Microsoft Speech SDK
SAPI 5.1
System Requirements
Operating Systems
Supported operating systems are:
- Windows XP Professional or Home editions; all language versions.
- Windows.NET Server editions; all language versions.
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional Workstation or Server; all language versions.
- Microsoft Windows Millennium edition.
- Microsoft Windows 98 all editions.
- Microsoft Windows ® NT Workstation or Server 4.0, service pack 6a, English, Japanese, or Simplified Chinese edition.
- Windows 95 or earlier is not supported.
Software Requirements
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later version. Users of Windows NT 4 with any version of the service packs require Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later. Download the latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer.
- Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, service pack 3 or later version is needed to run the SAPI 5 SDK samples. In general, any 32-bit C compiler will work for writing SAPI applications.
- Microsoft Visual Basic is needed to write applications incorporating SAPI automation, or for compiling the Visual Basic sample code. Since SAPI supports COM automation, other languages and compilers may be used with SAPI automation provided it supports OLE automation. Microsoft Visual Studio 7, also called Visual Studio.NET, is needed to compile the C# examples.
- Platform SDK is generally not needed although some samples and functionality may require it. See the specific samples for confirmation. If required, see Microsoft Platform SDK for loading information.
Hardware Requirements
- A PentiumII\PentiumII-equivalent or later processor at 233 MHz with 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM is recommended.
- SAPI 5 can now take advantage of a computer and operating system that supports multiple processors, including all those mentioned above. Additionally, you can use SAPI 5 in a distributed application environment.
- A microphone or some other sound input device to receive the sound is required for speech recognition. In general, the microphone should be a high quality device with noise filters built in. The speech recognition rate is directly related to the quality of the input. The recognition rate will be significantly lower or perhaps even unacceptable with a poor microphone.
- Not all sound cards or sound devices are supported by SAPI 5, even if the operating system supports them otherwise.
- The following table outlines the RAM usage:
Component |
Minimum RAM |
Recommended RAM |
TTS Engine |
14.5 MB |
32 MB |
SR Command and Control |
16 MB |
32 MB |
SR Dictation |
25.5 MB |
128 MB |
SR Both |
26.5 MB |
128 MB |
- The following table outlines the disk usage:
File Name |
Approximate File Size |
Setup Merge Names |
Sapi.dll and Sapisvr.exe |
0.5 MB |
Sp5.msm |
Sapi.cpl |
36 KB |
Sp5Intl.msm |
SR Engine |
1.7 MB |
Sp5Sr.msm |
Command and Control Datafiles |
13.4 MB |
Sp5CCInt.msm |
TTS Engine and voices |
7.8 MB |
Sp5TTInt.msm |
Files common to both Microsoft SAPI 5.1 TTS and SR. |
92 KB |
SpCommon.Msm |
Language-specific SAPI 5.1 inverse text normalization (ITN) components. |
108 KB |
Sp5itn.Msm |
For more information on setup, see the Microsoft Speech SDK Setup 5.1.