How to have Firefox read web pages aloud on Mac

Short answerIn Firefox on a Mac, open Reader View (click the Reader icon in the address bar or press F9), then choose Read aloud in the left sidebar. Mozilla's Reader View help notes this uses macOS text-to-speech and appears only when your Mac has voices for the article's language. You can also select the article and use Speak Selection (Option-Esc). For neural voices, a word highlight and resume, use Aloud: Control-Option-S on selected text in Firefox, or open the page in Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi or Chromium and press Control-Option-A.

The free built-in fix

1. Open Reader View. When Firefox can simplify the page, click the Reader View icon in the address bar, or press F9 (you can also use Command-Option-R on Mac).
2. Start Read aloud. In the settings on the left side of Reader View, choose Read aloud. Firefox hands the article text to macOS and plays it with your system voice.
3. Check the language. If Read aloud does not appear, download a voice for that language in System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content → Voices. Mozilla documents that the option requires text-to-speech data for the article language.
4. Or use Speak Selection. With Reader View on, click in the article, press Command-A, then Option-Esc (with Speak Selection enabled) or Edit → Speech → Start Speaking.

Limits of Firefox Read aloud

• Reader View only. Pages Firefox cannot simplify (many apps, forms and video sites) have no Reader icon, so there is no built-in narrate path.
• System voices. Read aloud uses the same macOS voices as Speak Selection. Enhanced and Premium voices help; many still sound flat compared with neural TTS.
• No reading window. Firefox does not highlight each word as it reads, and it does not remember where you stopped.
• Speed and export. You change rate in macOS Spoken Content settings, not in Firefox. There is no export to an audio file from Reader View.

The better fix: Aloud

If the built-in tools keep getting in your way, Aloud (ours, $19 once per Mac, macOS 14 or later) is made for listening on the Mac:

• Control-Option-S reads selected text in Firefox (and any app) with a reading window, word-by-word highlight and click-to-seek.
• Control-Option-A reads the article on the front tab of Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi or Chromium without selecting text. Open the same article in one of those browsers if you want one-key article reading.
• Speed from 0.75x to 2x, changed mid-sentence, and resume from the last sentence.
• Natural voices: Enhanced and Premium Apple voices, the on-device Kokoro neural voice (Apple silicon, macOS 15+), or ElevenLabs/Cartesia with your own API key.
• .m4a export for commutes and walks.

First launch asks for Accessibility, Screen Recording and Automation so Aloud can read what you point at and talk to your browser. It does not ask for Input Monitoring.

Buy Aloud, $19 once   No subscription, no account.