How to play a sound using Swift?

Question

I would like to play a sound using Swift.

My code worked in Swift 1.0 but now it doesn't work anymore in Swift 2 or newer.

override func viewDidLoad() {
  super.viewDidLoad()

  let url:NSURL = NSBundle.mainBundle().URLForResource("soundName", withExtension: "mp3")!

  do { 
    player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOfURL: url, fileTypeHint: nil) 
  } catch _{
    return
  }

  bgMusic.numberOfLoops = 1
  bgMusic.prepareToPlay()

  if (Data.backgroundMenuPlayed == 0){
    player.play()
    Data.backgroundMenuPlayed = 1
  }
}

Take a look at [SwiftySound](https://github.com/adamcichy/SwiftySound). More details in [this answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/42392605/730701). — Adam, Feb 22 '17 at 13:20
If you just want a sound from the system then see: [Using existing system sounds in iOS App](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31126124/using-existing-system-sounds-in-ios-app-swift) — mfaani, Mar 13 '19 at 18:43

Devapploper · Accepted Answer · 2020-02-02T17:42:59.913

442

Most preferably you might want to use AVFoundation. It provides all the essentials for working with audiovisual media.

Update: Compatible with Swift 2, Swift 3 and Swift 4 as suggested by some of you in the comments.

Swift 2.3

import AVFoundation

var player: AVAudioPlayer?

func playSound() {
    let url = NSBundle.mainBundle().URLForResource("soundName", withExtension: "mp3")!

    do {
        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOfURL: url)
        guard let player = player else { return }

        player.prepareToPlay()
        player.play()

    } catch let error as NSError {
        print(error.description)
    }
}

Swift 3

import AVFoundation

var player: AVAudioPlayer?

func playSound() {
    guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "soundName", withExtension: "mp3") else { return }

    do {
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback)
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)

        let player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)

        player.play()

    } catch let error {
        print(error.localizedDescription)
    }
}

Swift 4 (iOS 13 compatible)

import AVFoundation

var player: AVAudioPlayer?

func playSound() {
    guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "soundName", withExtension: "mp3") else { return }

    do {
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .default)            
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)

        /* The following line is required for the player to work on iOS 11. Change the file type accordingly*/
        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileType.mp3.rawValue)

        /* iOS 10 and earlier require the following line:
        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileTypeMPEGLayer3) */

        guard let player = player else { return }

        player.play()

    } catch let error {
        print(error.localizedDescription)
    }
}

Make sure to change the name of your tune as well as the extension. The file needs to be properly imported (Project Build Phases > Copy Bundle Resources). You might want to place it in assets.xcassets for greater convenience.

For short sound files you might want to go for non-compressed audio formats such as .wav since they have the best quality and a low cpu impact. The higher disk-space consumption should not be a big deal for short sound files. The longer the files are, you might want to go for a compressed format such as .mp3 etc. pp. Check the compatible audio formats of CoreAudio.

Fun-fact: There are neat little libraries which make playing sounds even easier. :)
For example: SwiftySound

edited Feb 02 '20 at 17:42

answered Aug 16 '15 at 14:41

Devapploper

6,062
3
20
41

Sorry but this code doesn't work anymore in swift 2.0 it prompt an error " Call can throw, but it is not marked with 'try' and the error is not handled" – Michel Kansou Aug 16 '15 at 15:23
2

Replace `bgMusic = AVAudioPlayer(contentsOfURL: bgMusicURL, fileTypeHint: nil)` with `do { bgMusic = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOfURL: bgMusicURL, fileTypeHint: nil) } catch _ { return \\ if it doesn't exist, don't play it}` – saagarjha Aug 16 '15 at 17:28
Based on your code, it should *never* print anything, since return is called before the print. – saagarjha Aug 16 '15 at 18:02
I just change loaded another music file with .m4a and it work – Michel Kansou Aug 16 '15 at 18:03
22

I had to make the AVAudioPlayer object an instance variable to get this to work. As a local variable it wouldn't play anything, no error. Delegates wouldn't get called, either. – Kaleb Mar 26 '16 at 18:59
Works with 3.0 as well – danielsalare Oct 04 '16 at 00:28
2

