What is Amazon Polly? The Ultimate Guide [2025]

We used to think of speech technology as something futuristic — a luxury only seen in sci-fi films or behind the scenes of massive call centers. But today, it’s everywhere. From mobile apps that read aloud the morning news to voicebots helping travelers rebook missed flights, speech synthesis has become a core part of how we interact with technology. And leading that shift in a quiet but impactful way is Amazon Polly.

Polly isn’t just another text-to-speech tool. It’s a cloud-based service powered by deep learning that can take written text and turn it into fluid, human-like speech in real time. With support for over 30 languages and more than 100 distinct voices, Amazon Polly helps developers build experiences that speak naturally — not just functionally.

Behind the scenes, Polly’s Neural Text-to-Speech (NTTS) engine uses advanced machine learning to adjust pitch, pacing, and intonation — the kind of details that turn robotic audio into something that feels like a real conversation. AWS reports that apps using Polly’s neural voices have increased customer engagement by up to 20%, especially in accessibility, customer support, and e-learning platforms.

And it’s not just the big players using Amazon Polly. Startups, educators, healthcare providers, and developers building for visually impaired users are using Polly to make digital content more human. In fact, according to a 2024 Voicebot.ai report, over 70% of voice applications now rely on AI-generated speech, with Amazon Polly sitting among the top solutions for quality and flexibility.

Whether you’re localizing a product for new markets, narrating interactive training material, or simply looking to give your app a voice that connects — Amazon Polly offers the speed, scalability, and natural sound to help you do just that. So, let’s discuss it in more detail!

What is Amazon Polly?

Amazon Polly is a fully managed service that turns written text into natural-sounding speech on demand. It uses advanced deep learning to convert everything from articles and websites to PDFs into lifelike audio. With support for a wide range of languages and realistic voice options, Amazon Polly helps you create engaging, voice-powered applications that connect with users more effectively.

Whether you’re building for accessibility, global audiences, or interactive learning, Polly adapts to your needs. Behind the scenes, powerful neural networks and generative voice tech handle the speech synthesis. You can easily add voice capabilities to your existing platforms by integrating Polly’s API — making your apps voice-ready in no time.

People are using Polly in all sorts of ways. Some apps use it to read articles aloud, others add it to games or online learning tools. It’s also been a great fit for products that help visually impaired users. And in today’s smart home and connected device world, having a voice that sounds more human is becoming more important than ever.

On top of that, Amazon Polly is built with privacy in mind. It’s cleared for HIPAA use and meets PCI DSS standards — so if you’re working in healthcare, finance, or anywhere sensitive data matters, it’s ready to support you securely.

Read More: Everything You Need to Know About Amazon Nova Sonic

How Does Amazon Polly Actually Work?

Amazon Polly takes plain old text and turns it into speech that actually sounds human — not like some clunky, robotic voice from the early 2000s. Behind the scenes, it’s using some seriously advanced deep learning techniques. But to you and me, it just sounds… natural.

What makes it really shine is something called Neural Text-to-Speech, or NTTS for short. This tech doesn’t just “read” the words — it understands how we say them. It picks up on rhythm, pitch, pacing — even subtle shifts in tone — so the voice sounds way more real, like someone you’d actually talk to in everyday life.

Let’s say you’ve downloaded a language learning app to brush up on your French. You’re curious how to say “Bonjour” — you know, the classic French greeting. You tap the word, and in a split second, the app plays it back in a smooth, native-sounding French voice.

Here’s what just happened behind the curtain: the app sent the word “Bonjour” over to Amazon Polly. Polly looked at the word, figured out how it should sound in French (not just how it’s spelled), and returned an audio clip that nails the pronunciation — accent and all.

Amazon Polly: Features That Actually Matter

• Plug-and-play voice for your app: Getting started with Polly is refreshingly simple. All you need to do is send your text to the Amazon Polly API, and it sends back a ready-to-use audio stream — just like that. You can either play the speech instantly or save it as a standard audio file (like MP3) for later use. It’s fast, easy, and fits into your app with almost no effort.
• A voice for every audience: Polly gives you access to a wide range of natural-sounding voices in dozens of languages. Whether you’re building something for an international market or just want to offer more personality, you’ve got options. Beyond the standard and neural voices, Polly now offers long-form and generative voices too — designed to sound more fluid and expressive over extended content. Names like Ruth, Joanna, Stephen, Olivia, and many others are available, each with their own tone and style.
• Match speech with visuals: Want to build something more interactive? Amazon Polly lets you request detailed timing data that tells you exactly when each sentence, word, or sound is spoken. That opens up fun possibilities — like animating characters to speak in sync, or creating karaoke-style word highlights on screen. It’s a small touch that can make a big impact on user experience.
• Stream audio smoothly and efficiently: Amazon Polly is built for real-time use. Whether you’re delivering news, directions, or updates, your app can stream the audio quickly, with minimal delay. You can also adjust the sampling rate to balance audio quality and bandwidth — and choose from formats like MP3, Vorbis, or raw PCM, depending on what works best for your setup.

