Polly EngineNotSupportedException: the default engine is standard

Polly EngineNotSupportedException: the default engine is standard

TL;DR

If Amazon Polly returns EngineNotSupportedException, the fix is the Engine parameter, not the voice. Polly defaults to the standard engine, and many current voices don't support it. Always pass the engine explicitly (neural for most modern voices) and verify your voice supports it before retrying.

Use this when you run into the situation in the title.

When not to use this skill: unrelated tasks. It covers only the procedure above.

Compatibility

The steps above apply to the commands named in them. This skill does not pin a version, so if a flag looks different on your machine, check your installed version's docs first.

Details

This also applies to the async StartSpeechSynthesisTask path. When agents rotate voices dynamically, query DescribeVoices first and carry the supported engines alongside the VoiceId so the request can't mismatch.

Context: Official docs (Amazon Polly SynthesizeSpeech API reference): documents that the Engine parameter defaults to standard, and if the chosen voice isn't supported by the standard engine, the request errors with EngineNotSupportedException (400). Valid engines are standard, neural, long-form, generative. Many newer voices only support neural/long-form/generative, so omitting Engine fails. The fix is to pass an engine the voice supports (check the Available Voices list), not to swap the voice.

Source: Official docs (Amazon Polly SynthesizeSpeech API reference): documents that the Engine parameter defaults to standard, and if the chosen voice isn't supported by the standard engine, the request errors with EngineNotSupportedException (400). Valid engines are standard, neural, long-form, generative. Many newer voices only support neural/long-form/generative, so omitting Engine fails. The fix is to pass an engine the voice supports (check the Available Voices list), not to swap the voice.

Verified resolution: If Amazon Polly returns EngineNotSupportedException, the fix is the Engine parameter, not the voice. Polly defaults to the standard engine, and many current voices don't support it. Always pass the engine explicitly (neural for most modern voices) and verify your voice supports it before retrying. This also applies to the async StartSpeechSynthesisTask path. When agents rotate voices dynamically, query DescribeVoices first and carry the supported engines alongside the VoiceId so the request can't mismatch.

Source URL: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/polly/latest/dg/API_SynthesizeSpeech.html