Why do you use a guard here? `player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url) guard let player = player else { return }` seems like extra work to me, why not just `let player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)`? – xandermonkey Dec 19 '16 at 14:56
2

Using a guard statement makes you pretty safe from crashing due to nil value. – Aashish Mar 01 '17 at 12:12
@Aashish yep, forgot to reply – Devapploper Mar 01 '17 at 20:03
@Devapploper do you think you could help with my question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44201592/swift-3-stream-mp3-file-from-server ? – JamesG May 26 '17 at 12:27
What are the acceptable file types? Can it be `aiff`? – mfaani Jul 18 '17 at 20:50
@Honey I updated the answer. Take a look at this: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/MusicAudio/Conceptual/CoreAudioOverview/SupportedAudioFormatsMacOSX/SupportedAudioFormatsMacOSX.html – Devapploper Jul 26 '17 at 09:39
What if the audio file is not mp3 and it's OGG or DASH? – Pavlos Feb 01 '18 at 13:55
What is the meaning of the ** player.prepareToPlay() player.play()** one after an other prepareToPlay() does nothing here! – Hope Aug 08 '18 at 10:01
Depending on the behaviour you wish to achieve, it’s worth to take a deeper look at the available categories: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/avfoundation/avaudiosession/1616591-availablecategories i.e.: I think in most cases the category `Ambient` would be a better fit, since it respects the devices mute button. – ixany Aug 09 '18 at 21:37
MISTAKE: `iOS 10 and earlier require the following line: ...`. No, xCode won't even compile the string from comments. Maybe did you mean a specific iOS sdk version? – Vyachaslav Gerchicov Oct 16 '18 at 12:27
On Swift 4.2.0 and Xcode 10.1, I'm getting a few errors with the first try statement: `try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback)` first `Replace 'AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback' with 'AVAudioSession.Category.playback'` then `setCategory is unavailable in Swift` what worked for me was `try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: [])` – waffl Jan 05 '19 at 18:49
gives a String member error in Swift 4.2: try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .default) – SoTm May 20 '19 at 19:37
Thanks. Below two lines helped alot try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .default) try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true) – Mahesh Peri Aug 29 '19 at 09:01
`try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)` save me! – nastassia Oct 30 '19 at 09:46
Audio did not played properly when this function was made as an extension of UIViewController by passing AVAudioPlayer as argument, What could be the issue? It works well as a normal function – Atul Vasudev A Mar 31 '20 at 06:52

score 52 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 28 '21 at 17:48

Swift version: 5.4 and Above

import AVFoundation
var player: AVAudioPlayer?

func playSound() {
    guard let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "beep", ofType:"mp3") else {
        return }
    let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: path)

    do {
        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)
        player?.play()
        
    } catch let error {
        print(error.localizedDescription)
    }
}

Adi Nugroho · Answer 3 · 2017-10-07T06:17:14.457

For Swift 3 :

import AVFoundation

/// **must** define instance variable outside, because .play() will deallocate AVAudioPlayer 
/// immediately and you won't hear a thing
var player: AVAudioPlayer?

func playSound() {
    guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "soundName", withExtension: "mp3") else {
        print("url not found")
        return
    }

    do {
        /// this codes for making this app ready to takeover the device audio
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback)
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)

        /// change fileTypeHint according to the type of your audio file (you can omit this)

        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileTypeMPEGLayer3)

        // no need for prepareToPlay because prepareToPlay is happen automatically when calling play()
        player!.play()
    } catch let error as NSError {
        print("error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
    }
}

The best practice for local assets is to put it inside assets.xcassets and you load the file like this :

func playSound() {
    guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "soundName", withExtension: "mp3") else {
        print("url not found")
        return
    }

    do {
        /// this codes for making this app ready to takeover the device audio
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback)
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)

        /// change fileTypeHint according to the type of your audio file (you can omit this)

        /// for iOS 11 onward, use :
        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileType.mp3.rawValue)

        /// else :
        /// player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileTypeMPEGLayer3)

