How to add audio to Google Slides

Google Slides is leading free presentation software from the internet giant that allows you to display information in slide show and easily collaborate with your audience. It is a popular alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint presentation software because of its affordability, online performance, and accessibility. However, both the software has its unique features, and powerpoint is known for its standout features. Choosing between the software depends on one’s needs and cost. Until recently, Google Slides didn’t support embedding of audio files to any slides.

For many years,  users have been looking out for a method to overcome this limitation and add audio files to Slides. Unlike PowerPoint, Google still doesn’t allow to directly import audio files to slides. However, recently, Google Slides added a new feature that lets you embed MP3 and WAV audio files into Google Slides. With few workarounds, you can insert audio files into Google Slides.

Embedding audio files into your slides helps to create a distinguished presentation. The audio clips in an individual slide help you to grab the attention of your audience. You can also embed longer audio clips to set the tone for your entire presentation. Google Slides allows you to insert audio into any slides from an online music service like Soundcloud, Spotify, etc. Additionally, you can also add a link in any slide to a YouTube video or simply add your audio file. In this article, we explain different ways to add audio music to your Google Slide presentation.

Add audio to Google Slides

This post will show you how to add Music and Audio recording to Google Slides. You can insert a sound file using this procedure.

1.  Add Audio file to Google Slide using web-based Online streaming service
2.  Add Audio file  to Google slides using YouTube video
3.  Add your audio file to Google Slide presentation

1. Add Audio file to Google Slide using web-based online  streaming service

The easiest way to add a sound file to your Google slide presentation is to add a link to audio files on music streaming service like Spotify, Google Play, etc. This method requires an internet connection, and you may have to play and stop the sound every time during your slide presentation. Follow the below steps to add a sound file to any of your slides.

• Launch your browser and open the Google slide.
• Choose your presentation and go to the slide to which you want to add sound.
• Select a  text or an icon to add the link to your music file.
• Go to Insert in the toolbar section and click Link from the menu.

• Open your favorite media service on the web and search for the soundtrack which you to insert in your presentation.
• Click on the Share button beside the track and copy the URL.
• Get back to your slide and paste the soundtrack link in the link text box.

• Click the apply button.
• To verify, click View and select Present from the drop-down menu.

• Double click on the link to trigger sound.
• The audio file opens in a new browser tab and now click the option Play to turn on the audio.
• Minimize the audio tab and get back to your presentation. You can stop the sound by returning to the soundtrack browser and click Pause. 

2. Add Audio file to Google slides using YouTube video

Google slide allows you to insert YouTube video into your slide. This method inserts actual video, and you can have only audio in the slide by hiding the video behind the picture or resizing it to the small icon so that it doesn’t distract your audience.   Follow the below steps to embed YouTube video in Google slide presentation.

• Launch your browser and  Go to YouTube.
• Type your video query in YouTube’s search field.
• Click Share on the video you want to embed to your slide and select copy to copy the URL link to the clipboard.

• Open Google slide
• Choose your presentation and go to the slide to which you want to add sound.
• Navigate to Insert and select Video from the drop-down menu. A new Insert video window opens.

• In the Paste YouTube URL here, paste the YouTube URL link and click Select button.

• Once done a video thumbnail image appears on your slide.
• Select the Thumbnail and click Format option on the toolbar.

• On the drop-down menu, select Format options.
• Under the Format options, click on down arrow button next to video playback.
• Enter the Start at and End at timestamps.

• Select the option Autoplay when presenting and close the Format options.
• Now click Present to start the slideshow. The video will play automatically. Minimize the video behind the picture to hear only the audio.

3. Add your own audio file to Google Slide presentation

If you want to embed your own recorded audio file, you have to first convert the sound file to MP4 video format. Upload the video file to your Google drive first in order to insert the audio into your slide. Once you have the MP4 file uploaded to your Google Drive, follow the below steps to add your file to Google Slide.

• Open the Google slide.
• Choose your presentation and go to the slide to which you want to add sound.
• Navigate to Insert and select Video from the drop-down menu. A new Insert video window opens.

• Select the MyDrive option.

• Choose the MP4 video file and click Select button. Once done a video thumbnail image appears on your slide.
• Select the Thumbnail and click Format option on the toolbar.
• Under the Format options, click on down arrow button next to video playback.
• Enter the Start at and End at timestamps.

• Select the option Autoplay when presenting and close the Format options.
• Now click Present to start the slideshow. The video will play automatically. Minimize the video behind the picture to hear only the audio.

Wrapping up

Inserting audio to your slide will give a new outlook to your presentation and help you grab the attention of the audience. Google Slide enables you to embed audio on the Desktop web for all the major browsers like Microsoft Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and  Safari.

That’s all.