20 Best WordPress Audio Player Plugins of 2020 (Free and Popular)
WordPress is a complete package. It is open source, and you can do everything that you want in WordPress. If you are a music lover and want to create an online music blog, you are set. The WordPress comes with all the tools that you need to bring your music blog to life.
How to Add Audio Files and Playlist in WordPress?
Indeed, WordPress does offer a default audio player. All you have to do is open your Post/ page editor. Click on “Add Media” -> Upload Files. And then “Select Files” to upload your mp3 file.
From here, you can either insert the individual file into your post/ page or create an audio playlist as shown in the image below.
And this is how your playlist would be created.
However, this is somewhat limited as there is no extra option to customize the look or feel of the WordPress’ default native player. This is where the plugin ecosystem kicks in. In this article, we will list the best WordPress Audio Player Plugins, both free and paid. These Audio WordPress plugins will help you to create a better music-related content. Not to mention, with the plugins, you will be able to incorporate other music audio formats including WAV, WMA, MP4, MP3 and so on.
As we go through the article, you will find that some plugins come with Layout Builder. A layout builder helps you to create customizable audio players to enhance user experience further. However, most of the plugins are free to use, and you don’t need to buy them. Also, most of the plugins that we are discussing today are localized, and you will not have any issues delivering your content to an international audience. Also, these plugins will support modern web browsers including Firefox, Chrome, and others.
Best WordPress Audio Plugins
#1. Audio Dock
Audio Dock is a powerful and feature-rich Audio Player for your WordPress website. As you can guess, it will allow you to play music on your site. Furthermore, it is completely free to use, so you are not losing anything to try it out.
You will be able to add an unlimited number of tracks, add your custom titles, choose any color for the bar and track, and much more. If you are an artist/musician looking to gain online exposure using your website, then this is an excellent plugin to keep on your site.
#2. ZoomSounds – WordPress Wave Audio Player with Playlist
ZoomSounds is a trending Audio player plugin for WordPress. It is also one of the best-paid plugin out there with over 1690+ sales. However, the rating is a little on the lower side. The best part of the plugin is the fact that it comes with all the features that let you make your website audio friendly. The interface and design of the audio player are attractive. It also comes with wave skin and no heavy dependency on one single audio format.
Just like the free plugins, you can use it with shortcode as well as from the dashboard. It also supports SoundCloud. Starting out with the plugin is easy with one click imports. The visitors can like and comment, making it more socially friendly. Other key features include playlist creation, WooCommerce support, and eight skins for the audio player.
#3. WavePlayer – WordPress Audio Player
As you might guess it from the name, it is an audio player that supports audio file waveform while the playback is going on. With the plugin, you can host tracks or simply integrate it from other cloud hosting services such as SoundCloud. WavePlayer is probably the best modern player out there. It can also be used for podcasting purposes.
Other key features offered by WavePlayer is HTML5 support, responsive design, WooCommerce integration and so on. You can also visually create the playlist before publishing it. One more key feature is that it is fast and efficient and doesn’t slow down your website.
#4. PowerPress Podcasting Plugin By Blubrry
If you are opening a podcasting website, then you should not anything beyond PowerPress Podcasting plugin. It is a fully featured, easy to use podcast plugin. It comes with SEO compatibility, subscribes options, and also enable you to host podcast the way you want. This WordPress Audio plugin is extremely popular with over 60,000+ active installations at the time of writing.
Not only that you can create episodes and then submit them to iTunes and Google Play. It also comes with two modes: simple and advanced. The simple mode simplifies the whole process whereas the advanced mode offers more option, giving the options.
#5. Speaker
Speak is the page to a speech WordPress audio plugin that can convert an entire page’s text to speech with AI intelligence human to audio machine learning technology. The plugin can turn any page text into human-like 190+ different voices across 35 major languages. It even allows adding multiple voices within the same post.
The plugin has been tested with all major themes and ensures full compatibility with those themes and Gutenberg builder. It is built on the Google cloud platform, which provides speed and reliability.
#6. Compact WP Audio Player
Compact WP Audio Player is a free-to-use popular WordPress audio plugin with over 40,000+ active installations. Unlink MediaElement.js; this plugin uses both Flash and HTML5. It also comes with the support of the latest WordPress(at the time of writing, WordPress v4.9.5). With the plugin, you can easily insert audio files. It can be .ogg or .mp3 format. Other than that, you don’t have to worry about device compatibility as it is completely responsive
This WordPress audio player plugin also doesn’t take a lot of the website real estate as it is compact. Not only that, but you can also provide a preview to the visitors who are interested in your music! That’s a bonus as it gives you the tools to monetize your website to the right audience. The plugin also comes with the option to use shortcodes giving you more control over your player. The winning point for this plugin is the simplicity it offers, regarding both the features and user experience.
