About Paper2Audio
Our Mission
Help everyone read, learn and listen to any text.
Better text-to-speech with Paper2Audio
Paper2Audio is a text-to-speech app that makes learning through listening more accessible to everyone by accurately narrating complex documents using high quality voices. It is an easy-to-use tool that solves the day-to-day problem of having a lot to read and not enough time to read it all. We solve a number of recurring issues in other text-to-speech and reader apps:
Optimized for complex documents
Advancements in AI have made it possible to create a text-to-speech reader smart enough to parse documents with complex formatting, tables, figures and mathematical equations. Instead of reading everything line-by-line like a screen reader, we remove information you don't want to listen to like citations, reference lists and footnotes. We also summarize visual elements like tables, graphs, and images.
Support for (almost) all documents and books
Paper2Audio started as a tool only for listening to research papers, but now supports PDF, EPUB, web pages and text, including complicated formatting, scanned documents and large files.
Hyper-focused on accuracy
We put continuous extra effort into accurate document parsing and narration, including improving pronunciation of tricky words, acronyms, abbreviations, etc.
We save you time
Save documents in your queue then listen to your documents when it is most convenient for you, even when you're offline. Listen while multitasking, such as while commuting, exercising or doing chores.
Generous free tier
56 hours per week of audio generation is more than enough for most users and much more than is available from other services that have high quality voices.
Better reading and learning accessibility
We want people with limited sight, ADHD, dyslexia, and any other condition that makes physical reading more difficult to be able to have a reliable and accurate tool to assist them in reading and learning. This also is personally important to us, as some of our team members have migraine disorder and ADHD.
Founding Team
Joe Golden is an entrepreneur and economist. Paper2Audio is his second startup. His first was Collage.com, an e-commerce site for photo printing where he was co-founder / CEO, which sold in 2021. He taught the Stanford MBA class The Business of AI in 2024, and previously was a software engineer at Microsoft and an economist at Google and Upwork. His PhD in economics is from the University of Michigan. Joe loves listening to news, podcasts, audiobooks, and more recently, research papers.
Chandradeep Chowdhury is a software engineer with a math background. He previously worked on AI applications at Amazon AWS. His MS in Computer Science is from Cal Poly. Chandradeep loves listening to audiobooks and research papers.
What our users say
Don't just take it from us! See what Paper2Audio's users have to say about our features and results (edited for length and formatted for readability):
This is an absolutely insane product. It works flawlessly, it is super easy to use, it works on PC and phone, and on top of that, the free version isn't just a 5-minute trial, but rather a fully usable version with just slight limitations on how much listening time you can generate. This is bonkers—whoever created this app is an absolute GOAT. In summary, whoever considers using this app: DO IT. You can fully test it for free and learn that this is an absolutely insanely good product. Keep it up, Paper2Audio. For the past week, I used the free version, but I'm definitely going to buy a paid one (even though I technically don't reach the free version limits) just to show support for such a good product.
— Reddit reviewer
While I've been enjoying ElevenReader, it continues to be a little buggy and the devs are focused (perhaps correctly) on other things. The other big competing app is Speechify, but it just lacks some of the features I want. Most of the other offerings out there rely on the on-device TTS, which just sounds too robotic. I had given up hope until I found Paper2Audio today.
- It has a solid web interface, and the mobile apps (for both platforms) work great.
- Progress syncing between its various apps is stunningly good; it's word-level syncing in a matter of seconds.
- They handle the audio a bit differently, but the result is that they have the best free plan of any of these apps.
- The quality of the audio is quite good, but not as good as ElevenReader (but better than Speechify, I think). They have a smaller selection of voices (maybe 10ish), but they're all decent.
- Their free plan allows you to generate up to 56 hours of audio per week, which seems way too generous and almost no one will go over that.
- Also, like most of these apps (but not all of them, as I've found), you can highlight and take notes to review later, and those sync instantly as well.
- Lastly, while it works on Android and iOS devices, it also works on Boox (which ElevenReader and Speechify do not).
— Reddit reviewer
Best TTS Reader! And I don't mean simply in the realm of free readers. Your app has been a game changer for me in my comprehension of academically difficult papers! I tried the same paper on some other top-rated apps (Speechify, Natural Reader, Eleven Reader) and they all garbled the scanned PDF I submitted. The nice thing about Paper2Audio is that the uploaded document is reformatted by their engine to optimize compatibility with their AI reader software and a complete audio file is generated, which can then be downloaded. It's completely free, no hidden fees! And the AI voices are top-notch. This is the best-kept TTS secret in the App Store, and I'm grateful to have come across it.
— iOS app store reviewer
Contact us
You can reach us by email at contact@paper2audio.com. Or, check out our discussion communities on Reddit or Discord, or our social media pages for news and updates:
Our sci-fi inspiration from The Matrix
Learning faster with less friction by listening to your text, like uploading information to your brain!