Browser Support

ResponsiveVoice works across all modern browsers with automatic fallback.

@responsivevoice/api-client

• Chrome66+
• Firefox57+
• Safari12+
• Edge17+
• Opera53+
• iOS Safari12+
• Chrome Android66+
• Android WebView66+

@responsivevoice/core

• Chrome66+
• Firefox57+
• Safari14+
• Edge16+
• Opera53+
• iOS Safari14+
• Chrome Android66+
• Android WebView66+

Data generated from MDN Browser Compat Data

Note

Firefox has limited native voice support. ResponsiveVoice automatically uses the fallback API when needed.

Tip

@responsivevoice/types is pure TypeScript with no browser runtime requirements.

How Fallback Works

Native vs Fallback

Feature	Native (Web Speech API)	Fallback (API)
Latency	Instant	~100–300 ms*
Offline
Voice quality	Varies by OS	Consistent
Boundary events
SSML support

Note

* Fallback synthesis typically returns audio in ~100–300 ms; cached phrases in under 100 ms. Longer or uncached requests may take up to ~700 ms. These figures are indicative, not a guarantee.

Platform-Specific Notes

Chrome / Chromium

• Best voice selection with Google TTS voices
• Voices like "Google UK English Female" available
• Full boundary event support
• May require user interaction to start audio

Safari / iOS

• Apple voices with "(Enhanced)" variants
• Good offline voice quality
• iOS requires user gesture to begin playback
• Some voices locked to specific iOS versions

Firefox

• Limited native voice support
• Falls back to API more frequently
• No boundary events when using fallback
• Full functionality with API fallback

Edge

• Windows voices available (David, Zira, etc.)
• Good Web Speech API support
• Microsoft neural voices on Windows 10+

Mobile Considerations

iOS

// Optional: trigger speech from your own button instead of the built-in prompt
document.getElementById('speakBtn').addEventListener('click', () => {
  rv.speak('Hello from iOS', 'UK English Female');
});

Tip

Mobile browsers (iOS, and Android Chrome) block autoplay, so audio needs a user gesture — but ResponsiveVoice handles this automatically with a built-in permission prompt that captures the first tap and unlocks audio. You can disable it and drive speech from your own UI (like the button above). See the FAQ.

Android

• Android Chrome requires a user gesture before audio — handled automatically by the same built-in permission prompt as iOS
• Voice availability varies by device manufacturer
• Google TTS voices commonly available
• May need to download voices in system settings

Android WebView

Caution

The Web Speech API (native TTS) is not supported in Android WebView. ResponsiveVoice automatically falls back to the API for all speech synthesis.

• Minimum supported: Android WebView 66+
• Native TTS unavailable - always uses API fallback
• Audio playback works normally via Audio element
• Common in hybrid apps (Cordova, Capacitor, React Native WebView)

Node.js Support

ResponsiveVoice works in Node.js environments using the @responsivevoice/api-client package. The minimum Node.js version varies by package:

Package	Minimum Node.js
@responsivevoice/types, text	14+
@responsivevoice/api-client	16+

@responsivevoice/core and @responsivevoice/features target the browser — Node is only their build environment (bundle with Vite/webpack), not a runtime.

Node.js 18+ (recommended)

All features work out of the box with native fetch, Blob, and AbortController:

import { ResponsiveVoiceAPIClient } from '@responsivevoice/api-client';

const client = new ResponsiveVoiceAPIClient({
  apiKey: process.env.RESPONSIVEVOICE_API_KEY,
  apiSecret: process.env.RESPONSIVEVOICE_API_SECRET,
});

const audio = await client.synthesize({
  text: 'Hello from Node.js',
  voice: 'UK English Female',
});

Node.js 16–17

Native fetch is not available. Pass a fetch implementation via the fetch config option:

import fetch from 'node-fetch';
import { ResponsiveVoiceAPIClient } from '@responsivevoice/api-client';

const client = new ResponsiveVoiceAPIClient({
  apiKey: process.env.RESPONSIVEVOICE_API_KEY,
  apiSecret: process.env.RESPONSIVEVOICE_API_SECRET,
  fetch,
});

WebSocket streaming on Node.js < 22

The global WebSocket was added in Node.js 22. On older versions, pass a WebSocket implementation:

import WebSocket from 'ws';
import { WebSocketConnection } from '@responsivevoice/api-client';

const ws = new WebSocketConnection({
  baseUrl: 'https://texttospeech.responsivevoice.org',
  apiKey: process.env.RESPONSIVEVOICE_API_KEY,
  WebSocket,
});

Feature Detection

Check platform capabilities:

// Check if the Web Speech API is available
const hasNativeTTS = 'speechSynthesis' in window;

// Whether ResponsiveVoice can use native voices on this platform
const nativeSupported = rv.isNativeSupported();

// Check if a voice name is in the resolvable catalog
const voices = rv.getVoices();
const hasUKFemale = voices.some((v) => v.name === 'UK English Female');

// Native <-> fallback switches are reported via the OnServiceSwitched event
rv.addEventListener('OnServiceSwitched', (payload) => {
  console.log(`Switched from ${payload.from} to ${payload.to}`);
});

Forcing Fallback

Force server (fallback) audio even when native voices exist — set it at init or toggle at runtime:

// At init
const rv = await getResponsiveVoice({
  apiKey: 'YOUR_API_KEY',
  forceFallback: true,
});

// Or at runtime
rv.setForceFallback(true);

User Interaction Requirements

Modern browsers require user interaction before playing audio:

// ❌ This may be blocked
window.onload = () => {
  rv.speak('Hello'); // Blocked by autoplay policy
};

// ✅ This works
button.onclick = () => {
  rv.speak('Hello'); // Allowed - user initiated
};

Workaround: Initialize on First Interaction

On mobile, ResponsiveVoice's built-in permission prompt already unlocks audio on the first gesture — use this manual pattern only if you've disabled the prompt and want to unlock from your own handler:

let initialized = false;

document.addEventListener(
  'click',
  () => {
    if (!initialized) {
      rv.speak('', 'UK English Female'); // Silent init
      initialized = true;
    }
  },
  { once: true },
);

Testing Across Platforms

// Log platform info for debugging
console.log({
  browser: navigator.userAgent,
  hasNativeTTS: 'speechSynthesis' in window,
  nativeVoices: window.speechSynthesis?.getVoices().length ?? 0,
  rvVoices: rv.getVoices().length,
});