#7. MB.MINI Audio Player
Next up we have the MB.MINI Audio Player plugin for WordPress. The plugin allows you to insert audio files into your content easily. All you have to do is merely upload an mp3 file into one of your posts, and the plugin will automatically transform it into a small HTML5 audio player.
You will also have access to some customization options to let you decide how you wish the audio player to look and function. You will also be getting volume controls, seeking controls, title bar, with the plugin and not to mention buttons for rewind, mute and play.
#8. Fullwidth Audio Player – WordPress plugin
The fullwidth Audio player plugin is a unique audio plugin for WordPress. First, you can add an audio player anywhere on a page or a post. This means that you can add it at the bottom, top or as a pop-up. Yes, you read it right. This one aspect gives the plugin the best selling point as the visitors can pop-up the player and let it run in the background. It is all about giving more flexibility to your visitors.
This WordPress audio player plugin also supports track sets, single tracks, and user tracks. You can also integrate audio files from SoundCloud. The plugin is also highly customizable and offers social features.
#9. HTML5 Audio Player WordPress Plugin
As the name implies, this plugin provides you with a fully featured HTML5 audio player for your WordPress website. Currently, the plugin has only support for mp3 and ogg audio files and is primarily designed to help you add background music to your website. Besides this, there are plenty of customization options to help you tweak how the audio player looks and functions.
On the feature front, the plugin supports automatic folder reading which helps to generate a player playlist by searching our all mp3 files. Then you will get access to a plethora of options to help you control the audio player, which includes: a button for rewinding, play, previous track, next track, mute, volume slider, timer, buffer, and so on. The plugin also supports shortcodes which means you the option to place it practically anywhere on your website.
#10. AWS for WordPress
Amazon Polly is a WordPress plugin by AWS Labs. It creates audio versions of your WordPress posts. The plugin translates the content into different languages and creates podcasts out of them. You will need to create an Amazon account and receive your AWS secret and access key to use the plugin.
This mp3 music player plugin comes with its own admin panel. You can choose the sample rate of the audio from the menu. You can choose different voice styles for the content. You can also enable/disable the option to automatically play audio content when the page loads. The menu lets you change the position of the podcast player on your site. Amazon Polly can be easily integrated with Amazon Alexa to listen to podcasts on Alexa enabled devices. The plugin, when integrated with Amazon CloudFront will give you faster and reliable viewing experience.
#11. MP3 Music Player by Sonaar
MP3 Music Player is an audio player plugin for WordPress. You can add audio tracks, albums, and playlists using shortcodes. Add the audio files to your site, and you will be able to use the audio/album using a shortcode. The plugin uses wavesurfer.js to display a waveform under the audio player. The plugin can be used with different page builders, including Elementor.
The music player plugin is easy to use and comes with a ton of features. You can also change the color of the audio widget easily. MP3 music player lets you add a Buy Now or Download now button for the different stores including iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, etc. to buy, and download the audio for your visitors. The plugin supports Google Fonts and lets you use different fonts to customize the player. The player is an HTML5 player and is fully responsive, mobile-friendly, and plays across multiple platforms.
#12. Audio Album
Audio Album is a free to use WordPress audio player plugin. It is primarily aimed at the easy creation of audio albums which can be used anywhere on your site. It takes advantage of the mediaelement.js and extends the functionality that WordPress has to offer. However, this doesn’t mean that you cannot add single tracks.
To use this sound plugin, you need to use the shortcode that it comes with. It also provides a simple-to-use stylesheet where you can add new tracks or do media player customization.
#13. Hero – Shoutcast and Icecast Radio Player With History – WordPress Plugin
The Hero plugin is a simple to use audio plugin for WordPress. It also supports radio streaming. The plugin also supports Shoutcast and Icecast. Other than that, the plugin is completely responsive and offers great customizability. You can choose from two skins: white and black. However, this doesn’t limit the customizability as you can add colors using color scheme.
The radio player can also be sticked to give visitors a better audio experience. As the Shoutcast streams go on, users can simply use the history option to listen to the old content, making it a great choice. The plugin also supports social media. In short, a great plugin for the more than 30+ customizable options.
