How To Add An MP3 To A Website

There are plenty of reasons to have audio on a website. MP3 format it an awesome sound and audio format that compresses larger sound file formats into one tenth their size with very little loss of quality. This makes it idea for the Web. Thirty seconds of good quality voice recording in MP3 format can be downloaded very quickly even on dial-up. It makes possible pseudo-streaming or listen as you download. This way a visitor on your website can click on a play button and start listening right away.

If you already have an MP3 file you want on your website then you can choose from a number of ways to do this. If you don’t have your audio in MP3 format then you can probably use an audio editor to convert it. See this article on a free audio and sound editing program that will allow for the conversion. If you just want to have your voice on your website then you will only need to record yourself on your computer and save the file in MP3 format. This can also be done using Audacity the free sound and audio editing software I mentioned above.

The simplest but not always best way to put an MP3 on a web page is to basically link to it like you would any file. Upload the MP3 file to your web server and simply add a link like’ “click here” to listen to… whatever. When a visitor clicks the link it will activate the default MP3 handler or player on their computer and play it. This can be cumbersome and some people don’t have their computers configure properly to handle MP3’s. It also opens up the player, often in another browser window which can be undesirable.

One nifty little piece of software that lets you create and embed the sound right into the page with its own player is called Sound Streamer. This program makes it very easy to create everything you need to have a cool looking player that visitors click to play what ever sound you want. It is easy to use and is basically cut and paste to your website. It works with Mp3 files and comes with all sorts of tutorials and getting started stuff.