edge-tts

edge-tts is a Python module that allows you to use Microsoft Edge's online text-to-speech service from within your Python code or using the provided edge-tts or edge-playback command.

Installation

To install it, run the following command:

$ pip install edge-tts

If you only want to use the edge-tts and edge-playback commands, it would be better to use pipx:

$ pipx install edge-tts

Usage

Basic usage

If you want to use the edge-tts command, you can simply run it with the following command:

$ edge-tts --text "Hello, world!" > hello.mp3

If you wish to play it back immediately with subtitles, you could use the edge-playback command:

$ edge-playback --text "Hello, world!"

Note the above requires the installation of the mpv command line player.

All edge-tts commands work in edge-playback as well.

Changing the voice

If you want to change the language of the speech or more generally, the voice.

You must first check the available voices with the --list-voices option:

$ edge-tts --list-voices
Name: Microsoft Server Speech Text to Speech Voice (af-ZA, AdriNeural)
ShortName: af-ZA-AdriNeural
Gender: Female
Locale: af-ZA

Name: Microsoft Server Speech Text to Speech Voice (am-ET, MekdesNeural)
ShortName: am-ET-MekdesNeural
Gender: Female
Locale: am-ET

Name: Microsoft Server Speech Text to Speech Voice (ar-EG, SalmaNeural)
ShortName: ar-EG-SalmaNeural
Gender: Female
Locale: ar-EG

Name: Microsoft Server Speech Text to Speech Voice (ar-SA, ZariyahNeural)
ShortName: ar-SA-ZariyahNeural
Gender: Female
Locale: ar-SA

...

$ edge-tts --voice ar-EG-SalmaNeural --text "مرحبا كيف حالك؟" > hello_in_arabic.mp3

Custom SSML

It is possible to send Microsoft's text-to-speech servers a custom SSML document which would allow greater customization of the speech.

Information about the SSML format can be found here on Microsoft's own website: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/speech-service/speech-synthesis-markup

As a short example, if you want to apply the following SSML document and play it back using edge-tts.

<speak version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/10/synthesis"
       xmlns:mstts="https://www.w3.org/2001/mstts" xml:lang="en-US">
    <voice name="en-US-AriaNeural">
        <mstts:express-as style="cheerful">
            That'd be just amazing!
        </mstts:express-as>
    </voice>
</speak>

It would be easiest to do the following:

1. Create a file called custom_ssml.xml with the above content.

2. Run the following command:

   $ edge-tts --custom-ssml --file custom_ssml.xml > amazing.mp3
   

3. Voila!

Changing pitch, rate, volume, etc.

It is possible to make minor changes to the generated speech without resorting to custom SSML. However, you must note that you couldn't use the --custom-ssml option with the --pitch, --rate, --volume, etc. options.

$ edge-tts --pitch=-10Hz --text "Hello, world!" > hello_with_pitch_down.mp3
$ edge-tts --rate=0.5 --text "Hello, world!" > hello_with_rate_halved.mp3
$ edge-tts --volume=50 --text "Hello, world!" > hello_with_volume_halved.mp3

Keep in mind that the --pitch, --rate, --volume, etc. options are applied to the entire SSML document.

In addition, it is required to use --pitch=-10Hz instead of --pitch -10Hz otherwise the -10Hz would be interpreted as just another argument.

Note on the edge-playback command

edge-playback is just a wrapper around edge-tts that plays back the generated speech. It takes the same arguments as the edge-tts option.

Python module

It is possible to use the edge-tts module directly from Python. The examples directory contains a few examples of how to use it.