Sampling Rate	MP3 File Size	OGG File Size	PCM File Size
24.00 kHz	19.31 kB	18.11 kB	N/A
22.05 kHz	19.33 kB	17.62 kB	N/A
16.05 kHz	16.22 kB	15.48 kB	100.68 kB
8.00 kHz	13.26 kB	9.72 kB	50.34 kB

 

• Control how the voice sounds: Sometimes tone matters. Polly gives you tools to fine-tune the way the voice speaks. You can adjust pitch, pace, emphasis, or even make it sound like a news anchor using SSML — a markup language made for speech customization. It’s an easy way to give your voice content some personality, especially when you want to keep your audience interested.
• Keep speech in sync with your videos: Need your voiceover to fit a tight time frame — like matching audio with a training video or localized content? Amazon Polly has a feature called time-driven prosody, which automatically adjusts the speaking speed to fit within the timeframe you choose. It’s perfect for dubbing content into another language without having to recut the video.
• Built for your tech stack: No matter which language you code in, Polly probably supports it. It works with the AWS SDKs in Java, Python, PHP, .NET, Node.js, Ruby, C++, and even the AWS Mobile SDKs for Android and iOS. Prefer the command line? Polly has that covered too. You can access it through the API, the AWS Console, or the CLI — whatever fits your workflow.
• Use it your way: API, console, or CLI: Amazon Polly doesn’t box you into one interface. You can control it through the API, hop into the AWS Management Console, or stick with the command-line interface if that’s your thing. Either way, all features are at your fingertips — no limitations, just flexibility.
• Teach Polly how to pronounce your words: Got a tricky brand name, acronym, or a phrase in another language? With Polly’s custom lexicons, you can teach it exactly how to say those terms. All it takes is uploading a small XML file with your preferred pronunciations. It’s great for making sure your content sounds polished and professional — especially when accuracy matters.
• Create a voice that’s completely your own: If you want something truly unique; with Brand Voice, you can work with the Amazon Polly team to create a custom voice exclusive to your business. They’ll help you define the persona, choose a voice actor, record samples, and train the voice model just for your brand. Once it’s built, that voice is available only to your AWS account. It’s a powerful way to give your product its own sound — whether you’re building Alexa skills, customer support tools, or branded content.

Use Cases of Amazon Polly

• Generate speech in dozens of languages: If you’ve got content that needs to reach people around the world, Amazon Polly has got your back. It can turn plain text into spoken words in a bunch of languages — perfect for websites, news feeds, videos, or even smart devices. Whether you’re building an app for today or prepping for where tech is headed tomorrow, having voice in the mix just makes sense.
• Engage customers with a natural-sounding voice: Polly’s not just about reading things out loud. You can actually use it to build phone systems that sound warm and real — the kind that help callers find what they need without sounding like a robot. A little expression goes a long way when you want your customer experience to feel a bit more personal.
• Create audio for media at a fraction of the cost: Suppose you are working on a game, a short film, or  maybe just a product demo; Amazon Polly helps you turn written scripts into voiceovers that sound clean and natural. You can shape how it speaks using SSML — things like tone, pauses, or how a phrase hits. And if you’re translating content into other languages, Polly can even adjust the timing so everything stays in sync with your original scene.

Getting Started with AWS the Easy Way

Alright, ready to give Amazon Polly a try? Let’s discuss how to get started!

Step 1: Create Your AWS Account

If you don’t have an AWS account yet, don’t worry — signing up is quick.

• Go to https://portal.aws.amazon.com/billing/signup
• Follow the on-screen steps — they’ll guide you through it
  
• As part of the process, you’ll get a phone call or text with a code — just enter it to confirm
  
• Once you’re done, AWS will send a confirmation email to let you know everything’s ready
  

When you create your account, you’ll automatically have a root user. This user has full access to everything in AWS — so it’s best to use it only for important account-related tasks. For everyday work, you’ll want to set up a separate admin user. More on that below.

