I’m trying to embed audio files on my website using the HTML5 audio element, but I’m running into issues when the files are hosted on cloud storage platforms.
<audio controls>
<source src="audio_url_here" type="audio/mp3" />
Sorry, your browser doesn't support audio playback.
</audio>
The audio player shows up correctly on my page, but it won’t actually play any sound when I use file URLs from cloud storage services. I’ve tested with different link formats and even tried some third-party direct link generators, but nothing seems to work.
Some of the URL formats I’ve attempted include:
- Google Drive sharing links
- Dropbox direct file links
- Various modified versions of these URLs
Has anyone else encountered this problem? Are there any workarounds or better approaches for hosting audio files that will work reliably with the HTML audio element?
yeah, super annoying. dropbox and google drive links don’t work coz they serve html wrappers instead of actual files. convert your google drive links to direct download format by swapping out the id part - there are tutorials for this online. or just grab cheap hosting. even netlify’s free tier handles audio files fine if u’re okay with bandwidth limits.
Cloud storage sharing links are problematic for HTML5 audio since they often redirect through authentication layers and serve files with incorrect MIME types. I faced a similar issue while developing a podcast site last year. It’s advisable to use a reliable CDN or web host that serves files with the correct headers. Services like Amazon S3, Cloudflare, or even basic shared hosting are much more effective for this. If you must use cloud storage, consider using their API endpoints instead of sharing links, although you will need authentication tokens, complicating public playback.
Hit this same problem building a music portfolio site. CORS policies are the main issue - cloud storage services block cross-origin requests for security, so your audio element can’t access files even with correct URLs. Plus, these services usually return HTML pages instead of raw audio when you hit shared links directly. I switched to SoundCloud’s embed API and set up a simple backend proxy to fetch files with proper headers. You could also try Bandcamp or GitHub Pages for static hosting if your files aren’t huge.