PDF to audio, without the conversion
Your PDF as audio,
played, not exported.
Open a PDF, press play, and a neural voice reads it to you straight away, in any of 12 languages. There is no file at the end: Auris Reader plays your document, it does not turn it into an MP3 you can keep or share. If an audio file is what you need, the table further down names the tools that make one.
Windows, Linux and Android. 14-day free trial, then €4.99/month. No MP3 export, and no macOS or iOS version.
How it works
From PDF to voice in three steps.
Nothing to convert, nothing to upload, nothing to wait for.
Get the app
A signed installer for Windows 10 and 11, a .deb package for Debian and Ubuntu, or the Android app from Google Play. One account covers two devices.
Open the PDF
From your disk, or on the phone straight from your file manager, your downloads or an email attachment. The file is read where it is: nothing is uploaded to our servers.
Press play, and it reads now
There is no conversion queue and no audio file to wait for: the voice starts as soon as you press play. Each sentence is highlighted as it is spoken, and next time it picks up on the sentence where you stopped, on that device.
What “PDF to audio” means with a converter
A converter makes you a file. This reads you the PDF.
Online PDF-to-MP3 converters work like this: you upload the file, wait while it is processed, and download an audio file read by the voice you picked at the start. Change your mind about the voice or the language, and you convert it again.
Auris Reader does only the listening half of that job. It opens the PDF on your own device, without uploading the file, and reads it to you as you listen, with nothing to wait for. You can pick another voice or language whenever you like, with nothing to convert again. What you do not get is the file.
What it does with a PDF
It reads now, and remembers where you were.
It starts as soon as you press play
The app opens the PDF on your own device and reads it sentence by sentence with a neural voice, highlighting each one as it goes. Close it halfway and it picks up on that sentence next time, on that device.
- No file upload and no conversion queue
- Step back one sentence at a time
- Repeated headers, footers and page numbers stay quiet
- Your place is kept on each device, not synced between them
More than 20 neural voices, 12 languages
Not the robotic voices your computer came with. Spanish and English ship with the app, with Spain, Mexico, US and UK accents; ten more languages download from inside it at no extra cost.
- French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch
- Polish, Swedish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian
- A male and a female voice in every language
What you do not get: an MP3
It is a decision, not a missing feature: Auris Reader reads your documents to you, and it does not give you an audio file of them. We chose not to add that. If you need a file to take with you, these tools make one:
- Balabolka, free, on Windows
- Speechify, in its own app
- NaturalReader, in its own app
A PDF in a language you do not read
If the PDF is in another of the 12 languages the app speaks, it is translated as it is read to you, into the language of the voice you choose. On Android, and on the desktop in the pairs that have an offline pack, there is nothing to switch on.
- On the desktop, each language pair downloads itself the first time you need it (up to about 250 MB per pair; on Linux, the first time, the app asks before installing)
- Offline, the desktop covers only some pairs with English, and none yet with German or Dutch; for the rest you choose online translation
- On Android, each language downloads once, about 30 MB, and then works offline
Your PDF stays on your device
A converter in the cloud needs your file on its server before it can make the audio. Here the PDF is opened from your own disk or phone: there is no upload, no cloud library and no copy of your documents on our servers.
- The online voices receive only the sentence being spoken
- Online translation, if you choose it, receives the passage
- The app does not track what you read
How it compares
Three of these make a file. We do not.
If a file is what you need, one of them is the better answer, and one of those is free.
| Auris Reader | Acrobat Reader | Edge | Balabolka | Speechify | NaturalReader | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Windows, Linux, Android | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android | Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS | Windows | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, web | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, web |
| Saves the reading as an audio file | − | − | − | Yes | Yes, MP3 | Yes, MP3 |
| Voices | Neural, 12 languages | Those of the system | Neural | Those of the system | Neural | Neural |
| Reads without uploading your file | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, cloud library | Online apps: no, cloud library. Desktop: not stated |
| Leaves out headers, footers and page numbers | Yes, learned for each PDF | − | − | Not stated | Yes, as an option | Headers and footers, as an option |
| Reads scanned PDFs aloud | Not in the plan on sale | − | − | Not stated | Yes, with Premium | Yes, with a subscription |
| Translates the PDF while reading it | Yes | With AI Assistant, into a translated PDF; plan not stated | Selected text, in a side panel | Separate tool, to a new file | Not stated | In AI Chat, in the online app; plan not stated |
| Price | €4.99/month | Free | Free | Free | Free plan, or subscription | Free plan, subscription, or a one-off desktop licence |
Read that table before you pay us anything. If you want a file to put on a phone or a player, Balabolka makes one for free on Windows, and Speechify and NaturalReader make one in their own apps. If you want to hear a PDF once, today, Acrobat Reader and Edge cost nothing.
