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Audio messages

Updated: Nov 3, 2025 You can use Cloud API to send voice messages and basic audio messages.

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Voice messages

A voice message (sometimes referred to as a voice note, voice memo, or audio) is a recording of one or more persons speaking, and can include background sounds like music. Voice messages include features like automatic download, profile picture, and voice icon, not available with a basic audio message. If the user has set voice message transcripts to Automatic, a text transcription of the message will also be included. Voice messages require .ogg files encoded with the OPUS codec. If you send a different file type or a file encoded with a different codec, voice message transcription will fail. The play icon will only appear if the file is 512KB or smaller, otherwise it will be replaced with a download icon (a downward facing arrow). Your business’s profile image is used as the profile image, accompanied by a microphone icon. The text transcription appears if the user has enabled Automatic voice message transcripts. If the user has set this to Manual, the text “Transcribe” will appear instead, which will display the transcribed text once tapped. If the user has set voice message transcripts to Never, no text will appear.

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Basic audio messages

Basic audio messages display a download icon and a music icon. When the WhatsApp user taps the play icon, the user must manually download the audio message for the WhatsApp client to load and then play the audio file. The download icon will be replaced with a play icon if the WhatsApp user has enabled auto-download for audio media and conditions for auto-download are met (e.g. connected to wi-fi). If you send a .ogg file encoded with the OPUS code as a basic audio message, the music icon will be replaced with a microphone icon. In addition, if the user has enabled Automatic or Manual voice message transcripts, a text transcription or the text “Transcribe” will accompany the message.

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Request syntax

Use the POST /<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages endpoint to send an audio message to a WhatsApp user. 
curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/&lt;API_VERSION&gt;/&lt;WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID&gt;/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer &lt;ACCESS_TOKEN&gt;' \
-d '
\{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "&lt;WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER&gt;",
  "type": "audio",
  "audio": {
    "id": "&lt;MEDIA_ID&gt;", <!-- Only if using uploaded media -->
    "link": "&lt;MEDIA_URL&gt;", <!-- Only if using hosted media (not recommended) -->
    "voice": <IS_VOICE?> <!-- Only include if sending voice message -->
  }
}'

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Request parameters

PlaceholderDescriptionExample Value
&lt;ACCESS_TOKEN&gt;
String		Required.
System token or business token.		EAAAN6tcBzAUBOZC82CW7iR2LiaZBwUHS4Y7FDtQxRUPy1PHZClDGZBZCgWdrTisgMjpFKiZAi1FBBQNO2IqZBAzdZAA16lmUs0XgRcCf6z1LLxQCgLXDEpg80d41UZBt1FKJZCqJFcTYXJvSMeHLvOdZwFyZBrV9ZPHZASSqxDZBUZASyFdzjiy2A1sippEsF4DVV5W2IlkOSr2LrMLuYoNMYBy8xQczzOKDOMccqHEZD
&lt;API_VERSION&gt;
String		Optional.
Graph API version.		v24.0
<IS_VOICE?>
Boolean		Optional.
Set to true if sending a voice message. Voice messages must be Ogg files encoded with the OPUS codec.
To send a basic audio message, set to false or omit entirely.		true
&lt;MEDIA_ID&gt;
String		Required if using uploaded media, otherwise omit.
ID of the uploaded media asset.		1013859600285441
&lt;MEDIA_URL&gt;
String		Required if using hosted media, otherwise omit.
URL of the media asset hosted on your public server. For better performance, we recommend using id and an uploaded media asset ID instead.		https://www.luckyshrub.com/media/ringtones/wind-chime.mp3
&lt;WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID&gt;
String		Required.
WhatsApp business phone number ID.		106540352242922
&lt;WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER&gt;
String		Required.
WhatsApp user phone number.		+16505551234

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Supported audio formats

Audio TypeExtensionMIME TypeMax Size
AAC.aacaudio/aac16 MB
AMR.amraudio/amr16 MB
MP3.mp3audio/mpeg16 MB
MP4 Audio.m4aaudio/mp416 MB
OGG Audio.oggaudio/ogg (OPUS codecs only; base audio/ogg not supported; mono input only)16 MB
The most common errors associated with audio files are mismatched MIME types (MIME type doesn’t match the file type indicated by the file name) and invalid encoding for Ogg files (OPUS codec only). If you encounter an error when sending a message with a media file, ensure your audio file’s actual MIME type matches its type, and is of a type listed above. For Ogg files, ensure you are encoding with the OPUS codec.

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Example request

Example request to send an image message using an uploaded media ID and a caption. 
curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v24.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
\{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "+16505551234",
  "type": "audio",
  "audio": {
    "id" : "1013859600285441",
    "voice": true
  }
}'

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Example Response

\{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "contacts": [\
    {\
      "input": "+16505551234",\
      "wa_id": "16505551234"\
    }\
  ],
  "messages": [\
    {\
      "id": "wamid.HBgLMTY0NjcwNDM1OTUVAgARGBI1RjQyNUE3NEYxMzAzMzQ5MkEA"\
    }\
  ]
}
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