How to Listen to a PDF
The read-aloud tools already on your devices, what they cannot do, and when converting to audio is the better choice
You do not need to install anything to have a PDF read to you: Adobe Acrobat Reader, Microsoft Edge, iPhone, Mac and Android all have a read-aloud feature. They are free and fine for a page or two. This page explains how to use each one, where they fall short, and what you get by converting the PDF to a proper recording with PDF2Audio instead.
Free ways to have a PDF read aloud
Adobe Acrobat Reader
Open the PDF, then View › Read Out Loud › Activate Read Out Loud, and choose to read the page or the whole document. It uses your computer's system voice.
Microsoft Edge
Open the PDF in Edge and press the Read aloud button in the toolbar. You can change the voice and speed, and it highlights the words as it goes.
iPhone and iPad
Turn on Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content › Speak Screen, open the PDF, then swipe down with two fingers from the top of the screen.
Mac
In System Settings › Accessibility › Spoken Content, turn on Speak selection. Select the text in Preview and press the shortcut, Option+Esc by default.
Android
Turn on Select to Speak under Settings › Accessibility, open the PDF, tap the accessibility button and then the text you want read.
Windows Narrator
Press Windows+Ctrl+Enter to start Narrator, then open the PDF in a browser or reader and let it read from the cursor.
Where the built-in readers stop
⏹️ They only read while you watch
- • Lock the phone or switch apps and the reading stops
- • Nothing is saved: tomorrow you start again
- • No position memory in a long document
- • Not usable in the car or while running
🗣️ System voices
- • Flat, mechanical voices on most devices
- • Headers, page numbers and footnotes read mid-sentence
- • Tables and columns read in the wrong order
- • No choice of a second voice or a conversational format
📦 No file to keep
- • Nothing to download or send to another device
- • Cannot be added to a podcast or audiobook app
- • No chapters for a book
- • No transcript, quiz or summary alongside
🧠 No help with hard material
- • Dense text is read at one pace, unexplained
- • No option for a summary first
- • No lecture-style explanation of terms
- • Long reports have to be heard in full or not at all
When converting the PDF to audio is worth it
If you want to listen to one page right now, use the free reader on your device. If the document is long, if you want to listen away from the screen, or if you will come back to it more than once, convert it instead. PDF2Audio reads the PDF once and gives you a recording: natural AI voices in 18 languages, a saved position, a transcript, and an MP3 you can download or play in the iOS app.
Conversion also changes what you can do with the text. Clean Read-Through speaks the document as written. Lecture mode explains it like a teacher. Podcast mode turns it into a two-voice conversation. Summary mode gives you the gist in a few minutes, and Book mode turns a whole book into chapters with resume. None of that is possible with a read-aloud button.
How to do it
Upload the PDF, up to 10 MB with selectable text, or a scan of up to 30 pages. Pick a voice from the 13 available and the language of the document. Choose a mode and press convert. Short documents are ready in a couple of minutes; long ones produce the first part early.
Every new account includes 50,000 free characters, roughly 15 to 25 pages. After that you pay for a single document by its length, shown before you pay, or take a plan. There is nothing to install and the audio stays in your library.
Frequently asked questions
What is the easiest free way to listen to a PDF?
On a computer, open it in Microsoft Edge and press Read aloud. On an iPhone, turn on Speak Screen under Accessibility and swipe down with two fingers. Both are free and need no installation.
Why does the free reader stop when I lock my phone?
Built-in read-aloud features speak what is on the screen, so they stop when the screen goes away. A converted recording keeps playing with the screen off, like any audio file.
Can I listen to a PDF offline?
With PDF2Audio, yes: download the MP3, or keep it in the iOS app. The built-in readers need the document open on the device.
Does PDF2Audio read scanned PDFs?
Scans of up to 30 pages are read with OCR at the same price. Longer scans need a text PDF or a shorter section.
How much does it cost?
Your first 50,000 characters are free. After that a single document is priced by length, from $2.99, or a monthly plan starts at $9.99 for 500,000 characters. The price is shown before anything is charged.
Listen to a PDF properly
Upload it once, keep the audio. The first 50,000 characters are free.
Convert a PDF to audio