What we sell is the other case: a PDF you come back to over days, read to you with a neural voice the moment you press play, with the repeated headers left out and translated if it is in another language. The file stays on your device: the online voice receives only the sentence being read. Balabolka has a translation utility, but it is a separate tool, not a translation that happens as the voice moves through the page.
Third-party platforms, features and pricing models are those published by each vendor between 22 September and 14 October 2026, and change often. Check their own page before deciding.
What it costs
One plan, and a trial that really is free.
€4.99 / month
Or €49 a year. Taxes included. Cancel anytime from your account.
- 14 days free the first time, then it renews unless you cancel
- Up to 2 new documents a day — carrying on with the document you were reading, or reopening one you already opened that day, does not count
- 2 devices signed in at once
- All 12 voice languages included, and offline translation in the language pairs where it is available
We ask for a card at sign-up so the subscription can start on day 15. Cancel before then and you are charged nothing. If you have already had a free trial, the subscription starts without one, and you see the amount and the date of the first charge before you confirm.
Questions
About PDF to audio.
Can I turn a PDF into an MP3 with Auris Reader?
No, and it is deliberate rather than pending. Auris Reader plays a document; it does not give you an audio file of it, and we chose not to add that. If you need a file, Speechify and NaturalReader make one in their own apps, and Balabolka does it for free on Windows.
Then what does “PDF to audio” mean here?
That you hear the PDF instead of reading it, from the moment you press play. The app opens the file on your own device and reads it with a neural voice, sentence by sentence, highlighting each one. You upload no file and wait for no conversion, and you do not end up with an audio file: next time, it picks up where you stopped, on that device.
Is there a free way to hear a PDF as audio?
Yes, several. Acrobat Reader has Read Out Loud, free, with the voices already installed on your computer. Edge reads PDFs aloud with natural online voices and nothing to install. Balabolka is free on Windows and will also save the reading as an audio file. Auris Reader costs €4.99 a month after a 14-day trial; what you pay for is a reader that leaves out repeated headers and page numbers, translates while it reads and keeps your place, on Windows, Linux and Android.
On Android, does it keep reading with the screen off?
Yes. Press play and lock the phone: the reading carries on in the background, and the notification has play and pause, the previous and next sentence, and stop. The sleep timer stops it after 5, 15, 30 or 60 minutes, so it does not read on until morning if you fall asleep.
Can it read a scanned PDF?
It opens it and shows you the pages, but the plan on sale today does not read them aloud. A scanned PDF is an image of each page with no text inside, and turning it into text needs recognition that is planned for higher plans not yet on sale. If a PDF mixes typed and scanned pages, the typed ones are read and the app tells you when it reaches a scanned one. If scans are most of what you read, Speechify reads them with Premium, and NaturalReader with a subscription.
Do I start again every time I open the PDF?
No. It picks up on the sentence where you stopped, on the device where you were listening. Your place is kept on that device only: it is not synced between your computer and your phone.
Does it work without an internet connection?
Partly. The neural voices are generated online, so reading aloud needs a connection. If it drops, on Windows and Android the app carries on with the voice installed on your computer or phone, as long as it has one for that language; on Linux, reading stops. Translation can work with no connection: on the desktop, in the language pairs with English that have an offline pack (none yet with German or Dutch), included in every plan; and on Android the phone translates once you have downloaded the language.
What happens on day 15?
The subscription starts and the card you gave at sign-up is charged €4.99, or €49 if you chose the yearly plan. Nothing is charged during the 14 days. You can cancel at any point before day 15 from your account page, and you will not be charged; you keep the trial until it runs out. If you have already had a free trial, the subscription starts without one, and you see the amount and the date of the first charge before you confirm.
Hear the PDF now, not after a conversion.
Fourteen days, your own files, and a voice that starts when you press play. If it is not for you, cancel before day 15 and you pay nothing.
14-day free trial · €4.99/month afterwards · Windows, Linux and Android