How to Add Text to Speech Voiceovers to Instagram Reels

Instagram Reels are a powerful tool to boost visibility and engagement. Learn how to create captivating voiceovers with Instagram's text-to-speech feature or Murf AI for professional-quality results, making your content accessible, engaging, and share-worthy.
Supriya Sharma
Supriya Sharma
Last updated:
May 11, 2026
September 21, 2022
7
Min Read
How to Add Text to Speech Voiceovers to Instagram Reels

Key Takeaways

  • Instagram reels aren’t just popular, they’re algorithm fuel. Short-form video gets pushed harder than most formats, which means using speech and voiceover can directly improve watch time and reach.
  • Text to speech for Instagram reels offers convenience as there's no need for mic setup or retakes. Further, there's no background noise either. You can create consistent audio at scale, which matters if you’re posting frequently.
  • Accessibility isn’t a side benefit, it’s leverage. Adding speech and captions helps visually-impaired users and also keeps silent scrollers engaged, which boosts retention.
  • Creative control is where TTS shines. Using voice effects, timing, and funny commentary, you can shape how your audience experiences the reel, not just what they see.
  • Native Instagram TTS is limited in voice options and quality. That’s fine for casual posts, but if you're serious about content or ads, tools like Murf give you far better control and realism.

Since Instagram introduced Reels in 2020, there has been a huge buzz around the feature. So much so at it still strongly contributes to maximizing visibility of any business/content on Instagram. Did you know that 86% of consumers say they’d recommend or try a product when it’s ’shareable’ – and Reels are a "sharing favorite" among Instagram users. As they say if you Feel it Reel it!

There are 2 billion monthly active users on Instagram and this figure continues to grow. These active users can see reels content on the explore page, and in their own feed. So why not create engaging Reels for your audience to see?

One of the most interesting ways for creating engaging short videos is by using Instagram's text to speech feature, you can add a voiceover to your Reel without uttering a single syllable!

Just type your script, choose your preferred voice, and voila! You've got a killer voiceover to go with your reels. You can add whimsical, robotic voice effects to a content about sci-fi or distort your voice to sound like you inhaled helium. The creative opportunities are endless. Whether you're a business owner, content creator, or just looking to spice up your social media game, The AI Test to speech feature a must have in your arsenal.

How to Use Text to Speech Feature in Instagram Reels.

How to Use Text to Speech Feature in Instagram Reels

If you're an Instagram app user, you can now add voiceovers to your reels using the application's new text to speech feature. It's really simple to use, and here's how:

First, you can add the text when creating a reel on Instagram app.

How to Add Text to Your Reels on Your Instagram App

Step 1: Launch Instagram app. Begin creating a reel.

Step 2: After recording a reel or choosing a short video clip to add to your reel, tap the "Aa" text symbol at the bottom panel.

Step 3: Type in your text, then choose how you want your text to be shown.

Step 4: At the botton, tap the options for your text’s alignment, color, highlighting, and animation.

Step 5: Once you’re happy with your text, tap Done.

Step 6: On the screen, tap and drag your text you can also pinch to change the font size.

After you add the text to your Instagram reels, you need to add audio to your text using the text to speech feature.

How to Add Audio to Your Text Using the TTS Feature in Instagram Reels

Step 1: Long press on the text bubble.

Step 2: At the pop up menu, tap the option "Text-to-speech".

Step 4: Swipe up and down for more options for different voices on the basis of gender and style.

Step 5: You can select from different text-to-speech voices, and preview each sound.

Step 6: Once you’re happy with your audio, tap to select the voice you want to use and tap Done.

Step 7: Swipe up on your screen to open the timeline to check the and synchronize the text and audio.

Step 8: Once you are happy with the output click on the top right arrow button to publish your reel for the world to see!

Note: The Text to Speech in Reels is currently only available in English in the following countries where captions are available: United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland and India (English only)

The Benefits of Using Text to Speech on Instagram Reels

So, why should you use Instagram's text to speech feature for Reels? Here's why you should consider using it:

Accessibility - Instagram Reels for All

Using text to speech makes Instagram Reels more accessible. It is an excellent way to make your content more accessible and inclusive for visually impaired individuals, people with ADHD, Dyslexia, as well as other disabilities. By including voiceovers with text, these people can enjoy content on Reels and engage with the content.

Reach a wider audience - The World is your Audiance

By utilizing the Instagram text to speech feature, businesses and influencers can create voiceovers in various voice styles would help maximize social media marketing efforts. The TTS Feature in Instagram enables users to add a funny commentary and a surprise element to their Reels, helping capture the viewer's attention and making the content more interactive and thereby increasing engagement and improving the overall user experience.

Save Time - Cuts the Clock in Half

Time is a valuable commodity in the world. By using text to speech in reels, content creators can save time by quickly converting their text into audio. This can be especially useful for businesses and influencers where content creation is in high volume. By streamlining the content creation process, TTS helps the Instagram user devote more time to other aspects of their business, such as engagement and analysis.

Limitations of Using Instagram Text To Speech

In spite of the benefits, Instagram text to speech features offers, it has the following limitations:

Lacking Naturalness: The speech generated by the new feature can sometimes sound robotic and unnatural, which might be liked by users who prefer human like voices.

Customization Shortage: The feature may sometimes mispronounce certain words. It needs help to accurately interpret the intended tone or emotion behind the text, which can result in inappropriate or confusing speech. For example, the word "live" can be pronounced as "liv" or "laive" depending on the context.

Language Limitations: The text to speech feature on Instagram currently only offers English language and two voices, both of which have similar accents: Voice 1a female voice, and the Voice option 2a male voice. This lack of diversity in different voices can be limiting and less inclusive for users from different linguistic backgrounds.

