How can I convert text to voice with ai for free?

Yeah, totally been there — I went down the rabbit hole of trying to convert text to voice AI for YouTube-style tutorials.
Most tools sound either too robotic or lock good voices behind paywalls, but here’s what worked for me:

Use Microsoft’s Azure AI Speech (cloud-based)

I used Microsoft’s official TTS API because it lets you tweak pitch, tone, and emotion — the difference is night and day.

Steps:

1. Create a free Azure account.
2. Go to Azure AI Speech and generate a Speech resource (you’ll get an endpoint and key).
3. Follow this doc: Text-to-Speech REST API — paste your text, pick a voice (like en-US-JennyMultilingualNeural), and download the generated .wav file.
4. Import it into your video editor — done.

Sounds super natural, supports many accents, and even emotional tones like “cheerful” or “empathetic.“

Use Windows built-in Speech API (offline)

When I needed something quick without the cloud, I went offline.
Windows 11 has local voices under Settings → Time & Language → Speech.

Steps:

1. Install extra language packs (English, Japanese, etc.).
2. Use PowerShell to list and test local voices: Add-Type –AssemblyName System.Speech $speak = New-Object System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer $speak.Speak("Hello, this is my test speech.")
3. You can even export it:

$speak.SetOutputToWaveFile("C:\voice.wav") $speak.Speak("Your tutorial text here.") $speak.Dispose()

It’s basic but 100% offline, no quotas, and still decent quality.

💬 My take:
If you want high-quality emotion and accent control — go with Azure.
If you just need something quick, free, and offline — PowerShell works fine.
Either way, both are solid ways to convert text to voice AI without dealing with sketchy web tools.