        // no need for prepareToPlay because prepareToPlay is happen automatically when calling play()
        player!.play()
    } catch let error as NSError {
        print("error: \(error.localizedDescription)")
    }
}

This code worked for me on iOS 10.2.1, xCode 8.2.1. For me, the two "try AVAudioSession" lines made the difference between the sounds actually being heard on a real device or not. Without them, no sound. — pvanallen, Jan 27 '17 at 21:58
This helped me a ton, i'm having some trouble understanding what happens in the `do` block though. obviously `player!.play()` is self explanatory. But what is the purpose of the `setCategory` and `setActive` methods? — Shan Robertson, Feb 03 '17 at 00:00
If you provide `AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback` to `setCategory`, it will ensure the audio is always played even though phone is in lock screen or in silent mode. `setActive` is like telling the system that your app is ready to play audio — Adi Nugroho, Feb 03 '17 at 10:40
@AdiNugroho do you think you could help with my question: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44201592/swift-3-stream-mp3-file-from-server ? — JamesG, May 26 '17 at 12:27
I'm having a lot of trouble with this on iOS 11. It used to work but now it suddenly doesn't. Any ideas? — nickdnk, Oct 05 '17 at 16:02
@nickdnk . For iOS 11 onward, change AVAudioPlayer initialization into `player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileType.mp3.rawValue)` — Adi Nugroho, Oct 07 '17 at 06:18
This helped me with iOS 11. Thank you for keeping this answer up to date — WBuck, Dec 16 '17 at 19:34

score 22 · Answer 4 · edited May 13 '20 at 01:05

22

iOS 12 - Xcode 10 beta 6 - Swift 4.2

Use just 1 IBAction and point all the buttons to that 1 action.

import AVFoundation

var player = AVAudioPlayer()

@IBAction func notePressed(_ sender: UIButton) {
    print(sender.tag) // testing button pressed tag
    let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "note\(sender.tag)", ofType : "wav")!
    let url = URL(fileURLWithPath : path)
    do {
        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)
        player.play()
    } catch {
        print ("There is an issue with this code!")
    }
}

edited May 13 '20 at 01:05

Wimukthi Rajapaksha

961
1
11
23

answered Aug 26 '18 at 07:26

Tony Ward

233
2
6

12

It's funny that you're assuming that everyone are watching "iOS 11 & Swift 4 - The Complete iOS App Development Bootcamp" – karlingen Apr 28 '19 at 07:01

score 17 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 18 '17 at 18:45

17

If code doesn't generate any error, but you don't hear sound - create the player as an instance:

   static var player: AVAudioPlayer!

For me the first solution worked when I did this change :)

answered Dec 18 '17 at 18:45

EranKT

325
1
4
15

Works for me. Does anybody know why do you have to set this to static? – kuzdu Aug 19 '18 at 09:52
4

I don't think it has to be static (anymore?), but it seems perhaps if you let it go out of scope after it's created, even if you've called play(), it won't play? I just made it an instance variable of my class and it works. – biomiker Oct 23 '18 at 22:54
6

@kuzdu This is due to you not placing the `player` in the outside scope. Otherwise, `player` gets delocalised and therefore cannot play any sound as it no longer exists. – George Jan 02 '19 at 21:29
Worked for me - without `static` – Todd Feb 11 '20 at 15:59
Worked for me too! Thanks! – Maverick447 Feb 18 '21 at 18:57

score 14 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 15 '19 at 09:18

Swift 4, 4.2 and 5

Play audio from URL and from your project (Local File)

import UIKit
import AVFoundation

class ViewController: UIViewController{

var audioPlayer : AVPlayer!

