EchoSpeech is an obsure voice compression codec. Very little is known about the format. The default bitrate is 9600bps, at 11025Hz.

The codec consists of a command line encoder and decoder for DOS. The only way to play back the streams is by creating a web page (!) that loads the appropriate plugin (!!) on Netscape or another compatible browser (!!!). That probably explains why the format never became popular.

Despite these hurdles, I installed the plugin (on Netscape Communicator 4.51!) to try it out. The interface is so minimal, it is not even worth uploading a screenshot. Just a yellow box displaying the text "EchoSpeech 1.5 - Voice of the Web™". A left click with the mouse pauses/unpauses playback, a right click goes to the EchoSpeech web site. And that's it.

A mirror of the web site is available at the Internet Archive.


Date: 1995-03-01
Version: 1.0
Interface: Command line
Platform: DOS
Download: espch10.zip - 96kB

Date: 1997-02-12
Version: 1.5 (player)
Interface: Browser plugin
Platform: Win32
Download: npe32_15.zip - 41kB

Date: 1997-02-12
Version: 1.5 (player)
Interface: Browser plugin
Platform: Win16
Download: npe16_15.zip - 33kB

Lots of thanks to Marco Pontello for submitting this codec.