How to listen to an EPUB or FB2 book

Updated 7 October 2026

An EPUB, FB2 or MOBI book can be listened to as well as read: free, with the voices already on your computer and in your browser.

How to start reading aloud

1. Add Readkave to Chrome and open a book (drop the file into the library).
2. Click the speaker button in the top bar, or press L. Reading starts at the top of the page.
3. To start somewhere else, select a sentence and choose the speaker icon in the menu that appears.
4. A bar appears at the bottom: pause, previous and next sentence, speed, and the choice of voice.

The sentence being read is highlighted and the pages turn by themselves. If you browse to another part of the book, the Back to reading button takes you to where the voice is. Reading carries on into the next chapter on its own.

Which voices you get

Readkave uses the voices of your browser and your operating system, so the list depends on your computer:

• Windows: Microsoft voices for a language appear once that language is installed under Settings → Time & language → Language & region (with its Speech component).
• macOS: voices are added under System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → System Voice.
• Chrome adds online Google voices: they sound more natural but need an internet connection.
• Microsoft Edge usually offers its own online voices as well.

You pick the voice in the reading bar; Readkave tries to choose one in the book's language by itself.

If there is no voice for the book's language

Readkave says so in the reading bar and points to where you can get one. Add a voice in your system settings (see above) and restart the browser. For some languages, Uzbek for example, Windows and macOS have no voice yet.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. The system and browser voices are free, and so is Readkave.

Can I save a book as an audio file?

No. Readkave reads aloud, but it does not record audio.

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