Text to speech feature use in instagram reels

Why Should You Use Murf for Text to Speech to Reels?

Murf helps any Instagram user quickly create clean, natural-sounding voiceover for Instagram reels. Instead of relying on the basic text to speech feature in the Instagram app, you get more control, better AI voice quality, translation features, and stronger impact on your audience.

Realistic-Sounding Voices - So Authentic, You’ll Forget It’s AI

Murf offers natural female voice and male voice options with multiple voice effects. Your speech and the pronunciation of words sound human, not robotic. That makes your reels and podcasts more engaging for social media users.

Custom Pronunciation - Your Words, Your Way

You can change the pronunciation of words in your script or speech by either typing in an alternative spelling or using intelligent suggestions that provide a range of IPAs. This helps when converting Instagram text into accurate speech for Instagram, especially for brand names or technical terms.

Languages and Accents - The World is Listening

Murf supports multiple languages and different voices. You can choose from 120+ natural-sounding AI voiceovers in over 35 language voices and accents. It helps you create videos for a wider audience across social media accounts.

Say It My Way Feature - Put Your Spin on Every Word

You can record your own voice to guide the AI. It keeps your voiceover personal while still using AI voice for polish. This feature accurately reproduces the exact length and emphasis of each word and pause you make, enabling your selected Murf voice to echo your style.

Voice Changer - Level up your Sound Game

Murf's studio-quality Voice changer Online lets you upload or record raw audio and turn it into a clean voiceover. You can also apply voice effect options for better speech output in your Instagram reels.

Voice Editing - Get that Perfect Pitch

Edit your speech like text and fine-tune your audio with an audio mixer. Murf's voice editing capability allows users to change the style or voice of an already recorded voiceover to a professional-sounding AI voice in minutes. You can balance music, voice, and prep your new video before you upload.

Add Voiceovers to Your Instagram Reels Using Murf AI

Adding voiceover has never been faster or easier than this. Just imagine on a single platform you can now add your video, synchronize it to your high quality voiceover and add music. Once that is ready all you need to do is upload it to your Reels and add your preferred voice effects. Let’s explore how to add your video with voiceover to your Instagram Reels.

  • Step 1: Open Murf Studio
  • Step 2: Create Project
  • Step 3: Choose your preferred voice. You can choose on the basis of gender, age, style and use case.
  • Step 4: Add your text (It is recommended that you choose “Split Script by Sentences”)
  • Step 5: Edit your text for your preferred pitch, speed, pronunciation, variability, emphasis
  • Step 6: Click on “Add Media”. You can Upload your 60-90 secs video, add your music or use stock images or videos or music.    
  • Step 7: Click on the “ Λ Timeline” to synchronize the text and the video.
  • Step 8: Click on the “Export” button
  • Step 9: Select Export Format as “Video” and “.MP4”
  • Step 10: Click on “Download”
  • Step 11: Upload the “.MP4” File on Instagram Reels add your preferred voice effects and you are done!

The integration of TTS technology with different voice effects on Instagram offer a promising trend for improving accessibility and enhancing the platform's user experience. Murf simplifies the process of creating high quality voiceovers for Instagram reels and other social media accounts such as youtube. With its natural-sounding voices, accents, and voice controls, Murf offers a powerful solution for content creators to save time and effort. By embracing these technological advancements, businesses and influencers can widen their audience reach and stay ahead of the Instagram game.

As more creators and businesses scale their voiceover workflows for Reels and other video content, Murf also offers a powerful real-time and high volume solution that supports automation and global deployment: Murf Falcon.

Meet Murf Falcon: The Fastest, Most Efficient Text to Speech API 

Murf Falcon is built for moments where speed actually matters. The kind where even a half-second delay feels awkward. With 55ms model latency and under 130ms time-to-first-audio, it responds almost instantly, making real-time speech feel natural instead of staged.

It doesn’t trade quality for speed either. You get access to 150+ voices across 35+ languages, with the ability to switch languages mid sentence without breaking flow. The AI voice stays fluid, expressive, and human-like.

Where Falcon really flexes is scale. It can handle up to 10,000 concurrent calls while maintaining the same low latency. Add to that 99.38% pronunciation accuracy and pricing at around 1 cent per minute, and you get a system that’s fast, reliable, and cost efficient.

Transform Text into Natural-Sounding Speech in 200+ Voices

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Add Text to Speech on Instagram Reels?

Open the Instagram app, record or upload your video using the reels camera, then tap add text. Enter your Instagram text, tap the text bubble, select text to speech, choose a voice option, and finalize your voiceover.

Why Can’t I Find the Text to Speech Option on Instagram Reels?

You may be using an outdated Instagram app. Update it via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. Also, some features roll out gradually, so not all users get the speech feature on Instagram reels at the same time.

Can You Change the Voice in Instagram Text to Speech?

Yes, Instagram offers limited voice options, usually a female voice and male voice. Tap the text bubble, choose the voice option, and switch between available voice effects to match your reel style.

Can You Add Text to Speech on Instagram Stories?

No, the text to speech feature is mainly available for Instagram reels. For stories, you’ll need to record your own voice or manually add voiceover, since the speech feature isn’t fully supported there yet.

Author’s Profile
Supriya Sharma
Supriya Sharma
Supriya is a Content Marketing Manager at Murf AI, specializing in crafting AI-driven strategies that connect Learning and Development professionals with innovative text-to-speech solutions. With over six years of experience in content creation and campaign management, Supriya blends creativity and data-driven insights to drive engagement and growth in the SaaS space.
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