How to Do TTS on TikTok

That robotic-yet-familiar voice narrating everything from day-in-the-life vlogs to hilarious storytimes is one of the most recognizable sounds on TikTok. Known as Text-to-Speech, this simple feature has become a powerful tool for creators wanting to add personality, clarity, and humor to their content. This guide will walk you through exactly how to use TikTok's Text-to-Speech feature, from the basics of adding the classic voice to advanced tips for making your videos stand out.

What is Text-to-Speech (TTS) on TikTok, and Why Is It Everywhere?

Text-to-Speech is an accessibility feature that reads text aloud, turning your captions or on-screen text into a synthesized voiceover. While it was initially designed to help people who are blind or have low vision consume content, it quickly evolved into a creative tool used by millions of creators for several great reasons:

• It Grabs Attention Instantly: The standard TikTok voices have a specific, almost iconic cadence that users stop scrolling for. It immediately signals that there's a story or a point being made, and people listen.
• Adds Humor and Personality: The deadpan delivery of a robot voice narrating a chaotic or silly situation is comedy gold. It can add a layer of sarcasm or sincerity that you just can’t replicate yourself.
• Helps with Clarity: Sometimes your audio isn't perfect, or you're in a loud environment. Putting key information into TTS ensures your message is heard and understood, even if the viewer's sound is off and they are only reading captions.
• No Need to Use Your Own Voice: Plenty of creators are uncomfortable speaking on camera. TTS gives you a powerful way to narrate your videos without having to record a voiceover yourself, making content creation more accessible and less intimidating.
• Consistency &, Branding: Using the same TTS voice consistently can become your signature. When users hear it, they instantly connect the sound with your content, building brand recognition on the platform.

How to Do Text-to-Speech on TikTok: A Step-by-Step Guide

Adding a TTS voiceover to your video is surprisingly simple. Just follow these steps, and you’ll be adding your own narration in minutes.

1. Record or Upload Your Video: Start by either recording a new video directly in the TikTok app or uploading one from your camera roll. Once you have your clips trimmed and arranged how you want them, tap "Next" to move to the main editing screen.
2. Add Your Text: On the editing screen, look for the "Text" icon (it looks like "Aa") in the right-hand menu. Tap it to open the text editor.
3. Type What You Want the Voice to Say: Write out the sentence or phrase you want to be read aloud. You can customize the font, color, and background of the text here, just like you would with any other text overlay.
4. Activate the TTS Feature: Once your text is typed, tap on the text box itself on the editing screen. A small menu will pop up. Select the icon that looks like a person's head with sound waves coming from it. This is the "Text-to-speech" button.
5. Choose Your Voice: After tapping the TTS icon, you’ll see a menu of available voices. The options change over time, but you’ll find everything from the classic female and male voices to character voices like Ghostface or Stitch. Tap a voice to preview how it sounds with your text. Once you’ve found the one you like, select it.
6. Finalize and Set the Duration: Tap "Done" on the text editing screen. TikTok will automatically generate the audio. From here, you can tap on the text box again and choose "Set duration" to control exactly when the text (and its corresponding audio) appears and disappears in your video.

And that’s it! You’ve successfully added a TTS voiceover. You can repeat this process multiple times throughout a video to narrate different scenes or moments.

Beyond the Basics: Exploring the Expanding Universe of TikTok Voices

TikTok is constantly adding new voices to its TTS library, far beyond the original one that went viral. Using different voices is a great way to match the tone of your video, participate in trends, or simply surprise your audience.

Familiar Character Voices

One of the most engaging ways to use TTS is by leveraging official character voices that TikTok licenses. For example, during promotions for new movies, you can often find voices from characters like Ghostface (from Scream) or the superheroes from a new Marvel release. These are perfect for:

• Comedy sketches: Imagine a prank video narrated by a spooky horror character.
• Trend participation: When a new character voice drops, it often becomes a trend itself.
• Fan content: Creating content about a specific movie or show using its characters’ voices is a great way to connect with a specific community.

Unique Synthetic Voices

TikTok also provides a variety of unique synthetic voices designed to convey specific emotions or styles.

