The 9 best WordPress audio player plugins (Compared)
Andrew from Next Level Web has been hunting for the best WordPress audio plugin. He has kindly provided this article comparing the best four, with advice on how to choose the best audio plugin for your own website.
Are you looking to add a bit of pizzazz to your website? Do you feel your website needs something to keep visitors a bit more entertained but not sure what? Well, we have an idea for you - how about adding a WordPress audio plugin that allows you to play music on your website?
If you have a WordPress website then you are probably aware that it offers numerous plugins for different purposes. You can easily embed an audio file with a WordPress audio player plugin, allowing users to listen to music as they browse your website.
Now, when it comes to plugins, there are a variety of different plugins that offer you the functionality you need. The case for a WordPress audio plugin is no different, so how do you know which one to opt for? We have tested the most popular WordPress audio player plugins and selected the top four. During our testing, we made sure they were easy to use for site visitors, provided you with customization options, and were easy to setup.
1. Document Library Pro
Whether you are a band or would like to add music to your website, you want a WordPress audio player plugin that gives you freedom and allows you to embed audio easily. Document Library Pro does that and more. It is both easy to set up for you and user-friendly for your visitor. This will enhance their overall experience on your website.
This audio plugin works by creating a searchable, filterable table of your audio tracks. Each one appears on its own row in the table, with an embedded audio player plus any other information you want to include. For example, you might want to display data such as song title, album, category, tags, file size, length, artist, etc.
You can either use Document Library Pro on its own with the built-in WordPress audio embeds. Alternatively, you can use it with other WordPress audio player plugins to display more flashy audio players within the table layout.
How to set it up
At your end, you can either use standard WordPress posts or the Documents post type (comes pre-packaged with Document Library Pro) for this purpose. You can create a new post for each audio track that you want to display using the WordPress audio plugin, along with any extra data you wish to display.
You can then easily embed audio files using the standard WordPress functions. The "Add Media" button allows you to upload audio to your audio library. You can easily remove and add songs in your media library.
If you want to add playlists, you have the option of creating playlists for your users to listen to. Once you've done that, Document Library Pro gives you a ton of options to display the music on your website with little to no effort.
At your user’s end, Document Library Pro creates a table containing music players and other information about each track. The user can select songs or playlists to listen to.
Read the Tutorial: Use Document Library Pro to Create a WordPress Audio Library.
Document Library Pro is definitely one of the more user-friendly WordPress audio plugins. It is a popular audio plugin for not only musicians and composers, but also those looking to sell any time of audio online. You can use it with e-commerce plugins such as Easy Digital Downloads (EDD tutorial here). There's even a WooCommerce version of Document Library Pro called WooCommerce Product Table, which is perfect for creating a WooCommerce audio store.
2. WooCommerce Product Table
If you plan to sell audio files from your website using WooCommerce, displaying them in structured tables with all relevant details will make this a cakewalk.
For this, you can use the WooCommerce Product Table plugin and start selling audio files from an easy-to-navigate table. Your customers will be able to listen to audio files and add them to their cart from the same page. This way, they do not have to visit each product page to listen to each audio on your store.
If you want to learn how you can integrate WooCommerce with the WooCommerce Product Table plugin and start selling audio files, check out this complete guide on setting up an WooCommerce audio store.
3. WavePlayer audio player
WavePlayer is a robust audio player that is perfect if you want to enhance the default WordPress audio player on your website. It comes with full compatibility with most WordPress plugins, such as Elementor, WooCommerce, and even Document Library Pro, for displaying audio files in tables.
The plugin comes with multiple customization options, such as the option to change the color palette, dark mode, skins, and even the controls. You get access to detailed documentation with this plugin, and you can get started with the plugin in no time.
The plugin is compatible with Document Library Pro and WooCommerce Product Table, so you can display and start selling audio files on your website in structured tables easily.
4. Compact WP Audio Player
Compact WP Audio Player is an HTML5 + Flash hybrid based player. You can use this plugin to easily embed mp3 and other audio files on your website and display it on major web browsers.
This WordPress audio plugin works nicely with the Document Library Pro plugin listed above. By using them together, you can show more audio files in the table, each with an embedded compact audio player.
It is easy to manage and a great option for those that want to host podcasts that are updated regularly. It doesn’t really have much of a playlist option. This means it isn't the best option if you want to have albums or a wide variety of media. However, if you like this plugin then you can use Document Library Pro to list multiple tracks, each with their own compact audio player button.
