Title: Audio Shortcode
Author: Howdy_McGee
Published: November 2, 2018
Last modified: January 11, 2023

---

# Audio Shortcode

## In this article

 * [Usage](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#usage)
 * [Options](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#options)
 * [Related](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#related)

[ Back to top](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#wp--skip-link--target)

The Audio feature allows you to embed audio files and play them back using a simple
Shortcode. This was added as of WordPress 3.6 and is used like this:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    [ audio]
    ```

Note: Do not put space between “[” and “audio”.

You can also use build-in embeds and simply put the media file on its own line:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    My cool contenthttp://my.mp3s.com/cool/songs/coolest.mp3More cool content
    ```

## 󠀁[Usage](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#usage)󠁿

I have an old post that has an audio file in the Media Library attached to it, and
I want to use the new shortcode:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    [ audio]
    ```

Note: Do Not put Space between “[” and “audio”.

I have the URL for an MP3, from the Media Library or external, that I want to play:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    [audio src="audio-source.mp3"]
    ```

I have a source URL and fallbacks for other HTML5-supported filetypes:

    ```wp-block-preformatted
    [audio mp3="source.mp3" ogg="source.ogg" wav="source.wav"]
    ```

## 󠀁[Options](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#options)󠁿

The following basic options are supported:

`src`
([string](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/glossary/#string)) (
optional) The source of your audio file. If not included it will auto-populate with
the first audio file attached to the post. You can use the following options to 
define specific filetypes, allowing for graceful fallbacks:

 * ‘mp3’, ‘m4a’, ‘ogg’, ‘wav’, ‘wma’

Default: First audio file attached to the post

`loop`
([string](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/glossary/#string)) (
optional) Allows for the looping of media.

 * “off” – Do not loop the media.
 * “on” – Media will loop to the beginning when finished and automatically continue
   playing.

Default: “off”

`autoplay`
([string](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/glossary/#string))(
optional) Causes the media to automatically play as soon as the media file is ready.

 * “off” – Do not automatically play the media.
 * “on” – Media will play as soon as it is ready.

Default: “off”

`preload`
([string](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/glossary/#string))(
optional) Specifies if and how the audio should be loaded when the page loads. Defaults
to “none”

 * “none” – The audio should not be loaded when the page loads.
 * “auto” – The audio should be loaded entirely when the page loads.
 * “metadata” – Only metadata should be loaded when the page loads.

Default: “none”

## 󠀁[Related](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

 WordPress Shortcodes: [video](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/video-shortcode/),
[caption](https://codex.wordpress.org/Caption_Shortcode), [embed](https://codex.wordpress.org/Embed_Shortcode),
[gallery](https://codex.wordpress.org/Gallery_Shortcode), [playlist](https://codex.wordpress.org/Playlist_Shortcode)

#### 󠀁[Changelog](https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/audio-shortcode/?output_format=md#changelog)󠁿

 * Updated 2021-10-18
    - Added changelog
    - Corrected the links to the codex pages for the caption, embed, gallery and
      playlist shortcodes

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First published

November 2, 2018

Last updated

January 11, 2023