• "Jessie" (Female): This is arguably the most popular and recognizable "friendly" voice. It has a cheerful and direct tone, making it perfect for "how-to" tutorials, daily vlogs, guides, and positive storytelling.
• "Trickster" (Male with Echo Effect): This mischievous-sounding voice is fantastic for funny storytimes, revealing silly secrets, or creating comedic drama.
• "Tenor" and "Alto" (Singing voices): These viral sensations turn your typed words into a short song. They’re nearly always used for humor, turning a mundane statement into an overly dramatic musical number. Try narrating your trip to the grocery store with the Tenor voice for an instant hit.

Experimenting with these voices is part of the fun. Try making the same video with two different voices to see how much the tone changes. A simple recipe could be a helpful tutorial with Jessie's voice or a chaotic tale of culinary disaster with Trickster’s.

Pro Tips for Making Your TTS TikToks Better

Now that you know the technical steps, let's get into the strategies that separate basic TTS videos from ones that perform exceptionally well, helping you stand out.

1. Keep Your Text Short and Punchy

The TTS feature is not designed for reading long paragraphs. Your narration should be an accent to your visual story, not a full-on audiobook. Write short, simple sentences that correspond with the action on screen. This a-la-carte approach to narration keeps the pace quick and holds viewer attention.

Example: Instead of writing "Next, I'm going to grab the eggs and crack them into the bowl with the flour," break it into two TTS clips timed with the visuals: "Grab the eggs." (Shows you picking up eggs). "Crack them into the bowl." (Shows the action).

2. Master the Power of Punctuation (and Creative Spelling)

The TTS AI reads text very literally. This means punctuation drastically affects its pacing and delivery.

• A period (.) creates a full stop.
• A comma (,) creates a slight pause.
• An exclamation point (!) can sometimes add a subtle upward inflection.
• Ellipses (...) create a slightly longer, more dramatic pause.

You can also "hack" the voice's pronunciation by spelling words phonetically or humorously. Stretching out words like "heyyyyy" or intentionally writing "girllll" makes the robotic voice say them in a funny, human-like way. This little trick is a signature of so much viral social content.

3. Get Rid of the Text (if you want)

Sometimes, you want the TTS voiceover but don't want the actual text cluttering your screen. There’s an easy fix for this.

1. Add your text and apply the TTS voice as usual.
2. Tap the text box and select "Set duration."
3. Drag the start and end points of the text clip so its duration is only 0.1 seconds at the very beginning of your video.
4. Finally, drag the tiny text box itself until it’s hidden completely off-screen.

The audio will remain for its full length, but the visual text will disappear after a frame, leaving your video clean.

4. Combine TTS with Trending Sounds

You don't have to choose between TTS and a trending audio. Many viral videos use both. You can add your TTS narration as an introduction or as comments throughout the video, then let a trending song or audio play in the background. Simply go to "Add sound" to pick your audio, then use the "Volume" tool in the editing menu to lower the volume of the sound so that your TTS narration can be clearly heard over it.

Troubleshooting Common TTS Issues

Is the Text-to-Speech option missing, or is something just not working? Here are a few common problems and how to fix them.

• The TTS Button Isn't There: This is the most common issue. First, make sure your TikTok app is updated to the latest version. If it is, try restarting your phone or clearing the app’s cache. Sometimes, features are rolled out by region, so it may not be available everywhere, though it is widely distributed now.
• The Voice You Want is Gone: Licensed character voices are often available for a limited time due to contractual agreements. If you can’t find a voice anymore, it was likely part of a temporary campaign.
• Changing the Voice After It’s Set: Once you've added TTS and returned to the main editing screen, you usually can't simply change the voice. You’ll need to delete the text layer, re-add it, and apply a new voice from scratch.

Final Thoughts

TikTok’s Text-to-Speech feature is a fantastic tool that’s both functional and creative. It can make your content more accessible, inject personality, provide crystal-clear narration, and open up endless opportunities for humor. By mastering the simple step-by-step process and applying a few pro tips, you can use TTS to create videos that hold attention and feel native to the platform.

Great content takes planning, and folding a trend like TTS into your strategy is only half the battle. Consistently publishing high-impact videos is what truly builds an audience. At Postbase, we designed our platform from the ground up for today's social media - specifically for formats like TikToks, Reels, and Shorts. We built our visual content calendar and publishing workflow to make scheduling easy and reliable, ensuring your amazing videos - TTS included - go live exactly when they should, without the frustrating glitches common in older tools.