Lector

Listen to any English web page with natural voices that run on your own computer. No account, nothing leaves your browser.

Lector reads web articles aloud in a voice you’d actually want to listen to. Open an article, click Lector, and listen. The voice runs on your own computer, so there is no account, no subscription, and nothing you read is ever sent anywhere. What you get: • Natural voices. 28 American and British English voices with instant previews. Pick a favourite and switch any time, even mid-article. • Follow along. The sentence being read is highlighted on the page, word by word, so you never lose your place. Pause and keep reading yourself whenever you like. • Start anywhere. Select text and choose “Listen from here”, or press Alt+Shift+H to start from where you are. • Full control. Play, pause, skip by paragraph, seek, and change speed from 0.75× to 2× without the chipmunk effect. Works with your keyboard’s media keys and your computer’s Now Playing controls. • Private by design. The voice model downloads once and then works offline. No tracking, no analytics, no sign-in. • Made for everyone. Works fully with a keyboard and screen readers, supports high-contrast mode and reduced motion, and follows your light or dark theme. • Light on your computer. Lector picks the best setup for your machine, uses your graphics chip when it can, and frees memory when you stop listening. Good for: long reads you never get to, listening while you cook or walk, resting your eyes, focusing with ADHD, dyslexia, or just preferring to listen. Keyboard shortcuts (change them at chrome://extensions/shortcuts): • Alt+Shift+R: start or pause • Alt+Shift+H: listen from here • Alt+Shift+. and Alt+Shift+,: next and previous paragraph Notes: • English only for now. • The first listen downloads the voice model once (about 90–330 MB depending on your computer). After that, starting is instant. Lector is free and open source: https://github.com/harshmathurx/lector