Lissin

Turn Markdown and HTML files into an audio show

Lissin reads HTML natively. How to get Markdown, a docs site or a saved web page into a narrated show, and what happens to code blocks.

The short answer

HTML is read natively, so the reliable path for Markdown is to render it to HTML first — any static site generator, a Markdown editor’s export, or your browser’s Save Page As on the rendered version. Upload the HTML file and describe the show.

How to do it

  1. Render Markdown to HTML

    Almost anything does this: your editor’s export, `pandoc file.md -o file.html`, or the site build you already run. The rendered version also resolves link text, tables and footnotes into a form that reads aloud sensibly.

  2. Save a web page properly

    Save Page As → Web Page, Complete gives an HTML file with the article text intact. Reader mode first, where the browser offers it, strips navigation and related-article rails that would otherwise be narrated as part of the piece.

  3. Decide what to do with code

    Code blocks read aloud badly and at length. Either say ‘skip the code, explain what it does’ — usually right — or, for a tutorial, ‘describe each step without reading the snippets’.

At a glance

Sources it takes
A link, pasted text, or an upload: HTML, PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPTX, XLSX
Markdown
Render to HTML first
Docs sites
Concatenate pages into one HTML file
Transcript
Included, synchronised to the audio

Hear what comes out

Shows already published on Lissin, free to play in the browser.

Questions

Why not upload the .md file directly?
Markdown is not in the set of formats extracted, and syntax read literally — asterisks, backticks, bracket-paren links — is worse than useless in audio. Rendering first removes the problem.
Can I give it a URL instead of a file?
Yes — paste the link and Lissin fetches the page itself. Saving a file is the fallback for anything a crawler cannot reach: a page behind a login, a paywalled article, or one that renders its text only after JavaScript runs.
What about a whole documentation site?
Concatenate the pages you care about into one HTML file. A README plus a getting-started guide plus an architecture page is a reasonable episode; a full API reference is not.

What this does not do

Interactive pages lose whatever the interaction carried. Saved pages sometimes bring their own navigation chrome with them, which shows up as odd fragments in the script. And a paywalled article does not become readable by being saved.

Try it on something you already have

Upload a PDF, a deck or a document and describe the show you want from it. Or press play on anything in the library first — no account, no app.

Open the player

Last reviewed 9 September 2026 by Lissin Editorial.