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.

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

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

$ edge-tts --text "Hello, world!" --write-media 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.

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؟" --write-media hello_in_arabic.mp3

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 --write-media amazing.mp3
   

3. Voila!

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!" --write-media hello_with_pitch_down.mp3
$ edge-tts --rate=0.5 --text "Hello, world!" --write-media hello_with_rate_halved.mp3
$ edge-tts --volume=50 --text "Hello, world!" --write-media 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.

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.

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