To check or manage your account later, just head over to https://aws.amazon.com/ and click My Account at the top.

Step 2: Set Up a Secure Admin User

After your account is live, it’s time to secure it and set up access for yourself (and others) the right way.

i. Secure Your Root User

• • Log in at https://aws.amazon.com/console using your root email and password
    
  • Set up multi-factor authentication (MFA) for added security
    
  • This keeps your main account safe in case someone tries to break in
    

Need help signing in as root? You can check the AWS Sign-In Guide.

ii. Create an Admin User (So You Don’t Keep Using Root)

• • First, enable IAM Identity Center — AWS’s tool for managing users and access
    
  • Then, create a new user and give them full admin rights
    
  • This will be the account you use for day-to-day tasks
    

Not sure how? You’ll find a full walkthrough here: Configure user access with IAM Identity Center

iii. Sign In as Your Admin User

• • You’ll receive a custom sign-in link in your inbox when your admin user is created
    
  • Use that link anytime you want to log in as your new admin
    

Step 3: Add More Users (If You Need To)

Once your admin setup is ready, you can start bringing in team members — safely and easily.

• Go into IAM Identity Center
  
• Create permission sets with the right level of access (always follow the “least privilege” rule)
  
• Group users together and assign access to that group
  

Need help with this part? Check out: Add groups in AWS IAM Identity Center

Where Amazon Polly Shows Up in Contact Centers

• Amazon Connect: If you’re using Amazon Connect to run your cloud-based contact center, adding lifelike voice to your IVR system is simple. Amazon Polly is already built right into Connect, so you can easily set up voice prompts that sound natural and engaging — no extra work required. If you want to guide callers through menus or deliver updates in a friendly tone; Polly’s voices can do that, effortlessly. You can check out the step-by-step guide on using Polly voices with Connect if you’re ready to explore it further.
• Genesys Cloud CX: With Genesys Cloud CX, you can bring text-to-speech into your customer conversations across voice, chat, and messaging — all in one place. Polly’s wide range of voices works smoothly within this platform, making it easy to build bots that talk like real people. For more setup help, just head over to the Genesys documentation.
• Amazon Chime SDK: The Amazon Chime SDK is built for developers who want to add real-time calling or video to their own apps — whether it’s web, mobile, or voice-based. And with Polly already integrated, it’s easy to turn written content or data into speech your users can actually hear during a call. Whether you’re reading out reminders, numbers, or custom messages, it just works.
• AWS Contact Center Intelligence (CCI): Amazon Polly also plays a big role in AWS Contact Center Intelligence solutions, especially when you’re working with partners like Genesys, Vonage, or Accenture. These tools help you build virtual agents that can answer questions, deliver updates, or guide users — all without needing a human rep on the line. If you’re looking to explore what’s possible with Amazon Polly and CCI partners, there’s more info waiting on the AWS site.

Final Thoughts

Amazon Polly isn’t just another piece of cloud tech — it’s a quiet example of how machine learning is starting to mirror human nuance. What makes Amazon Polly stand out isn’t just its long list of features, but the way its technology actually listens to the shape of our language. Using deep learning and neural networks, Polly figures out how a sentence should rise, fall, pause — and land with meaning. That’s not easy. It takes a serious amount of behind-the-scenes intelligence to make a computer sound like a person.

And yet, that’s exactly what Polly does — whether it’s helping a language app teach proper pronunciation or bringing life to a virtual guide in a smart device. The technology works so smoothly, most users never think twice about what’s running under the hood. But developers know: those realistic voices, those split-second responses, those little intonations that make something feel human — they all come from powerful models trained on years of speech and listening.

At a time when digital experiences are expected to do more, voice is one of the few things that still feels personal. And thanks to tools like Amazon Polly, that kind of connection is no longer out of reach. It’s accessible, affordable, and surprisingly easy to build into whatever you’re creating next.

FAQs

1. What kinds of features does Amazon Polly offer?
Polly gives you the tools to shape the voice just the way you want it. You can control how fast or slow it talks, change the volume, or even guide how certain words are pronounced. Some of the more advanced voices can even mimic the tone of a news anchor — polished and professional. If you’re building visual experiences, Polly also gives you metadata to help sync the audio with animations or highlights on the screen.