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
// call what ever function you want.
    }

    private func playAudioFromURL() {
        guard let url = URL(string: "https://geekanddummy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/coin-spin-light.mp3") else {
            print("error to get the mp3 file")
            return
        }
        do {
            audioPlayer = try AVPlayer(url: url as URL)
        } catch {
            print("audio file error")
        }
        audioPlayer?.play()
    }

    private func playAudioFromProject() {
        guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "azanMakkah2016", withExtension: "mp3") else {
            print("error to get the mp3 file")
            return
        }

        do {
            audioPlayer = try AVPlayer(url: url)
        } catch {
            print("audio file error")
        }
        audioPlayer?.play()
    }

}

score 6 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 08 '21 at 09:27

For Swift 5 "AVFoundation"\

Simple code without error handling to play audio from your local path

import AVFoundation
var audio:AVPlayer!

func stopAlarm() {
    // To pause or stop audio in swift 5 audio.stop() isn't working
    audio.pause()
}

func playAlarm() {
    // need to declare local path as url
    let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "Alarm", withExtension: "mp3")
    // now use declared path 'url' to initialize the player
    audio = AVPlayer.init(url: url!)
    // after initialization play audio its just like click on play button
    audio.play()
}

score 6 · Answer 8 · answered Jul 28 '21 at 15:10

it is simple and get's the job done!

import AVFoundation
var player: AVAudioPlayer!
            
    let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "sound_name", withExtension: "mp3")
     
    player = try! AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url!)
    player.play()

score 4 · Answer 9 · edited Nov 03 '17 at 06:10

Swift 3

import AVFoundation


var myAudio: AVAudioPlayer!

    let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "example", ofType: "mp3")!
    let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: path)
do {
    let sound = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)
    myAudio = sound
    sound.play()
} catch {
    // 
}

//If you want to stop the sound, you should use its stop()method.if you try to stop a sound that doesn't exist your app will crash, so it's best to check that it exists.

if myAudio != nil {
    myAudio.stop()
    myAudio = nil
}

score 4 · Answer 10 · edited May 12 '20 at 19:49

This is basic code to find and play an audio file in Swift.

Add your audio file to your Xcode and add the code below.

import AVFoundation

class ViewController: UIViewController {

   var audioPlayer = AVAudioPlayer() // declare globally

   override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        guard let sound = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "audiofilename", ofType: "mp3") else {
            print("Error getting the mp3 file from the main bundle.")
            return
        }
        do {
            audioPlayer = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: URL(fileURLWithPath: sound))
        } catch {
            print("Audio file error.")
        }
        audioPlayer.play()
    }

    @IBAction func notePressed(_ sender: UIButton) { // Button action
        audioPlayer.stop()
    }
}

Fattie · Answer 11 · 2022-12-11T19:09:32.650

Game style:

file Sfx.swift

import AVFoundation

public let sfx = Sfx.shared
public final class Sfx: NSObject {
    
    static let shared = Sfx()
    
    var apCheer: AVAudioPlayer? = nil
    // etc
    
    private override init() {
        guard let s = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "cheer", ofType: "mp3") else { print("Sfx woe"); return }
        do { apCheer = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: URL(fileURLWithPath: s)) } catch { print("Sfx woe"); return }
        // etc
    }
    
    func cheer() { apCheer?.play() }
    func plonk() { apPlonk?.play() }
    func crack() { apCrack?.play() }
    // etc
}

Simply have one of these ...

    var apCheer: AVAudioPlayer? = nil

for each of your audio stings. So you may have 5, 20, 10, whatever.

For each of those, simply copy/paste the two lines of initialization code:

guard let s = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "cheer", ofType: "mp3") else { return print("Sfx woe") }
do { apCheer = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: URL(fileURLWithPath: s)) } catch { return print("Sfx woe") }

Then, anywhere at all, in any code, in any file, you can:

sfx.cheer()
sfx.crack()

score 3 · Answer 12 · edited Mar 26 '19 at 05:18

Tested with Swift 4 and iOS 12:

import UIKit
import AVFoundation
class ViewController: UIViewController{
    var player: AVAudioPlayer!
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
    }

    func playTone(number: Int) {
        let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "note\(number)", ofType : "wav")!
        let url = URL(fileURLWithPath : path)
        do {
            player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)
            print ("note\(number)")
            player.play()
        }
        catch {
            print (error)
        }
    }

    @IBAction func notePressed(_ sender: UIButton) {
        playTone(number: sender.tag)
    }
}

score 3 · Answer 13 · edited May 13 '20 at 01:05

3

import AVFoundation
var player:AVAudioPlayer!

