Adding background music to your PowerPoint presentation can create a more immersive and engaging experience for your audience, setting the tone and enhancing the overall impact of your slides. Whether you're delivering a professional presentation or a personal slideshow, incorporating music can add a dynamic element that captures attention and reinforces your message.

In this guide, we'll take you through a simple step-by-step process to help you seamlessly add music to your PowerPoint presentation, ensuring it plays across all slides.

How to Add Music to PowerPoint: Complete Audio Setup Guide

Adding music to all slides in a PowerPoint presentation helps create a consistent mood and keeps your audience engaged throughout.

Follow the steps below to ensure your background music plays seamlessly from the first slide to the last.

Prerequisites Before Adding Music

Here are some prerequisites that need to be followed without skipping any:

Your audio file should be in a PowerPoint-supported format: MP3, WAV, M4A (newer versions), and WMA (Windows).
If your file is only in the cloud (OneDrive/Google Drive), download it first, as we can import only a local file into the PowerPoint.
Check your PowerPoint version: 2016, 2019, 2021, Microsoft 365, and PowerPoint Online, as this helps you to opt for the most appropriate, according to your version.

Once validated, this checklist is validated, move to the next section in which I’ll share all the possible approaches for every MS PowerPoint version.

Step 1: Open Your PowerPoint Presentation

Begin by opening the PowerPoint presentation to which you want to add background music. Ensure you're in the slide sorter view to see all slides at once.

Step 2: Access the Insert Tab

Navigate to the "Insert" tab located in the PowerPoint ribbon at the top of the screen. This tab contains various tools and options for adding different types of content to your slides.

Step 3: Insert Audio File

Click on the "Audio" option within the "Insert" tab. From the dropdown menu, select "Audio on My PC" if you have the music file saved locally, or choose "Online Audio" to insert music from an online source.

Step 4: Choose Your Music File

Browse your computer or the internet to select the audio file you want to add to your PowerPoint presentation. Once selected, click "Insert" to embed the music file into your presentation.

Step 5: Set Playback Options

After inserting the audio file, a speaker icon will appear on the slide. Click on it to reveal the "Playback" tab in the PowerPoint ribbon. Here, you can adjust playback options such as starting the music automatically or hiding the icon during the slideshow.

Step 6: Test Your Presentation

Before finalizing your presentation, it's essential to test the music playback to ensure everything works smoothly. Play the slideshow from the beginning to confirm that the music plays seamlessly across all slides.

#Method 2. Add Background Music That Plays Across All Slides

If you want music to play continuously throughout the presentation, use this method:

Step 1. Insert your audio using Method 1
Step 2. Click on the speaker icon
Step 3. Go to the Audio tab at the top
Step 4. In the Playback section, select Play in Background

This automatically starts music when the slideshow begins, with manual volume control.

#Method 3. How to Add Music to PowerPoint Specific Slide Only

If you only want music on one slide, then:

Step 1. Insert the audio file
Step 2. Click on the speaker icon
Step 3. Go to the Playback tab
Step 4. In Start, choose On Click or Automatically
- On Click: Manually start
- Automatically

Do not select Play in Background if you want the music to stop after this slide.

Also read: How to Make a Pie Chart on Google Slides

#Method 4. Record Your Own Voice or Music in PowerPoint

Instead of using a file, you can record narration directly inside PowerPoint. Sounds interesting! Here’s how:

Step 1. Go to Insert
Step 2. Click on Audio
Step 3. Select Record Audio
Step 4. Click the red Record button
Step 5. Speak into your microphone
Step 6. Click Stop
Step 7. Click OK

PowerPoint will place your recorded audio on the slide.

#Method 5. How to Import Music into PowerPoint Online

If you’re working in PowerPoint Online, the process is slightly different:

Step 1. Open PowerPoint in your browser
Step 2. Go to Insert
Step 3. Click Audio
Step 4. Upload your audio file

Note: PowerPoint Online has fewer playback customisation options compared to the desktop app. To leverage every advanced feature of PowerPoint, use the desktop version.

Create Presentations Faster with AI (Optional)

If you’re frequently creating presentations with background music, visuals, and structured content, using an AI presentation tool like MagicSlides can simplify the process.

MagicSlides helps you generate well-structured PowerPoint presentations from a topic or text in seconds, allowing you to focus more on enhancements like adding background music, animations, and branding rather than building slides from scratch.

It creates PPTX files from text prompts or uploaded content. What makes it especially useful for adding music is its ability to:

Auto-generate slide content based on natural language prompts
Embed background music or audio tracks during generation
Apply professional layouts and design themes
Save time compared to manually designing every slide

The best thing is, you can try it for free, before any commitment. After signing up for free, follow the steps below to embed music in PowerPoint:

Step 1. Open the solution in your browser.
Step 2. Enter your presentation topic or upload your content (text, document, audio file or image).
Step 3. Now select the template, and start generating a complete slide deck.
Step 4. When generated, preview it, and if any modification is needed, don’t do them manually; instead, tell it in the chat box, and the rest it will do automatically, like change layout, background, font size, etc.
Step 5. Once it is generated, export it as PPTX format for further use.

Customize Audio Playback

After inserting music, always adjust these settings.

Start Options

Click the speaker icon > go to Playback > under Start, choose:

Automatically
On Click

Repeat Music Automatically

If you want the music to repeat:

Step 1. Click the speaker icon
Step 2. Go to Playback
Step 3. Check Loop until Stopped

This is useful for auto-running slideshows.

Hide the Speaker Icon During Presentation

To make the slide look professional, hide the icon by following these steps:

#Step 1. Click the speaker icon

#Step 2. Go to Playback

#Step 3. Check Hide During Show

Now, the audio will play, but the icon will not appear on the screen.

Trim Unwanted Parts

If your music has a long intro or silence at the beginning, then trim it.

Step 1. Click the speaker icon
Step 2. Go to Playback
Step 3. Click Trim Audio
Step 4. Drag the green and red markers to select the portion you want
Step 5. Click OK

This helps you to keep your presentation clean and professional.

Additional resource: How to Design a Professional Banner

Reduce File Size

Sometimes, adding music makes the PowerPoint file too big. To reduce size:

Step 1. Go to File
Step 2. Click Info
Step 3. Select Compress Media
Step 4. Choose Standard or Low Quality

Use Standard for a good balance.

Author’s Verdict

Today, I have covered how to add music to PowerPoint using every possible method with proper step-by-step instructions. By following these straightforward steps, you can easily add background music to your PowerPoint presentation, enhancing its appeal and impact.

Whether you're delivering a business pitch, educational lecture, or personal slideshow, incorporating music can help create a memorable and engaging experience for your audience.

By seamlessly integrating music into your PowerPoint slides, you can effectively convey your message, set the tone, and captivate your audience from start to finish.

How to Add Music to PowerPoint in 5+ Easy Ways