#14. CP Media Player
With CP Media Player installed on your WordPress website, you will have the option to publish a video and audio player anywhere on your site. This WordPress audio player plugin is based on the powerful MediaElement.js which means it will work perfectly on any browser that follows all the modern HTML5. Also, thanks to Flash and Silverlight, the old browser should also be able to render the media player.
Now coming to the feature side of things, the plugin has support for a wide variety of audio and video files, namely MP4, OGG, WebM, WMV, MP3, WAV, WMA, FLV and WebSRT subtitle files. Then there is the option to associate a playlist to your media player, and even customize it with skins. A premium version to the plugin is also available which brings in plenty of other features as well.
#15. Royal Audio Player
Royal Audio Player is probably one of the most flexible and feature-rich audio player plugins for WordPress websites. The plugin has been crafted to run mp3, and YouTube video on your WordPress website. It is also super customizable and is compatible with every WordPress theme on the market.
Some of the distinct functionalities offered by the plugin include the option to create a popup player in a separate window so users can enjoy the music while browsing other websites. The playlist functionality is also filled with plenty of cool options including the option to categorize your music. Besides this, you will get social share integration, the option to password protect specific tracks, a search bar and sort menu for your music, and much much more.
#16. Music Player for WooCommerce
As the name suggests, Music Player for WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin for the popular WordPress eCommerce plugin. The plugin integrates a music player into the WooCommerce products. The player supports different audio formats including OGA, MP3, WAV, and WMA. The plugin comes with MediaElement.js to play the audio files associates with the products of the WooCommerce site. It is compatible with all major browsers and mobile platforms, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Android, and IOS.
The premium feature of the audio WP plugin allows playing the audio files in secure mode to prevent illegal downloading of audio files. You can choose a different skin/theme for the plugin. The plugin can be enabled on a post using a shortcode. The settings menu of the plugin lets you change the position of the player and different attributes related to it.
#17. Trinity Audio
If you’re looking to add a premium quality audio version of your text-based content, check out Trinity Audio WordPress plugin. It’s a text-to-speech solution based on the technology of Amazon Polly, and it’s entirely free to use.
The proprietary text analysis capability identifies which parts of the article are textual and which are not. You can choose a number of things: where on your page you want the audio player to be placed, multiple natural-sounding voices that provide a lifelike authentic speech, more than a dozen languages from English, French, and German to Chinese with more on the way, different gender (male or female voice) and language for each individual post, and so on.
#18. tPlayer
tPlayer WordPress plugin helps you incorporate a responsive audio and radio player on your website. The audio player is highly functional and supports extensive customization possibilities. The plugin can also show details about the audio and radio stream, as well as show you statistics regarding users audio listening habits.
The plugin supports unlimited playlists and unlimited tracks on each playlist. You will have the option to fetch these songs from external storage systems like Google Drive, Amazon S3 and so on. There is the autoplay feature which will start the radio, or a particular audio file as soon as a reader visits a page or a post. And then there are plenty of other customization options to help tweak how the audio player looks.
#19. Disk Audio
Disk Audio is yet another WordPress audio player plugin which can help you display an HTML5 audio player right onto your website with a press of a button. The audio player is complete responsive in design so mobile users will be able to enjoy its functionalities without any issue. On top of that, there are plenty of customization options regarding color schemes, skins, background images, and opacity.
Coming to its feature list, the plugin allows you to display your music playlist along with an adjustable scrollbar. You can also embed download links onto the music player which will show users where they can go to buy the current track that is playing on your website. Option for keyboard control is also there, and you like, you can turn on autoplay functionality to surprise your audience with a great track.
#20. Featured Audio
Featured Audio is a premium audio player plugin for WordPress website which functions similarly as to featured images. Just as with featured images you can assign a particular image to a page or post, likewise with this plugin, you will be able to attach a “featured audio” to a page or post.
Once one of your readers enter the page or post, the audio file which you assigned will begin to play through a powerful HTML5 audio player. You also have some control over where you wish to showcase the audio player, and you get five different positions for it. The supported audio formats include mp3, wav, ogg, and a few more.
Any Other WordPress Audio Plugins?
These were our top picks of best WordPress audio plugin. We tried to list both free and paid plugins. However it won’t matter which plugin you use as almost all comes with great set of features.
- If you want to achieve audio on demand solution for your visitors, then you can also try WordPress podcast plugins.
- For those trying to create a more advanced audio stream site, can check BeMusic Music Stream plugin.
- And for those who wants to go one step further, can also check options for Video player plugins.