2. What exactly are Speech Marks?
Speech Marks are bits of timing data that tell you when each word, sentence, or even mouth movement would happen during playback. They’re useful if you’re animating a character or highlighting words on a screen in sync with the voice. The info comes back as a simple stream of data, and it helps your app feel more interactive and polished.

3. What are some everyday ways people use Amazon Polly?
Polly pops up in more places than you’d think. A lot of language learning apps use it to help users hear words pronounced correctly — which is such a game-changer when you’re trying to learn something new. You’ll also hear it behind the scenes in customer service systems, reading out phone menu options or updates when you call in.

Then there are smart transit systems that use Amazon Polly to make announcements — like telling you which train’s arriving or which stop is next. It also shows up in eBooks, games, smart home devices, and even tools that help people who are blind or visually impaired access written content in audio form. If something needs to “speak,” chances are Polly can handle the job.

4. Can Polly work with other AWS services?
Definitely — and it actually works better when you pair it with other AWS tools. For example, if you’re building a chatbot or virtual assistant, you can connect Polly with Amazon Lex to create a full-on voice experience where people talk and your app answers back in a voice that sounds natural and clear.

If you’re using Amazon Connect to run a call center, Amazon Polly is the voice that greets your customers, guides them through menus, or shares updates. And honestly, if you’re already using AWS for anything — apps, IoT, mobile — adding Polly’s voice capabilities is a smooth and simple bonus.

5. Why go with cloud-based voice instead of something built into a device?
On-device text-to-speech sounds convenient at first, but here’s the thing: it puts a lot of strain on your device. It needs extra processing power, memory, and storage — which can slow things down or drain battery life fast, especially on phones or tablets.

With Polly, all of that happens in the cloud. You send your text, Amazon Polly does the work, and you get back high-quality audio — without weighing down the device. And you don’t need to worry about updates either. AWS keeps improving Polly’s voices behind the scenes, so everything gets better automatically without you lifting a finger.

6. How do I get started with Amazon Polly?
It’s easier than most people expect. If you’ve got an AWS account, just log in and head to the Polly section in the console. From there, you can type a sentence, pick a voice, hit play — and hear it come to life. You can even download the audio file if you want to use it elsewhere.

And if you’re brand new to AWS, no worries — Amazon Polly is part of the free tier, so you can try it out without spending anything upfront.

7. Where is Amazon Polly available?
Polly’s reach is pretty impressive. It’s available in a long list of AWS regions around the world — so chances are, wherever your users are, Polly is already close by and ready to deliver fast, reliable speech output. North America? Covered. Europe? Absolutely. Asia and Australia? Yep, Polly’s there too.

Now here’s something to keep in mind: while the Standard voices are widely available, the more advanced Neural voices — the ones that really capture emotion and natural rhythm — are supported in a select group of regions. You’ll find them in places like the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, Singapore, Japan, and a few others.

If you’re building something for a global audience, it’s always smart to double-check the current availability. AWS keeps their Regional Services List updated, so it only takes a minute to confirm which voices you can use in each area.

8. Which programming languages does Polly support?
Polly was built with developers in mind — and it shows. If you’re working with Java, Python, Node.js, .NET, PHP, Ruby, Go, or C++, you’re already good to go. Polly fits right into your stack without any drama.

And if you’re building mobile apps, you’re covered there too. Polly works smoothly with the AWS Mobile SDKs for iOS and Android, which makes adding voice features to your apps feel surprisingly effortless.

Prefer to work closer to the metal? You can always skip the SDKs and use Polly’s HTTP API directly — no extra setup required. Whether you’re working on something complex or just experimenting with a fun side project, Polly’s flexible enough to work the way you do.

9. What kind of audio formats can Polly generate?
Polly doesn’t lock you into one format — it gives you options, depending on what you’re building.If you’re just looking for something lightweight and easy to plug in — MP3 is usually your best bet. It’s quick to load, sounds good, and works just about everywhere. If file size is really important — say for streaming over slow networks — Vorbis might be the better choice.

But if you’re working on something that demands crystal-clear, high-quality sound (maybe for post-production or advanced editing), raw PCM gives you that uncompressed audio fidelity that audio pros love.

You can also tweak the sampling rate to find the perfect balance between quality and performance. And yes — Polly does real-time streaming too. So if your app needs to respond quickly, like reading a chatbot’s reply out loud or narrating live updates, Polly’s got you covered.