The simplest way to add music to PowerPoint

Open the slide where you want the music to play. Go to the Insert tab at the top of PowerPoint, then click Audio (in Microsoft 365) or Audio under Media (in older versions). Choose Audio on My PC to find an audio file already saved on your computer. Select the file and click Insert. A speaker icon will appear on your slide — you can move it anywhere or resize it.

That speaker icon is what your audience clicks to play the music during the presentation. If you want the music to start automatically when the slide appears instead of waiting for a click, right-click the speaker icon, select Play Settings, and check the box next to Start: On Click or Start: With Previous (which means it plays as soon as the slide loads, without waiting for you to click anything).

The audio file itself stays separate from your PowerPoint file — PowerPoint creates a link to it rather than embedding it. If you move or delete the original audio file later, the music won't play anymore. To avoid this problem, use the method described in the next section.

Key Takeaways

  • Insert audio through the Insert tab, then Audio, then Audio on My PC, and PowerPoint will place a speaker icon on your slide that plays the file when clicked.
  • Set music to play automatically by right-clicking the speaker icon, selecting Play Settings, and choosing Start: With Previous instead of Start: On Click.
  • By default, PowerPoint links to your audio file rather than embedding it, so moving or deleting the original file will break the playback.
  • Embed the audio file inside your PowerPoint presentation by selecting the speaker icon and checking Embed Media in the ribbon, which makes the file portable but larger.
  • Audio files must be in a format PowerPoint recognizes — MP3, WAV, M4A, and AAC work on most systems, but OGG and FLAC do not.

Embedding audio so it travels with your presentation

When you insert audio the standard way, PowerPoint only links to the file on your computer. If you email the presentation to someone else or move it to a different folder, the music disappears. To prevent this, embed the audio file inside the PowerPoint file itself.

After you insert the audio and the speaker icon appears on your slide, click the speaker icon to select it. Look at the ribbon at the top — you should see a Playback tab appear. In that tab, find the option labeled Embed Media (the exact wording varies slightly between Microsoft 365 and older versions, but it will say "embed"). Click it. PowerPoint will now store the audio inside the presentation file.

The downside is that embedding makes your PowerPoint file much larger — a three-minute song can add 3 to 5 megabytes to your file size. If you're emailing the presentation or uploading it somewhere with file size limits, this matters. For presentations you'll only play on your own computer, embedding is safer. For presentations you'll share, weigh the file size against the risk of broken audio.

File formats PowerPoint actually accepts

PowerPoint recognizes MP3, WAV, M4A, and AAC audio files on Windows and Mac. If your audio file is in one of these formats, you can insert it directly. If it's in OGG, FLAC, WMA, or another format, PowerPoint will reject it.

If you have a file in an unsupported format, you need to convert it first. Free conversion tools like Audacity (audacityteam.org) or online converters like CloudConvert (cloudconvert.com) can change OGG to MP3 or FLAC to WAV. read or convert the file, save it to your computer, then insert it into PowerPoint using the method above.

Check what format your file is in by right-clicking it in Windows Explorer or Finder, selecting Properties (Windows) or Get Info (Mac), and looking at the file type. The three-letter extension after the filename — like .mp3 or .wav — also tells you the format.

Playing music across multiple slides

If you want the same song to keep playing while your audience sees several slides in a row, insert the audio on the first slide, then tell PowerPoint to continue playing it across the slides that follow.

Click the speaker icon on the first slide. In the Playback tab, find the option Play Across Slides and check it. The music will now start on that slide and keep playing even as you advance to the next slide, the next one after that, and so on — until the song ends or you manually stop it. This is useful for background music during an introduction or a section of your presentation.

If you want to stop the music before it finishes, you can click the speaker icon during the presentation to pause or stop playback. Alternatively, you can insert the same audio file on a later slide and set it to stop, though this requires more setup.

