Quickstart: Using the command line

This quickstart introduces you to Text-to-Speech. In this quickstart, you set up your Google Cloud Platform project and authorization and then make a request for Text-to-Speech to create audio from text.

To learn more about the fundamental concepts in Text-to-Speech, read Text-to-Speech Basics.

Before you begin

Sign in to your Google Account.
If you don't already have one, sign up for a new account.
In the Cloud Console, on the project selector page, select or create a Cloud project.

Note: If you don't plan to keep the resources that you create in this procedure, create a project instead of selecting an existing project. After you finish these steps, you can delete the project, removing all resources associated with the project.

Go to the project selector page
Make sure that billing is enabled for your Google Cloud project. Learn how to confirm billing is enabled for your project.
Enable the Cloud Text-to-Speech API.
Enable the API

Set up authentication:
1. In the Cloud Console, go to the Create service account key page.
  Go to the Create Service Account Key page
2. From the Service account list, select New service account.
3. In the Service account name field, enter a name.
4. Don't select a value from the Role list. No role is required to access this service.
5. Click Create. A note appears, warning that this service account has no role.
6. Click Create without role. A JSON file that contains your key downloads to your computer.
Set the environment variable GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS to the path of the JSON file that contains your service account key. This variable only applies to your current shell session, so if you open a new session, set the variable again.
Example: Linux or macOS

Replace [PATH] with the path of the JSON file that contains your service account key.
```
export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="[PATH]"
```
For example:
```
export GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="/home/user/Downloads/service-account-file.json"
```
Example: Windows

Replace [PATH] with the path of the JSON file that contains your service account key.

With PowerShell:
```
$env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="[PATH]"
```
For example:
```
$env:GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS="C:\Users\username\Downloads\my-key.json"
```
With command prompt:
```
set GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=[PATH]
```
Install and initialize the Cloud SDK.

Synthesize audio from text

You can convert text to audio by making an HTTP POST request to the https://texttospeech.googleapis.com/v1/text:synthesize endpoint. In the body of your POST command, specify the type of voice to synthesize in the voice configuration section, specify the text to synthesize in the text field of the input section, and specify the type of audio to create in the audioConfig section.

Execute the REST request below at the command line to synthesize audio from text using Text-to-Speech. The command uses the gcloud auth application-default print-access-token command to retrieve an authorization token for the request.

HTTP method and URL:

POST https://texttospeech.googleapis.com/v1/text:synthesize

Request JSON body:

{
  "input":{
    "text":"Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets."
  },
  "voice":{
    "languageCode":"en-gb",
    "name":"en-GB-Standard-A",
    "ssmlGender":"FEMALE"
  },
  "audioConfig":{
    "audioEncoding":"MP3"
  }
}

To send your request, expand one of these options:

curl (Linux, macOS, or Cloud Shell)

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer "$(gcloud auth application-default print-access-token) \
-H "Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8" \
-d @request.json \
https://texttospeech.googleapis.com/v1/text:synthesize

PowerShell (Windows)

Save the request body in a file called request.json, and execute the following command:

$cred = gcloud auth application-default print-access-token
$headers = @{ "Authorization" = "Bearer $cred" }

Invoke-WebRequest `
  -Method POST `
  -Headers $headers `
  -ContentType: "application/json; charset=utf-8" `
  -InFile request.json `
  -Uri "https://texttospeech.googleapis.com/v1/text:synthesize" | Select-Object -Expand Content

You should receive a JSON response similar to the following:

{
  "audioContent": "//NExAASCCIIAAhEAGAAEMW4kAYPnwwIKw/BBTpwTvB+IAxIfghUfW.."
}

The JSON output for the REST command contains the synthesized audio in base64-encoded format. Copy the contents of the audioContent field into a new file named synthesize-output-base64.txt. Your new file will look something like the following:
```
//NExAARqoIIAAhEuWAAAGNmBGMY4EBcxvABAXBPmPIAF//yAuh9Tn5CEap3/o
...
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
```
Decode the contents of the synthesize-output-base64.txt file into a new file named synthesized-audio.mp3. For information on decoding base64, see Decoding Base64-Encoded Audio Content.
```
base64 synthesize-output-base64.txt --decode > synthesized-audio.mp3
```
Play the contents of synthesized-audio.mp3 in an audio application or on an audio device. You can also open the synthesized-audio.mp3 in the Chrome browser to play the audio by navigating to the folder that contains the file, for example file://my_file_path/synthesized-audio.mp3

Clean up

To avoid unnecessary Google Cloud Platform charges, use the Cloud Console to delete your project if you do not need it.

What's next

Learn more about Cloud Text-to-Speech by reading the basics.
Review the list of available voices you can use for synthetic speech.