Neural voices can’t run when this page is opened directly
Your browser blocks saving the voice model on a file:// page, so Kokoro/Piper can’t start. Two ways forward:
- Best quality — run a tiny local server. In this file’s folder, run
python -m http.server(orpython3 -m http.server), then openhttp://localhost:8000/and load your book there. Full Thorsten/Kokoro quality, works offline afterwards. - Right now — use your device’s built-in voices (quality varies by OS):
Drop an EPUB or PDF here
or click to choose a file — everything stays on your device
Kokoro-82M — currently the best free English neural voice you can run on your own
machine (Apache-2.0). Uses your GPU via WebGPU automatically when available. First play
downloads the model once and caches it; after that it’s local and offline.
English only — for German, switch to the Piper engine (Thorsten).
Your browser is blocking local model caching — open this via a local server:
python -m http.server, then http://localhost:8000/vorleser.html.
Neural voices that run entirely on your machine — no key, private, offline once loaded.
First play of a voice downloads the model (~30–110 MB) and caches it.
Thorsten is the best free German voice there is. (For English, the Kokoro engine above
tends to sound a little more natural.)
Your browser is blocking local model storage — you’ve likely opened the file directly
(
file://). Serve it instead: in the file’s folder run
python -m http.server, then open http://localhost:8000/vorleser.html.
(System voices below work either way.)
On your phone, System voices are the default — they’re instant and reliable. On Android they
use Google’s built-in voices (good for English and German). Neural voices (Kokoro/Piper above) are
heavy for phone hardware; pick them only if you’ve served this from a computer.
No download, works everywhere, but quality depends on the browser. For the best free voices
here, open this file in Microsoft Edge and pick one ending in “Online (Natural)” —
Microsoft’s neural voices, free (needs internet). Chrome exposes Google voices; other “local”
voices depend on what your OS has installed.
Reads both languages (German has a mild accent). Costs roughly a few dollars per full book,
billed to your account. If requests fail with a CORS error when opened via
file://,
serve the file instead: python -m http.server then open the localhost URL.
Best-sounding option; the multilingual model handles German and English natively.
Paid and pricier per character. Same
file:// CORS note as above may apply.
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