5. Audio Album
If you are looking for a simple WordPress audio player, with no need for additional functionalities, then Audio Album is a good choice. The player won’t “wow” you in terms of design or anything. However, it is so simple that it easily fits into any website. You can add songs and albums and have different ones on each page if you like this plugin.
Audio Album lets you add the title along with song information to display as the song plays. It supports numerous audio file types from mp3 to wav. You can also link to the audio files to display lyrics or any other information in a popup window. You need to create these popups and can customize the width and height. This means that it doesn’t take away much from your website.
The player itself is easy to use at the user’s end. It displays all the songs available for them to listen to, and they can easily go through them. You do have the option of changing the color of the player, so it easily goes with the theme of your website.
6. MP3 Audio Player by Sonaar
MP3 audio player is an enhanced version of the default WordPress audio shortcode player. It comes with a more intuitive interface for the mp3 player and lets you also display multiple audio files easily in playlists, albums, and podcasts.
The plugin also features an intuitive waveform bar under the audio player powered by WaveSurfer.js. You also get multiple options for displaying the audio player on the website too. You can choose to display the audio files using Elementor, Gutenberg, shortcode, or Javascript API. Moreover, you can also bulk-import audio files to your website and create multiple posts for your mp3 files with just a single click.
Be it audio creators or podcasters, the plugin is suitable for all use cases. You can get the lite version from the WordPress.org repository for free. If you want to learn more about the pro version, you can check here.
7. AudioIgniter Music Player
AudioIgniter is another popular WordPress audio player plugin that comes with full compatibility to add and showcase audio files on your website. The plugin also allows you to create beautiful playlists and display them in minutes.
It supports more than a dozen audio services, such as Amazon S3, Radiojar, Anchor, and Shoutcast. With its settings and options, you can create and control unlimited playlists and tracks seamlessly and display them in an intuitive, responsive layout. You can also allow your audio listeners to download or purchase tracks from the audio page.
The plugin also has a Pro version that lets you upload audio files in bulk and perform multiple advanced actions related to managing audio tracks and playlists. If you wish to learn more about the Pro version, you can check it out here.
Picking the right WordPress audio plugin
Picking the right WordPress audio plugin isn’t rocket science. You just need to make sure that the plugin is easy to use and will get the most from the audio you display. Any of the four WordPress audio player plugins we've suggested will do just that.
Use all of them with Document Library Pro to list your audio files in a table layout, complete with embedded music players.
8 Comments
There's also a new plugin called "Audio Comparison" for synced A/B listening, useful for studio, mixing, mastering websites. Look here https://audiocomparison.kaedinger.de
There's also a free lite version in the WP plugin directory, "Audio Comparison Lite".
Hi, Florian. Thanks for your suggestion. Although Audio Comparison is yet to be tested with our plugin, we'll be happy to discuss this in more detail should you get in touch with us via our Support Center.
Hi ! Since I wasn't able to find an audio plugin fitting my needs, I created a new (free) one, WP SoundSystem.
Would you have a look at it ? It has, I think, a lot of unique features, and it would be awesome if you could add it to your post.
Thanks a lot ! https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-soundsystem/
Gordo
Hi, Gordo. Thanks for the info.
We haven't tested with your plugin yet, but you are welcome to do so using our Posts Table Pro plugin on your site, completely risk-free - thanks to our 30-day money back guarantee. If the two plugins don't work together in the way you had hoped, you can get a full refund within 30 days of your purchase.
Additionally, when you test them out together, I suggest trying them with the Lazy Load option either enabled or disabled as some audio plugins work with one mode and not the other.
Should there be more users who ask about your plugin, we'll look at testing it ourselves to add it to this article.
Many thanks.
I would like to know more about how you're product interacts with wp soundsystem
Hi, Dan. Thanks for your comment. As mentioned, I'm afraid we haven't tested with the WP SoundSystem audio plugin by G.Breant. I imagine that you can use its WordPress shortcode to embed/display its audio player as described for the other audio plugins here in our article. If you already have a license for Posts Table Pro, we can discuss this further and in more detail via our dedicated Support Center.
Thanks for sharing great list of player but Responsive HTML5 Audio Player PRO is best ever bcoz i have purchased and used on my site, very simple easy to operate, you can download and share song with social media friends, u also can create list etc...
I got to know about this need thing. I am using WordPress for many days but didn't know about this feature. This audio feature will be helping me a lot now. I will use this plugin to listen to music while writing a blog. You can manage the link of the songs from the Wp-admin panel.