Synthesia Interactive Demo
Synthesia is an AI video generation platform that creates studio-quality videos with on-screen AI avatars speaking from a text script, with no camera, microphone, or video production experience required. Over 50,000 companies use it to produce training content, product explainers, and onboarding materials at scale.
What is Synthesia?
Synthesia is an AI avatar video platform founded in 2017. It lets organizations create videos by typing a script rather than filming one, with a library of AI-generated avatars that speak the text in over 130 languages. The founding team came from academic and industry research in computer vision and generative AI, and the platform was initially used for enterprise training and communications before expanding to a broader market of content creators and marketing teams.
The core workflow involves selecting an avatar, writing or pasting a script, choosing a language and voice, and then letting the platform render the video. No camera setup, lighting, or recording session is required. For organizations that produce a high volume of video content, such as employee training libraries or multilingual product education, this dramatically reduces the cost and time per video compared to live-action production.
Synthesia supports custom avatar creation, where companies can train a digital avatar using footage of a real person, enabling a single presenter to appear in dozens of videos without additional recording time. The platform exports SCORM packages for direct upload to LMS platforms, making it a natural fit for corporate learning and development teams. The Starter plan includes 10 monthly video credits at $29 per month, Creator is $89 per month, and Enterprise plans include unlimited video generation.
How to get started with Synthesia
- 1
Create an account and choose a plan
Sign up at synthesia.io and select the plan that fits your anticipated video volume. The Starter plan's 10 credits per month is enough to evaluate the platform and produce a small set of initial videos. Keep in mind that each credit typically maps to a set duration of video, so plan your first projects around shorter formats to maximize what you can test.
- 2
Select an avatar and language
Browse the avatar library and choose a presenter that fits your brand and content context. Synthesia provides a range of avatars in different styles, ages, and demographics. Select the language and voice variant for your script. If you plan to produce the same video in multiple languages, you can duplicate the project and change only the language setting without re-selecting the avatar or rebuilding the layout.
- 3
Write your script
Type or paste your script into the script editor. Synthesia renders exactly what you write, so the quality of the output depends on how well-written the script is. Short sentences work better than long complex ones for natural-sounding delivery. You can add pronunciation guides for unusual proper nouns directly in the script editor, and pause markers let you control the pacing.
- 4
Add slides, backgrounds, and media
Synthesia's slide editor lets you add screen recordings, images, text overlays, and brand colors alongside the avatar. You are not limited to a talking head: the avatar can appear as a picture-in-picture element while a product screen recording plays in the main frame, which is a common format for software onboarding and feature explanation videos.
- 5
Render and export or embed
Click generate to render the final video. Rendering typically takes a few minutes per video. Once complete, you can download the MP4, share a Synthesia-hosted link, or export a SCORM package for LMS upload. For teams showing customers how a product works, consider following a Synthesia explainer with an interactive Supademo demo so viewers can move from watching to trying in a single session.
Who is Synthesia most useful for?
Synthesia is most useful for L&D teams and training content producers who need to create and update video libraries without the overhead of live production. Recording a live trainer for every compliance update, product change, or onboarding module is expensive and slow. Synthesia makes it practical to update a script in a document and re-render the video in minutes rather than scheduling a new shoot. Organizations with distributed workforces who need to deliver training in multiple languages get particular leverage from the 130-language support.
Marketing teams use Synthesia for product explainers, feature announcements, and localized video content for regional markets. A single script can produce videos in a dozen languages with consistent presenter appearance and brand visuals. For teams that want to let prospects explore a product on their own terms after watching a Synthesia explainer, pairing those videos with Supademo interactive demos creates a full self-serve education sequence from awareness to hands-on trial.
HR and internal communications teams at large companies use Synthesia to produce CEO updates, policy change announcements, and benefits explainers in a format employees are more likely to watch than read. The consistent avatar appearance across all videos creates a recognizable format that employees start to associate with important updates, which improves open and completion rates compared to text-heavy emails.