Controlling when the music starts and stops

By default, the speaker icon appears on your slide and your audience has to click it to hear anything. You can change this so the music plays automatically the moment the slide appears, or so it starts after a delay, or so it plays only during a specific time window.

Click the speaker icon, then go to the Playback tab. Under Start, you'll see options: On Click (the default — music plays when someone clicks the icon), With Previous (music plays automatically when the slide loads), or After Previous (music plays automatically after a set number of seconds). Choose the one that fits your presentation.

You can also hide the speaker icon so your audience doesn't see it — they'll just hear the music. Click the speaker icon, then in the Playback tab, check Hide During Show. The icon will disappear during the presentation, but the audio will still play if you've set it to start automatically.

Troubleshooting audio that won't play

If you inserted audio but it doesn't play during your presentation, check three things first. One: make sure the file format is supported — MP3, WAV, M4A, or AAC. Two: if you didn't embed the audio, verify that the original audio file is still in the same location on your computer (or on the computer you're presenting from). Three: check that you set the audio to start automatically, not on click — if it's set to on click and you forget to click during the presentation, it won't play.

If the audio plays on your computer but not when you open the file on a different computer, the file wasn't embedded. Go back to your original file, select the speaker icon, and click Embed Media in the Playback tab. Save the file, then copy it to the other computer.

If you're using an older version of PowerPoint (2010 or earlier), audio support is limited. Upgrade to a newer version or Microsoft 365 if possible. If you're stuck with an old version, consider recording your presentation as a video instead — that's more reliable than trying to sync audio with slides.

Recording your own audio instead of inserting a file

Instead of inserting a pre-made audio file, you can record yourself speaking directly into PowerPoint. This is useful if you want to add narration to a slide or record a message without creating a separate audio file first.

Go to the Insert tab, click Audio, then select Record Audio (the exact name varies by version — it might say Record Sound in older PowerPoint). A dialog box will open with a red record button. Click it, speak into your microphone, and click the stop button when you're done. PowerPoint will save the recording and place a speaker icon on your slide, just like an inserted file.

Recorded audio is automatically embedded in your presentation, so you don't have to worry about the file breaking when you move the presentation. The downside is that recording directly in PowerPoint can pick up background noise and the quality depends on your microphone. For professional narration, record separately in Audacity or another audio editor, then insert the file into PowerPoint.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use music from YouTube or Spotify in my PowerPoint?

Not directly — you can't link to YouTube or Spotify from PowerPoint. You would need to read the audio file to your computer first (which may violate the service's terms of use), convert it to MP3 or WAV if needed, and then insert it. For presentations you're sharing publicly, use royalty-free music from sites like Pixabay or Free Music Archive instead.

Why is my PowerPoint file so large after I embedded audio?

Audio files take up a lot of space. A three-minute song is typically 3 to 5 megabytes. If you embedded multiple songs or long recordings, your presentation file can grow to 50 megabytes or more. If file size is a problem, don't embed — instead, keep the audio file on the same computer and in the same folder as your presentation, and make sure to copy both files together if you move them.

What if I want different music on different slides?

Insert a separate audio file on each slide. Click Insert, Audio, Audio on My PC, and select the first song for slide one. Move to slide two, repeat the process, and select a different song. Each slide can have its own audio file. Set each one to start automatically or on click depending on how you want to control playback.

Does PowerPoint Online support audio?

PowerPoint Online (the web version) can play audio that's already embedded in a presentation, but you cannot insert new audio files through the web version. You have to use the desktop version of PowerPoint (the one you read and install) to add audio. Once you've added it and saved the file, you can open that file in PowerPoint Online and play it.

Can I trim or edit audio inside PowerPoint?

PowerPoint lets you trim the start and end of an audio file without opening another program. Click the speaker icon, go to the Playback tab, and look for Trim Audio. A dialog will open showing the audio timeline — drag the handles to cut out the beginning or end. You cannot edit the middle of the audio or adjust volume from within PowerPoint.