Text to Speech on TikTok: How to Add It to a Video
Text to speech: TikTok reads text you type onto a video out loud. After you record or upload, add the text with Text on the side panel, tap it and select Text-to-speech. TikTok’s accessibility help, where those steps live, names no voices and gives no way to change one, so this guide lists none. The rest of this text to speech TikTok guide covers voices, auto captions and posting from a computer.
Prefer your own voice? That’s a voice over on TikTok, a separate tool. Our guide to using TikTok covers everything else in the app.
Table of Contents
- How do you add text to speech on TikTok?
- Can you change the text-to-speech voice on TikTok?
- Text to speech, voice over or auto captions: which do you need?
- Can you use text to speech on a computer?
- Why does TikTok call text to speech an accessibility tool?
- Can Outfeed add text to speech to a TikTok?
- TikTok text to speech FAQ
How do you add text to speech on TikTok?
Record or upload a video, tap Text on the side panel and type, then tap that text and select Text-to-speech. TikTok’s steps:
In the app:
- In the TikTok app, tap the Add post + button at the bottom.
- Record or upload a video.
- Tap Text on the side panel, then type out the text you would like to add to your video.
- Tap the text you'd like to be read out loud, then select Text-to-speech.
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Accessibility for your videos.
To set when your text appears or how long it stays, use Text on TikTok’s full editing screen, which opens from the Edit button on the side panel after you record or upload. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Editing TikTok videos and photos TikTok’s editing article puts Text at the bottom of that screen, with tools to arrange text on the track, change how long it stays on screen, edit it or copy it:
In the app:
- From the editing screen, tap Text at the bottom.
- Enter the text you'd like to add.
- Tap the Continue ✓ button. To arrange the text, hold the text below the video track and move it. To change the duration of the text, hold and drag the arrow on either side to make it shorter or longer. To edit the text, tap the text on the preview screen to edit it, or tap Edit at the bottom.
- Tap the text sticker or the text below the video track and tap Copy to duplicate the text.
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Editing TikTok videos and photos.
Play the video back before posting to hear how the voice and the text line up.
Can you change the text-to-speech voice on TikTok?
Not according to TikTok’s own help: its accessibility article covers turning text-to-speech on for a piece of text, with no list of voices and no steps for changing the voice. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Accessibility for your videosNot verified
So this guide names no voices. Third-party “TikTok voice” generators and LIVE chat readers aren’t part of TikTok either, and nothing on this page relies on them. What TikTok does and doesn’t document:
| Question | Documented by TikTok? |
|---|---|
| Adding text-to-speech to text on a video | Yes: app steps, above |
| A list of text-to-speech voices | No |
| Changing the voice | No |
| Text-to-speech on a computer | No: the steps are for the app |
| Editing or removing auto captions | Yes: app steps |
Text to speech, voice over or auto captions: which do you need?
Type the words and let TikTok read them (text to speech), say them yourself (voice over), or let TikTok generate captions for an uploaded video (auto captions).
| You want | Use | Where TikTok puts it |
|---|---|---|
| Typed words read aloud | Text to speech | Text on the side panel, tap the text, then Text-to-speech |
| Your own voice on the video | Voice over | Voice on the editing screen’s side panel, then Record |
| Captions made for an uploaded video | Auto captions | More options, then Select video language; edit or remove them later |
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Editing TikTok videos and photos.
Checked against TikTok Help Center: Accessibility for your videos.
Whichever you pick, the words come first. Our free TikTok script generator drafts a timed beat sheet with on-screen text, and the faceless section of our TikTok video ideas is built around narration and on-screen text. On YouTube, the rules for that format are in our faceless YouTube channel guide.
Can you use text to speech on a computer?
TikTok’s text-to-speech steps are for the app. When you upload in a web browser, TikTok uploads your entire video. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Making a post The settings TikTok Studio lists for web uploads, from the caption, cover and who can watch to Duet, Stitch, comments and a copyright check on sounds, don’t include text-to-speech, and TikTok notes that tool availability varies across the app and web, with some features not available in every region. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Tools for creators (TikTok Studio)
So add the narration in the app before posting, or record it into the video file before you upload from a computer.
Why does TikTok call text to speech an accessibility tool?
Because that’s its purpose in TikTok’s own words: “Text-to-speech allows text on a video to be read out loud for those who may need help reading text on the screen.” It sits in TikTok’s accessibility help, next to auto-generated captions. Checked against TikTok Help Center: Accessibility for your videos
TikTok’s 14 May 2025 accessibility post lists text-to-speech alongside auto-generated captions, dark mode and thumbnail animation, all on a redesigned accessibility settings page. Checked against TikTok Newsroom: Celebrating Global Accessibility Awareness (14 May 2025) That’s a useful test for your own on-screen text: write it so it still makes sense when it’s read aloud.
Can Outfeed add text to speech to a TikTok?
The built-in route stays TikTok’s own: the text-to-speech steps in the first section.
TikTok text to speech FAQ
How do you do text to speech on TikTok?
In the TikTok app, tap Add post +, then record or upload a video. Tap Text on the side panel and type what you want said, then tap that text and select Text-to-speech. TikTok then reads the text on your video out loud.
How do you change the text-to-speech voice on TikTok?
TikTok’s help doesn’t show a way. Its accessibility article, where the text-to-speech steps are, covers turning it on for a piece of text but gives no list of voices and no steps for changing the voice, so this guide names no voices.
Can you use TikTok text to speech on a computer?
TikTok’s text-to-speech steps are for the app. A web-browser upload sends your entire video, and the settings TikTok Studio lists for web uploads, from the caption and cover to comments and a copyright check on sounds, don’t include text-to-speech.
Is text to speech the same as auto captions on TikTok?
No. Text to speech reads text you typed onto the video out loud. Auto captions are captions TikTok generates for uploaded videos in the language you choose under More options, then Select video language, and you can edit or remove them afterwards.
Why does TikTok have text to speech?
TikTok says text-to-speech lets text on a video be read out loud for those who may need help reading text on the screen. Its 14 May 2025 accessibility post lists it alongside auto-generated captions, dark mode and thumbnail animation.