How to Add Background Music to Play on All Slides in PowerPoint

Insert and Play Music Across All Slides in PowerPoint

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated February 1, 2025

Applies to: Microsoft^® PowerPoint^® 2016, 2019, 2021 and 365 (Windows)

You can add background music to play on all slides in a PowerPoint presentation. The music file can be stored on your PC or in a shared drive. Background music will play when you run a slide show from the slide where you inserted the music file. Since audio files are copied into PowerPoint presentations by default, these media files will increase file size and may need to be compressed. In order to play music files, your computer must be equipped with a sound card and speakers and be sure to set and test the volume.

Contents

In this article, we'll review how to:

• Insert a music file from a PC or shared drive
• Play music in the background across all slides
• Stop the music after a specific number of slides
• Control music volume
• Hide an audio icon
• Loop music
• Rewind music
• Fade music in or out
• Trim music
• Play multiple music files in a presentation

Note: Buttons and Ribbon tabs may display in a different way (with or without text) depending on your version of PowerPoint, the size of your screen and your Control Panel settings. For newer versions of PowerPoint, Ribbon tabs may appear with different names. For example, the Audio Tools Playback tab appears as Audio Playback. Screenshots in this article are from 365 but are similar in previous versions of PowerPoint.

Audio files are typically inserted on slides in Normal View. When you run a slide show, audio will play with settings you have applied on the Audio Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.

Recommended article: How to Compress Video (or Audio) Media in PowerPoint to Reduce File Size

Do you want to learn more about PowerPoint? Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom PowerPoint courses >

Insert a music file from a PC or shared drive

PowerPoint for Windows supports common formats for music files including .mp3, .m4a, .wav, .midi, .aiff, .au and .wma. For file formats that are not supported, they will need to be converted using a third-party tool before inserting into PowerPoint.

To insert a music file from a PC or shared drive and embed it on a slide:

1. In Normal View, navigate to the first slide in the presentation (if you want to play music in the background on all slides, the music file must be inserted on the first slide).
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click Audio. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Select Audio on My PC. A dialog box appears.
5. Navigate to the folder where the music file is saved and then click the file to select it.
6. On the bottom right of the dialog box, click Insert to embed the music file. You can also double-click the file. PowerPoint will embed the file and place an audio icon in the center of the slide. If the audio file is in an older format, PowerPoint may convert or optimize it when you insert the file. When you insert an media file this way, it will be copied into PowerPoint.
7. In Normal View, click the audio icon and then click Play in the media controls that appear below the icon to play the audio and test it.

After you insert a music file and click the audio icon in Normal View, two tabs will appear in the Ribbon (Audio Format and Playback or Audio Tools Playback and Format).

In the following example, an audio icon is selected on a slide in Normal View and media controls appear below the icon:

The Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab appears as follows in PowerPoint when an audio icon is selected:

Play music in the background across all slides

To play music in the background across all of the slides in a presentation:

1. In Normal View, click the audio icon on the slide. If you are planning on playing music across all slides, the music file should have been inserted on slide 1.
2. Click the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Audio Options group, select or check Play Across Slides or Play in Background depending on version and select Automatically from the Start drop-down menu if you want the music to start when you run a slide show.

To start a slide show, click the Slide Show button on the bottom right to the screen or click the Slide Show tab in the Ribbon and select From beginning in the Start Slide Show group.

The option to play in the background appears on the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon:

Stop the music after a specific number of slides

To stop the music after a specific number of slides:

1. In Normal View, set the music to play across all slides (as indicated above).
2. Navigate to the slide where you inserted the music / audio file.
3. Click the Animations tab in the Ribbon.
4. In the Advanced Animations group, click Animation Pane. An Animation Pane appears.
5. In the Animation Pane, double-click the music or audio item. You can also right-click the music or audio item and choose Effect Options from the drop-down menu. A dialog box appears.
6. If necessary, click the Effect tab.
7. Below Stop Playing, enter the number of slides that you want the music to play across beside After. The maximum is 999.
8. Click OK.

