Slideshows are about more than just what you see. By adding audio like music, voiceover, or sound effects, you can use Microsoft PowerPoint to enhance your presentation or make it more useful to your audience.
You might include background music that evokes emotion, record your own voice to explain the slides, or add sound effects for that extra bit of flair. We’ll show you how to add audio to PowerPoint so that you can improve your next presentation.
While there are several ways to add music to a PowerPoint, you can insert a saved audio file in your slideshow on both Windows and Mac. This can be a song, voice, or sound effect.
PowerPoint supports these audio file formats: AIFF, AU, MID, MIDI, MP3, MP4, M4A, WAV, and WMA. Note that versions older than PowerPoint 2013 may not support all listed file types. Visit Microsoft Support for additional details.
Step 1: Open your presentation and head to the slide where you want to insert the audio clip. If you’d like the audio to start immediately and play continuously through the slideshow, select the first slide.
Step 2: Go to the Insert tab and the Media section of the ribbon on the right.
Step 3: Click Audio to view your options.
Step 4: Browse for the audio file, select it, and click Insert.
If you use the Audio Browser on Mac, drag the audio file onto the slide instead.
Step 5: You’ll then see the audio icon on your slide with a toolbar of basic controls beneath it.
Click the Play button to listen, rewind or move forward, or adjust the volume.
Maybe you’d like to record your own audio for the presentation. You might want to provide audio instructions or record a sound effect.
You can do this in PowerPoint on Windows and Mac as long as you have a microphone enabled on your computer.
Step 1: Open your presentation and go to the slide where you want to insert the recorded audio.
Step 2: Select the Insert tab and click the arrow next to Audio in the ribbon.
Step 4: Click the round, red Record button and start recording.
As you record, you’ll see the duration, which is helpful if you have to limit the length.
Step 5: When you finish, click the square, red Stop button.
Step 6: You can listen to the recording before you insert it by clicking the Play button. If you’re not happy with the results, you can re-record the audio.
Step 7: If you like what you hear, click OK on Windows or Insert on Mac to add the audio to the slide.
Like inserting a saved file, you’ll see the audio icon and basic controls to play, forward, rewind, or adjust the volume.
Once you add the audio to your PowerPoint slide, you can adjust several playback settings. Select the Audio icon on the slide and go to the Playback tab.
Here are several helpful ways to customize the playback for your audio:
Whether you want to add a song, the sound of applause, or your own voice, it’s easy to add audio to your PowerPoint slideshow.
For more, take a look at how to add notes to your slides or how to embed a video in Microsoft PowerPoint.
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