How to Add MP3 Audio Files in WordPress (3 Easy Methods)

Adding MP3 audio files to your WordPress site can be a great way to share music, podcasts, interviews, and other audio content. It helps engage your visitors and can keep them on your site longer.

However, uploading and displaying audio files might seem a bit tricky, especially if you’re not familiar with the different tools and methods available. You don’t want to waste time struggling with complicated steps or worrying about compatibility issues.

After extensive research and testing, we found 3 great options to add MP3 files to WordPress. They are WordPress’ built-in audio block, the HTML5 Audio Player, and Easy Digital Downloads.

In this article, we’ll show you how to use these tools to add audio files to your WordPress website, even if you’re a beginner.

Why Add MP3 Audio Files in WordPress?

Sharing audio files on your WordPress website can be a great way to keep people engaged and encourage them to spend more time on it.

If your website engagement is high, visitors will be more likely to remember your brand. They might also take action, such as making a purchase or signing up for your email newsletter.

When your visitors spend more time exploring your website, it can be a positive signal for search engines. As a result, your site can have higher SEO rankings and get more traffic.

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to share MP3 audio versions of your blog posts, podcast episodes, webinar recordings, or songs on your website. You can even offer these audio files for sale.

In this guide, we’ll show you how can add MP3 audio files to a WordPress website. If you’re interested in a particular method, you can click the link to skip ahead in the article:

Let’s get started.

Method 1. How to Add MP3 Files Using the Built-in Audio Block (Supports Streaming Platforms)

The easiest way to embed MP3 audio files is by using the built-in WordPress Audio block.

This simple block has all the important playback controls, including a play/pause button, volume controls, and a button to change the playback speed.

If you don’t need any more advanced features, the ‘Audio’ block is a good choice. You can use the ‘Audio’ block to play any MP3 file from your WordPress media library.

Alternatively, you can embed MP3s from popular third-party audio platforms like Spotify and SoundCloud.

Just be aware that some platforms only allow you to embed a clip of the full audio. They might also encourage people to leave your site and listen to the full MP3 on their platforms, like in the following image:

To add an MP3 audio file to your WordPress website, open any page or post. Then, go ahead and click the ‘+’ icon.

A popup will then appear.

Go ahead and type ‘Audio’ to find the right block. Then, simply click on the ‘Audio’ block to add it to your page.

If you want to upload a new MP3 file, you’ll need to click on ‘Upload’.

After that, feel free to choose the audio file that you want to upload from your computer.

If you want to use an existing MP3 file, go ahead and click on ‘Media Library’. Then, you should be able to choose an audio file from the WordPress media library.

If you want to embed an MP3 from an external site, you’ll need to click on ‘Insert from URL’ instead.

All you have to do is paste the URL where the audio file is located.

Once you’ve done that, it’s a good idea to click on the ‘Audio’ block to see the different settings that you can configure.

Note that the settings you see may vary depending on whether you’re adding an MP3 from the media library or embedding audio from a third-party site.

For example, you might be able to make the audio play automatically by clicking on the ‘Autoplay’ switch.

However, audio that starts playing as soon as the page loads can be annoying, particularly if the visitor has the volume turned up loud. With that in mind, you should only enable ‘Autoplay’ if it improves the visitor experience in some way.

You might also be able to play the audio file on an endless loop by clicking on the ‘Loop’ switch.

This configuration tends to work best for audio that’s not too distracting. For example, you can use it for an instrumental track that provides background noise or sets the atmosphere.

Alternatively, you can enable looping for longer audio that visitors may want to listen to over and over, like an entire album.

When you’re happy with how the page or post is set up, you can publish or update it.

By now, you should see the MP3 live on your web page. This also means visitors can listen to the audio for free using the block’s playback control buttons.

Method 2. How to Add MP3 Audio Files Using a WordPress Plugin (More Customizable)

The built-in ‘Audio’ block is an easy way to add MP3 audio to your website, including embedding content from third-party platforms. However, it’s very limited, especially when it comes to customizing how the audio player looks and acts.

If you want to add an audio file from the WordPress media library, then HTML5 Audio Player is much more customizable.

It’s one of the best audio player plugins for WordPress and supports a few different audio formats including MP3s. However, please be aware that you can’t use this plugin to embed content from third-party streaming services.

First of all, let’s install and activate the plugin. If you need help, you can see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll need to create an audio player and add the MP3 file to that player.

To get started, you can head over to Html5 Audio Player » Html5 Audio Player. From here, simply click the ‘Add Audio Player’ button.

Once you’ve done that, the next thing to do is type a name for the audio player into the ‘Add title’ field.

You can use any title that you want, as this is just for your reference.

After that, you’ll want to scroll to the ‘Player Configuration’ section.

Here, you can click the ‘Add Audio’ button to launch the WordPress media library. Then, choose the MP3 file that you want to use.

After choosing an MP3, you’re ready to customize the audio player.

By default, visitors just need to click the ‘Play’ button to play the audio. This is how most visitors expect an audio player to act, so you’ll typically want to use these default settings.

However, there are options to mute the audio by default, autoplay, repeat, and more. You can configure these settings to match your needs.

When you’re happy with how the audio player is set up, simply click the ‘Save’ button.

To add the MP3 file and audio player to your site, you’ll need to open any page or post. The next step is to click on the ‘+’ button.

In the popup that appears, type ‘HTML5 Audio Player’ to find the right block. After that, go ahead and click on ‘HTML5 Audio Player – Insert’ to add the block to your page.

Once done, you can expand the ‘Select a Player’ dropdown and choose the audio player that we just created.

The WordPress page editor doesn’t show the audio file, so you won’t be able to play the MP3 or see the player.

If you do want to see the player in action, simply click the ‘Preview’ link.

When you’re ready to post the MP3, either update or publish the page. Then, you can visit the live page on your WordPress website, and the MP3 file should be able to play.

Method 3. How to Add MP3 Files Using Easy Digital Downloads (And Make Money)

Both the built-in WordPress Audio block and HTML5 Audio Player allow visitors to play your MP3 files for free. However, you can consider selling audio files and making money online blogging with WordPress.

By default, WordPress doesn’t have any eCommerce features. So, you’ll need to use a plugin if you want to sell your MP3 files.

That’s where Easy Digital Downloads comes in. It’s one of the best WordPress eCommerce plugins that lets you easily sell ebooks, PDF files, videos, MP3 audio files, and any other type of digital product.

Many of our partner sites use Easy Digital Downloads to sell their plugins and software, and they’ve reported great experiences with it. For more details on our experience with it, you can check our to our Easy Digital Downloads review.

Even better, Easy Digital Downloads comes pre-installed if you’re using SiteGround as your hosting provider. This allows you to start selling MP3s and other digital products straight away.

For more information on how to get started with Easy Digital Downloads, please see our beginners guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

Once you have Easy Digital Downloads set up, you can add each MP3 as a new product simply by clicking ‘Downloads’ in the left-hand menu.

You can then go ahead and click the ‘Add New’ button.

This will open a screen where you can create a product page for the digital download.

Here, it’s a good idea to add all the necessary information about your audio file including its price, description, and any product categories and tags that you want to use.

Once you’ve done that, scroll to the ‘Download Files’ section and click the icon that looks like a link.

This will launch the WordPress media library, where you can choose the MP3 that you want to sell on your site.

When you’re happy with how the product page is set up, simply click ‘Publish.’

Now people will be able to buy your MP3 audio file simply by visiting your site.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add MP3 audio files in WordPress. Next, you might want to go through our guides on how to add an audio music player in WordPress and how to sell audiobooks online.

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