Is there an easy way to convert and epub to mp3 on the mac?
By
david, 22 June, 2026
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Hello. I'm wondering if there's a mac app that will allow you to easily create audio files from epub or any other kind of text. I know of a few that can in windows but I'd like to be able to convert useing the alex voice. Thanks.
I vibe coded a script to do this very thing. It splits and creates different mp3 files for different chapters of the book.
You will need to know how to use terminal and install some packages, but if you're good with that I'd be happy to send it to you.
It works on device, of course.
Hello. I'd be willing to try although I haven't installed anything via terminal yet. I could try and follow instructions though. Also, is the script used in the terminal or can it be used via gui? Thanks.
It allows you to select voice, words per minute, and various other options.
This is all done through the terminal's text interface. Once you have installed everything though, it's quite a simple process.
If you are still interested, I would be happy to send across the instructions and description before you try it out, so you can see if it's something you might be interested in trying out.
It doesn't do mp3, so far as I know. It does AIFF or M4A. A small text file was done really quickly. A book, in EPUB I think, took a couple of hours. The M4A of the book was like 36 MB though. So if you wanted MP3, you'd probably have to export AIFF and convert. Probably pretty easy to do, but it is a couple of steps. Plus it's just one file.
I'll bet there are GUI programs that will absolutely do this for you, I just don't know what they are. In general I just read books with software on the computer or the phone, once on the Apple Watch even. I'm assuming you have something that doesn't do any of that but will play MP3 files? I'm asking because if you're just trying to read books in EPUB and so on like an audio book, there are programs that will do that already, e.g. Speech Central and VOicedream Reader already let you pick a voice and play whatever file formats they support like an audio book, you can start and stop them with headphone controls and so on. Obviously you'd need to be on iOS to get Alex, but still.
Hello. I do have voicedream and I did get speech central although I didn't complete a long conversion of a book on my phone because I noticed it started to get warm pretty quickly. I don't really know if there conversion facility is ready for prime time just yet. I might try and run it on the mac but this other option that's been mentioned just might be better. I'll have to see. Thanks.
Comments
Speech Central has an export audio option.
I haven't tried it to see what it does, but I imagine it would do what you're after, assuming you can make it use the Alex voice, don't see why not.
I vibe coded a script to do this exact thing
I vibe coded a script to do this very thing. It splits and creates different mp3 files for different chapters of the book.
You will need to know how to use terminal and install some packages, but if you're good with that I'd be happy to send it to you.
It works on device, of course.
I'd be willing to try it.
Hello. I'd be willing to try although I haven't installed anything via terminal yet. I could try and follow instructions though. Also, is the script used in the terminal or can it be used via gui? Thanks.
Re: I'd be willing to try it
I'm afraid it's not GUI in the slightest.
It allows you to select voice, words per minute, and various other options.
This is all done through the terminal's text interface. Once you have installed everything though, it's quite a simple process.
If you are still interested, I would be happy to send across the instructions and description before you try it out, so you can see if it's something you might be interested in trying out.
I'll take a look.
Hello. I'd be willing to check it out. Thanks.
I tested Speech Central.
It doesn't do mp3, so far as I know. It does AIFF or M4A. A small text file was done really quickly. A book, in EPUB I think, took a couple of hours. The M4A of the book was like 36 MB though. So if you wanted MP3, you'd probably have to export AIFF and convert. Probably pretty easy to do, but it is a couple of steps. Plus it's just one file.
I'll bet there are GUI programs that will absolutely do this for you, I just don't know what they are. In general I just read books with software on the computer or the phone, once on the Apple Watch even. I'm assuming you have something that doesn't do any of that but will play MP3 files? I'm asking because if you're just trying to read books in EPUB and so on like an audio book, there are programs that will do that already, e.g. Speech Central and VOicedream Reader already let you pick a voice and play whatever file formats they support like an audio book, you can start and stop them with headphone controls and so on. Obviously you'd need to be on iOS to get Alex, but still.
wanting to convert for someone with no smartphone or computer.
Hello. I do have voicedream and I did get speech central although I didn't complete a long conversion of a book on my phone because I noticed it started to get warm pretty quickly. I don't really know if there conversion facility is ready for prime time just yet. I might try and run it on the mac but this other option that's been mentioned just might be better. I'll have to see. Thanks.