The following dialog box appears when you select Effect Options in the Animation Pane for the selected audio / music item:

Control music volume

To control music volume:

1. In Normal View, click the audio icon on the slide.
2. Click the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Audio Options group, click Volume and then choose Low, Medium, or High. You can also set the volume of music using the volume slider on the media controls below the icon.

If music does not play as expected, you may need to check to be sure volume is on for your device (typically you would click the volume icon in the task bar at the bottom of your screen to turn volume on) or you may need to check the speaker device settings in your Windows Control Panel.

Hide an audio icon

When you run a slide show, you can hide the audio icon. This is common if you are playing music automatically or the music is set to start when you click on the slide during a slide show.

To hide an audio icon during a slide show:

1. In Normal View, click the audio icon on the slide.
2. Click the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Audio Options group, select the Hide While Not Playing check box.

Loop music

To play music continuously during a presentation, you can loop the audio:

1. In Normal View, click the audio icon on the slide.
2. Click the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Audio Options group, select the Loop until Stopped check box. You will still be able to click the Play / Pause button to stop the audio file from playing.

Rewind music

To rewind music after playing:

1. In Normal View, click the audio icon on the slide.
2. Click the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Audio Options group, select the Rewind after Playing check box.

Fade music in or out

You can start or end music with a fade effect for a specific number of seconds.

To start or end music with a fade effect:

1. In Normal View, click the audio icon on the slide.
2. Click the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Editing group, under Fade Duration, choose or enter a duration for Fade In or Fade Out. To add a timed fade to the beginning of an audio clip, in the Fade In box, click the up and down arrows to increase or decrease the fade in time. To add a timed fade to the end of an audio clip, in the Fade Out box, click the up or down arrows to increase or decrease the fade out time.

Trim music

You can trim a music file at the beginning and / or end of the clip so you can start at any point and end the music earlier.

To trim a music file:

1. In Normal View, click the audio icon on the slide.
2. Click the Playback or Audio Tools Playback tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Editing group, click Trim Audio. A dialog box appears.
4. To trim the beginning of the music file, click the start point (a green marker on the far left). When the pointer becomes a two-headed arrow, drag the arrow to the desired starting position.
5. To trim the end of the music file, click the end point (a red marker on the right). When the pointer becomes a two-headed arrow, drag the arrow to the desired ending position.

The Trim dialog box appears as follows (both the beginning and the end of the music file have been trimmed):

If you compress your PowerPoint file, the trimmed portions of the music file will be permanently deleted.

Play multiple music files in a presentation

You can insert music files into different slides and control the slides they play on using the Animation Pane and the strategies above. Since this can be tricky, another alternative is to use an external third-party tool to combine the music files into one file and then insert the file into your PowerPoint presentation.

Subscribe to get more articles like this one

Did you find this article helpful? If you would like to receive new articles, JOIN our email list.

More resources

How to Embed a YouTube Video in PowerPoint

How to Add Animations in PowerPoint (Ultimate Guide)

How to Get Design Ideas in PowerPoint Using Designer

How to Insert Video in PowerPoint (from a File on Your PC or Shared Drive)

PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcuts to Play and Control Video During a Slide Show

Related courses

Microsoft PowerPoint: Introduction

Microsoft PowerPoint: Intermediate / Advanced

Microsoft PowerPoint: Design for Non-Designers

Microsoft Excel: Introduction

Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced

VIEW MORE COURSES >

Our instructor-led courses are delivered in virtual classroom format or at our downtown Toronto location at 18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (some in-person classroom courses may also be delivered at an alternate downtown Toronto location). Contact us at info@avantixlearning.ca if you'd like to arrange custom instructor-led virtual classroom or onsite training on a date that's convenient for you.

Copyright 2025 Avantix^® Learning

You may also like

Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, Microsoft Office and related Microsoft applications and logos are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in Canada, US and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of the registered owners.

Avantix Learning |18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1C4 | Contact us at info@avantixlearning.ca