/text-to-speech

ElevenLabs Text-to-Speech

Generate natural speech from text - supports 90+ languages, multiple models for quality vs latency tradeoffs.

Setup: See Installation Guide. For JavaScript, use @elevenlabs/* packages only.

Quick Start

Python

from elevenlabs import ElevenLabs

client = ElevenLabs()

audio = client.text_to_speech.convert(
    text="Hello, welcome to ElevenLabs!",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",  # George
    model_id="eleven_multilingual_v2"
)

with open("output.mp3", "wb") as f:
    for chunk in audio:
        f.write(chunk)

JavaScript

import { ElevenLabsClient } from "@elevenlabs/elevenlabs-js";
import { createWriteStream } from "fs";
import { Readable } from "stream";

const client = new ElevenLabsClient();
const audio = await client.textToSpeech.convert("JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb", {
  text: "Hello, welcome to ElevenLabs!",
  modelId: "eleven_multilingual_v2",
});
// convert() returns a web ReadableStream — bridge it to a Node stream to write to disk
Readable.fromWeb(audio).pipe(createWriteStream("output.mp3"));

CLI

Use say to play text immediately with the default voice and eleven_v3 model:

elevenlabs say "Hello!"

Pipe text into say when another command produces the input:

echo "The build finished successfully." | elevenlabs say

Use the API command when you need to set request parameters directly:

elevenlabs text-to-speech convert --voice-id JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb \
  --text "Hello!" --model-id eleven_multilingual_v2 --output output.mp3

The CLI reads ELEVENLABS_API_KEY from the environment automatically.

Models

Voice IDs

Use pre-made voices or create custom voices in the dashboard.

Popular voices:

• JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb - George (male, narrative)
• EXAVITQu4vr4xnSDxMaL - Sarah (female, soft)
• onwK4e9ZLuTAKqWW03F9 - Daniel (male, authoritative)
• XB0fDUnXU5powFXDhCwa - Charlotte (female, conversational)

voices = client.voices.get_all()
for voice in voices.voices:
    print(f"{voice.voice_id}: {voice.name}")

Voice Settings

Fine-tune how the voice sounds:

• Stability: How consistent the voice stays. Lower values = more emotional range and variation, but can sound unstable. Higher = steady, predictable delivery.
• Similarity boost: How closely to match the original voice sample. Higher values sound more like the original but may amplify audio artifacts.
• Style: Exaggerates the voice's unique style characteristics. It is not available for Eleven v4 models.
• Speed: Adjusts speech rate on supported models. It is not available for Eleven v4 models.
• Speaker boost: Post-processing that enhances clarity and voice similarity.

from elevenlabs import VoiceSettings

audio = client.text_to_speech.convert(
    text="Customize my voice settings.",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",
    voice_settings=VoiceSettings(
        stability=0.5,
        similarity_boost=0.75,
        style=0.5,
        speed=1.0,             # 0.25 to 4.0 (default 1.0)
        use_speaker_boost=True
    )
)

Language Selection

Use language_code with models that support language enforcement to guide pronunciation and text normalization. Unsupported language codes are ignored, and language_code is not supported on eleven_multilingual_v2.

audio = client.text_to_speech.convert(
    text="Bonjour, comment allez-vous?",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",
    model_id="eleven_v3",
    language_code="fr"  # ISO 639-1 code
)

Text Normalization

Controls how numbers, dates, and abbreviations are converted to spoken words. For example, "01/15/2026" becomes "January fifteenth, twenty twenty-six":

• "auto" (default): Model decides based on context
• "on": Always normalize (use when you want natural speech)
• "off": Speak literally (use when you want "zero one slash one five...")

audio = client.text_to_speech.convert(
    text="Call 1-800-555-0123 on 01/15/2026",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",
    apply_text_normalization="on"
)

Request Stitching

When generating long audio in multiple requests, the audio can have pops, unnatural pauses, or tone shifts at the boundaries. Request stitching solves this by letting each request know what comes before/after it:

# First request
audio1 = client.text_to_speech.convert(
    text="This is the first part.",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",
    next_text="And this continues the story."
)

# Second request using previous context
audio2 = client.text_to_speech.convert(
    text="And this continues the story.",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",
    previous_text="This is the first part."
)

Output Formats

Streaming

For real-time applications, use the stream method (returns audio chunks as they're generated):

audio_stream = client.text_to_speech.stream(
    text="This text will be streamed as audio.",
    voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb",
    model_id="eleven_flash_v2_5"  # Ultra-low latency
)

for chunk in audio_stream:
    play_audio(chunk)

See references/streaming.md for WebSocket streaming.

Error Handling

try:
    audio = client.text_to_speech.convert(
        text="Generate speech",
        voice_id="invalid-voice-id"
    )
except Exception as e:
    print(f"API error: {e}")

Common errors:

• 401: Invalid API key
• 422: Invalid parameters (check voice_id, model_id)
• 429: Rate limit exceeded

Tracking Costs

Monitor character usage via response headers (x-character-count, request-id):

response = client.text_to_speech.convert.with_raw_response(
    text="Hello!", voice_id="JBFqnCBsd6RMkjVDRZzb", model_id="eleven_multilingual_v2"
)
audio = response.parse()
print(f"Characters used: {response.headers.get('x-character-count')}")

References

• Installation Guide
• Streaming Audio
• Voice Settings