Uploading audio and video files to WordPress using the Media Uploader is easy. Even though the media uploader recognizes these files and display appropriate file-type icons next to them, WordPress does not have a media player that can play these files. You can use a third party platform like SoundCloud to embed audio, but the goal of this article is to allow you to upload audio files using the default media uploader and embed them into a post or page. In this article, we will show you how to add MP3 audio files in WordPress using oEmbed.
Firstly, you need to install and activate oEmbed HTML5 audio plugin. After activating the plugin, go to the post or page where you want to add audio file.
Click on Add Media button to upload audio file from your computer. You can upload files in mp3, ogg, and wav formats. Once you have uploaded the file, copy file location and paste raw URL in your post.
The plugin will use HTML5 audio tag to automatically embed audio file from your URL. While using this method, you will notice that the media player for ogg and mp3 files looks different in Firefox. Currently, Firefox does not support oEmbed HTML5 audio for MP3 files so the plugin falls back to a flash player instead of HTML5 when it detects Firefox. With the flash fallback, this method works for most browsers and platforms.
We hope you found this article useful. If you are using some other solution to embed audio files on your site please share it with us in the comments below.
christopher baxley says
Thanks for the help. My blog is 6 months old, I was having issues with uploading audio into a post. You gave a clear and understanding example on how to upload them. You’ve saved me a lot of heartache and frustration. thank you. Have a great day.
WPBeginner Support says
You’re welcome, glad our article could help
Admin
Glen Donohue says
How to get the MP3 in to blubrry press with out having to do it myself all the time should be a way for it to read rss and add it each time there is a new podcast?
Monique Stam says
This only works if you can afford WordPress Premium or better, as fas as I can tell.
Mike P. says
You might want to edit this post. Since 3.6 (we are on 4.X) WP can support native audio embedding. The plugin is not needed.
Michele says
Worked great, thanks!!
Carla says
This plugin is old, but the newest one, PB oEmbed HTML5 Audio – with Cache Support, is awesome!!! It is ridiculously easy to use. Just be sure to remove the extra code around the link that WordPress creates when you insert an MP3 file into a post or page.
By the way, for those who do not know how to insert an audio file into a post or page, add it just as you would a photo, using the Media button.
Alan Thompson says
Hello
I’m sure the solution above works very well for individual posts. Does anyone have any ideas how to integrate a music player which continues playing as the user browses to other pages /posts – like the bar across the bottom of the screen when you play a track at http://www.jamendo.com?
Regards
Alan
khuram khan says
thanku for sharing such a great idea …
roni says
How to play auto mp3 on website
Erin Dougherty says
There’s a media file mb limit of 10mb and my audio file is 11mb. How can you add a media file larger than 10mb or how can I reduce the size of my mp3 file in order to upload it to my wordpress site?
Duckworth says
Try uploading the file from inside a post or reduce the file size with any mp3 editors. There are billions of free tools out there. Neat,huh
kainer says
People, get rid of all plugins that not support their service on browsers like ie, chrome, firefox and mobile phones/pads. Why somebody still developing this shit?
You can not use plugins which only serve 50% of all internet users!
…..and if you see one of this half baked plugins: DON’T PROMOTE IT! It is useless.
THX for the article btw….
Editorial Staff says
I think you are misunderstood about the plugin’s compatability. It works with all browsers and have a backup Flash based player for MP3.
For other file formats OGG and WAV, it is not supported on IE 8, 9, and Safari. But again, we wrote this article for MP3 files, and this plugin supports that on all browsers. The wording on the plugins detail page might be confusing, but if you look carefully, there is a semi colon there that separates OGG, WAV – not supported.
Admin
Warren Horak says
Thanks for this post.
Just one problem, when I update it URL link appears in the post with no player ? How can I fix this?
Thanks
Warren
Osagie 'OsaGz' Alonge says
Has any noticed this plugin doesn’t work on mobile? Is there any audio player that can stream music on mobile platform?
Tim Hyde says
I recently discovered the oEmebed HTML5 Audio plugin which is really simple. I wanted a way to avoid using SoundCloud and their fees!
This plugin will embed the HTML audio player, with a flash backup for any mp3 url it finds in your post.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/oembed-html5-audio/
This way you can store your audio anywhere. A public DropBox folder works pretty well and couldn’t be simpler.
Noumaan Yaqoob says
Tim actually this is the same plugin discussed in the article above. No doubt its a great plugin. The public dropbox idea is cool.
So basically you can just upload an audio file mp3 or ogg in Dropbox public folder. Get the link of the file from drop box and just paste it in posts.
Greg Davis says
It hasn’t been updated in a while but another good option has been the WordPress “Audio Player” plugin: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/audio-player/
Liam says
Thanks for sharing!
Jake says
Does this work well on mobile? I can imagine that it would be hard to click the buttons on an iPhone.
Andrew Ledwith says
I’ve been using Blubrry PowerPress to embed audio on several WP websites. I’ve been very pleased with its performance and robust set of options.