Voice Cloning Lite: Lightweight Text-to-Speech

Voice Cloning Lite: Lightweight Text-to-Speech Web App

Built a lightweight, zero-cost text-to-speech application that converts text into downloadable audio across 60+ languages. Designed as a practical, free alternative to premium voice synthesis APIs—prioritizing accessibility and zero cloud costs over premium voice realism.

Engineering Decisions & Trade-offs:

Free-Tier Architecture: Integrated Google Text-to-Speech (gTTS) to eliminate API costs and ensure the app remains permanently free to use. This comes with a trade-off: voice output is functional and clear, but slightly robotic compared to premium paid alternatives (e.g., ElevenLabs, Coqui XTTS).

Multi-Language Support: Enabled text-to-speech across 60+ languages with adjustable speed control.

Audio Export: Implemented MP3 generation and download functionality, allowing users to save synthesized audio directly from the browser.

Production Deployment: Deployed on Streamlit Cloud with graceful error handling for text length limits and network issues.

Tech Stack: Python, Streamlit, gTTS, HTML/CSS.