Alternatives to Synthesia
Synthesia competes with a growing set of AI video and avatar tools, each with a different balance of realism, control, and use-case focus.
ElevenLabs focuses on generating high-quality AI voices rather than complete avatar videos. The voice output quality is generally considered more natural-sounding than the voices embedded in Synthesia or HeyGen, and it gives users more control over tone, pacing, and emotional delivery. Teams that want premium audio quality and handle visuals separately, using screen recordings or motion graphics, often prefer ElevenLabs for the voice layer.
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HeyGen is the closest competitor to Synthesia in the AI avatar video space, with comparable avatar quality and multilingual support. It has carved out a distinct niche in personalized video at scale, particularly for sales teams sending personalized video messages to large prospect lists. The avatar quality is strong, and the video personalization API is more developed than Synthesia's for programmatic video generation workflows.
D-ID specializes in animating still photographs into speaking avatars, which gives it a distinct edge for use cases where a photorealistic human presence matters and a custom avatar is not worth the production cost. Upload a headshot and a script, and D-ID generates a video of that person speaking. It is commonly used for personalized customer communication and realistic presenter videos where stock avatars feel too generic.
Descript approaches AI-generated speech differently: it clones your own voice from a short recording, then lets you generate new speech in your voice by typing. The result is used to fix mistakes in recorded video without re-recording. It is a better tool for editing real recorded video than for generating avatar-driven content from scratch, but for teams that already record themselves and want AI assistance in post-production, it fills a gap that Synthesia does not.
FAQs on Synthesia
Commonly asked questions about Synthesia. Have more? Reach out and our team will be happy to help.
How many languages does Synthesia support?
Synthesia supports over 130 languages and accents for avatar speech. The same script can be rendered in multiple languages using the same avatar, so teams producing multilingual content do not need separate recordings or voice actors for each locale. Language quality varies by how widely spoken the language is, with major European and Asian languages receiving the most polish.
Can I create a custom avatar that looks like me?
Synthesia's custom avatar feature lets companies create a digital avatar using a video recording of a real person. The process involves filming a short consent and source video in a supported format, submitting it to Synthesia, and receiving a personal avatar within a few business days. Custom avatars are available on Creator and Enterprise plans. The result is a digital version of the person that can deliver any script without additional filming.
Does Synthesia export SCORM for LMS platforms?
Synthesia exports SCORM packages that can be uploaded directly to LMS platforms like Cornerstone, SAP SuccessFactors, Docebo, and others that support the SCORM standard. This makes it practical for L&D teams to include Synthesia videos inside structured course flows without hosting video externally and linking out. Quiz and completion tracking work through the standard SCORM events.
What is included in the Starter plan?
Synthesia's Starter plan costs $29 per month and includes 10 video credits per month, access to over 90 stock avatars, 130+ languages, and the ability to create videos up to a certain length. The credit system means high-volume users, such as teams generating dozens of training videos per month, typically need the Creator plan at $89 per month or an Enterprise contract with unlimited generation.
How does Synthesia compare to using ElevenLabs for voiceover?
Synthesia and ElevenLabs solve related but different problems. ElevenLabs generates highly realistic AI voiceovers that you combine with your own visuals, giving you more control over the audio quality and voice characteristics. Synthesia bundles the voice with a visible AI avatar in a complete video output, which suits training and explainer content where a presenter presence adds credibility. For teams that only need voiceover without a video avatar, ElevenLabs is more flexible. For teams that need a complete presenter-driven video, Synthesia handles the full production.
Is Synthesia suitable for external customer-facing content?
Synthesia is used for external content, including product explainers, onboarding videos, and marketing materials, though the quality of AI avatars is more noticeable in close-up or high-attention contexts than in internal training videos where viewers are less critical. Many companies use it for customer-facing content where authenticity is less important than clarity and production speed. For high-stakes brand moments, custom avatar creation improves the output significantly over stock avatars.