Free Text to Speech for YouTube Shorts

1. 01

   Draft the hook (3s), body (40s), and payoff (15s)

   Keep the whole script under 60 seconds. Start with a sharp question or bold claim, share the key insight, and wrap up with a clear prompt to act.

2. 02

   Choose a distinctive voice

   Try Sky, Liam, River, or Echo for US English. Avoid the standard TikTok and CapCut presets, as viewers scroll straight past them.

3. 03

   Create audio at 1.1x speed

   A slightly brisker pace suits short videos best. Listen to the preview and save the WAV file. There is no sign-up and no watermark.

4. 04

   Cut together in CapCut or DaVinci

   Import your WAV, sync it to your video clips, export at 1080x1920 in 9:16, and post it to YouTube.

Want to hear them? Browse all 54 voices →

• 01

  Hook viewers within 2 seconds or lose them

  Audience retention on Shorts is won or lost before second 3. Lead straight with the punchline, the core question, or the most surprising fact in your script. "Most people have no idea that..." beats "Today we are going to look at..." every single time. Trim everything before the hook during editing.

• 02

  Speed up voiceovers to 1.1x or 1.2x for tighter pacing

  Default speech speeds drag against quick-cut edits. Try 1.1x speed for explainers, or 1.2x for energetic hooks. Pushing past 1.25x sounds unnatural and drives people away. Export the audio first, then adjust the clip speed in your timeline so you can test variations without rendering again.

• 03

  Cut silences ruthlessly: AI voice generator tips

  Load the WAV into your video editor, find any pause longer than roughly 250 ms, and cut it out. Even Kokoro adds natural breathing spaces that suit long videos but slow down a 45-second clip. Zero wasted air keeps your retention graph steady.

• 04

  Plan a 60-second running order on paper first

  3 seconds hook + 40 seconds main point + 15 seconds payoff/CTA = 58 seconds. At 150 words per minute, that comes to roughly 145 words or ~830 characters, well within the 5,000-character limit. Draft to your target time before generating the audio, never afterwards.

• 05

  Ditch the tired default voices

  Regular viewers spot CapCut and TikTok default voices in half a second. The moment people hear them, they assume it is another generic clip and swipe away. Choose from the Kokoro selection, such as Sky, Puck, or Echo, so your opening hook actually gets heard.

• 06

  Match subtitles to the audio, not the written text

  Use auto-captioning on the rendered WAV inside CapCut or Premiere rather than pasting your original script. Spoken text flows differently from written drafts, and lagging subtitles ruin the finish faster than anything else.

Platform tools change regularly. Always check the latest terms before using built-in app voices for commercial projects.