-based markup language for speech synthesis applications. It is a recommendation of the W3C's voice browser working group. SSML is often embedded in VoiceXML scripts to drive interactive telephony systems. However, it also may be used alone, such as for... |
SAPI version Speech Application Programming Interface The Speech Application Programming Interface or SAPI is an API developed by Microsoft to allow the use of speech recognition and speech synthesis within Windows applications. To date, a number of versions of the API have been released, which have shipped either as part of a Speech SDK, or as part... |
WS | PLS Pronunciation Lexicon Specification The Pronunciation Lexicon Specification is a W3C Recommendation, which is designed to enable interoperable specification of pronunciation information for both speech recognition and speech synthesis engines within voice browsing applications... |
CLI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acapela | ? | 5.1/5.3 | Yes | ? | ? |
| AT&T Natural Voices AT&T Labs AT&T Labs, Inc. is the research & development division of AT&T, where scientists and engineers work to understand and advance innovative technologies relevant to networking, communications, and information. Over 1800 employees work in six locations: Florham Park, NJ; Middletown, NJ; Austin, TX;... |
Yes | 5.1 | ? | ? | ? |
| IVONA TTS IVONA IVONA is a multi-lingual speech synthesis system developed at Polish IT company .It offers a full text to speech system with various APIs.- Inside IVONA :... |
1.0/1.1 | 5.1 /5.3 | Yes | 1.0 | Yes |
| eSpeak ESpeak eSpeak is a compact open source software speech synthesizer for Linux, Windows, and other platforms. It uses a formant synthesis method, providing many languages in a small size. Much of the programming for eSpeak's languages was based on information found on Wikipedia, with some subsequent... |
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| Festival Speech Synthesis System Festival Speech Synthesis System Festival is a general multi-lingual speech synthesis system originally developed by Alan W. Black at at the University of Edinburgh. Substantial contributions have also been provided by Carnegie Mellon University and other sites... |
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| FreeTTS FreeTTS FreeTTS is an open source speech synthesis system written entirely in the Java programming language. It is based upon Flite. FreeTTS is an implementation of Sun's Java Speech API.FreeTTS supports end-of-speech markers... |
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| Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000 Kurzweil Educational Systems Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. is an American based company that specializes in providing reading and writing software to assist people who are blind or partially sighted, or who have learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder... |
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| Loquendo Loquendo Loquendo is a multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Torino, Italy, that provides speech recognition, speech synthesis, speaker verification and identification applications... |
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| Nuance Vocalizer | |||||
| Praat Praat Praat is a free scientific software program for the analysis of speech in phonetics. It has been designed and continuously developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Amsterdam. It can run on a wide range of operating systems, including various Unix versions, Mac and Microsoft... |
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Technical details
| Online demo | Available language(s) | Available voices(s) | Programming language | Operating system(s) Operating system An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system... |
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| Apple PlainTalk | English (United States), ... | 15+ | Macintosh Macintosh The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a... |
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| AT&T Natural Voices AT&T Labs AT&T Labs, Inc. is the research & development division of AT&T, where scientists and engineers work to understand and advance innovative technologies relevant to networking, communications, and information. Over 1800 employees work in six locations: Florham Park, NJ; Middletown, NJ; Austin, TX;... |
English (British), English (Indian), English (US), French, French (Canadian), German, Italian, Spanish (Latin American) | 20 | C++ | Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... |
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| Cepstral Cepstral LLC Cepstral is a provider of speech synthesis technology and services. It was founded by leading scientists from Carnegie Mellon University including computer scientists Kevin Lenzo and Alan W. Black, in June 2000. It is a privately held corporation with headquarters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania... |
English (British), English (US), Italian, French (Canadian), German, Spanish (American), ... | 25+ | Mac OS X Mac OS X Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems... Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... i386-Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... x86-64-Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... Sparc-Solaris i386-Solaris |
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| eSpeak ESpeak eSpeak is a compact open source software speech synthesizer for Linux, Windows, and other platforms. It uses a formant synthesis method, providing many languages in a small size. Much of the programming for eSpeak's languages was based on information found on Wikipedia, with some subsequent... |
Samples | English… | Several | C++ C++ C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell... |
Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... Mac OS X Mac OS X Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems... RISC OS RISC OS RISC OS is a computer operating system originally developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in Cambridge, England for their range of desktop computers, based on their own ARM architecture. First released in 1987, under the name Arthur, the subsequent iteration was renamed as in 1988... |
| Festival Speech Synthesis System Festival Speech Synthesis System Festival is a general multi-lingual speech synthesis system originally developed by Alan W. Black at at the University of Edinburgh. Substantial contributions have also been provided by Carnegie Mellon University and other sites... |
English… | Several | C++ C++ C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell... |
Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... |
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| FreeTTS FreeTTS FreeTTS is an open source speech synthesis system written entirely in the Java programming language. It is based upon Flite. FreeTTS is an implementation of Sun's Java Speech API.FreeTTS supports end-of-speech markers... |
English… | Several | Java Java (programming language) Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities... |
Cross-platform Cross-platform In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms... |
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| IVONA TTS IVONA IVONA is a multi-lingual speech synthesis system developed at Polish IT company .It offers a full text to speech system with various APIs.- Inside IVONA :... |
English (British), English (US), German, American Spanish, Castilian Spanish, French, Welsh, Welsh English, Polish, Romanian | 26 | C C (programming language) C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system.... /C++ C++ C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell... |
Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... |
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| Kurzweil 1000 and Kurzweil 3000 Kurzweil Educational Systems Kurzweil Educational Systems, Inc. is an American based company that specializes in providing reading and writing software to assist people who are blind or partially sighted, or who have learning disabilities, such as dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder... |
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| Loquendo Loquendo Loquendo is a multinational computer software technology corporation, headquartered in Torino, Italy, that provides speech recognition, speech synthesis, speaker verification and identification applications... |
English (Australian), English (British), English (US), Castilian Spanish, Catalan, Valencian, Galician, French, German, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, Swedish, Dutch, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Mexican Spanish, Chilean, Argentinean, American Spanish, Canadian French, Turkish, Finnish, Russian, Danish, Norwegian, Arabic, Romanian | 74 | Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... |
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| Nuance Vocalizer | English (Australian), English (British), English (US), Portuguese (Brazilian), French (Canadian), German, Spanish (Latin American) | 10+ | C/C++ | ||
| Praat Praat Praat is a free scientific software program for the analysis of speech in phonetics. It has been designed and continuously developed by Paul Boersma and David Weenink of the University of Amsterdam. It can run on a wide range of operating systems, including various Unix versions, Mac and Microsoft... |
C C (programming language) C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system.... |
Windows Microsoft Windows Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal... Linux Linux Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds... Macintosh Macintosh The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a... FreeBSD FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant... Solaris |
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| Online demo | Available language(s) | Available voices(s) | Programming language | Operating system(s) Operating system An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system... |
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