func Play(){
    guard let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "KurdishSong", ofType: "mp3")else{return}
    let soundURl = URL(fileURLWithPath: path)
    player = try? AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: soundURl)
    player.prepareToPlay()
    player.play()
    //player.pause()
    //player.stop()
}

edited May 13 '20 at 01:05

Wimukthi Rajapaksha

961
1
11
23

answered Jun 10 '19 at 15:57

Mobin Valadi

41
3

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Mar 08 '18 at 07:07

First import these libraries

import AVFoundation

import AudioToolbox

set delegate like this

   AVAudioPlayerDelegate

write this pretty code on button action or something action:

guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "ring", withExtension: "mp3") else { return }
    do {
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback)
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
        player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileType.mp3.rawValue)
        guard let player = player else { return }

        player.play()
    }catch let error{
        print(error.localizedDescription)
    }

100% working in my project and tested

There’s no need to import `AudioToolbox` in this place. – ixany Aug 09 '18 at 21:34 — ixany, Aug 09 '18 at 21:34

score 1 · Answer 15 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

1

Swift 4 (iOS 12 compatible)

var player: AVAudioPlayer?

let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "note\(sender.tag)", ofType: "wav")
let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: path ?? "")
    
do {
   player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)
   player?.play()
} catch let error {
   print(error.localizedDescription)
}

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

1
1

answered Sep 18 '18 at 18:31

imdpk

29
1

I get the following error: `The operation couldn’t be completed. (OSStatus error 1954115647.)`. I have looked everywhere, and cannot find a solution. Might post a question about it. – George Jan 02 '19 at 21:46

score 1 · Answer 16 · edited Feb 22 '19 at 20:13

import UIKit
import AVFoundation

class ViewController: UIViewController{

    var player: AVAudioPlayer?

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
    }

    @IBAction func notePressed(_ sender: UIButton) {

        guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "note1", withExtension: "wav") else { return }

        do {
            try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory((AVAudioSession.Category.playback), mode: .default, options: [])
            try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)


            /* The following line is required for the player to work on iOS 11. Change the file type accordingly*/
            player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileType.wav.rawValue)

            /* iOS 10 and earlier require the following line:
             player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileTypeMPEGLayer3) *//

            guard let player = player else { return }

            player.play()

        } catch let error {
            print(error.localizedDescription)
        }

    }

}

score 0 · Answer 17 · edited Mar 12 '20 at 10:39

var soundEffect = AVAudioPlayer()

func playSound(_ buttonTag : Int){

    let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "note\(buttonTag)", ofType : "wav")!
    let url = URL(fileURLWithPath : path)

    do{
        soundEffect = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url)
        soundEffect?.play()
        // to stop the spound .stop()
    }catch{
        print ("file could not be loaded or other error!")
    }
}

works in swift 4 latest version. ButtonTag would be a tag on a button on your interface. Notes are in a folder in a folder parallel to Main.storyboard. Every note is named as note1, note2, etc. ButtonTag is giving the number 1, 2, etc from the button clicked which is passed as param

score 0 · Answer 18 · edited Oct 05 '20 at 08:43

import AVFoundation

import AudioToolbox

public final class MP3Player : NSObject {
    
    // Singleton class
    static let shared:MP3Player = MP3Player()
    
    private var player: AVAudioPlayer? = nil
    
    // Play only mp3 which are stored in the local
    public func playLocalFile(name:String) {
        guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: name, withExtension: "mp3") else { return }

        do {
            try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSession.Category.playback)
            try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)
            player = try AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: url, fileTypeHint: AVFileType.mp3.rawValue)
            guard let player = player else { return }

            player.play()
        }catch let error{
            print(error.localizedDescription)
        }
    }
}

To call this function

MP3Player.shared.playLocalFile(name: "JungleBook")

score 0 · Answer 19 · answered Feb 17 '23 at 17:47

0

Using SKActions...

// Preload the sound(s)
private let buttonSound = SKAction.playSoundFileNamed("SoundButton.wav", waitForCompletion: false)

// Play using run function
buttonNode?.run(buttonSound)

answered Feb 17 '23 at 17:47

Mateus

357
1
4
14

How to play a sound using Swift?

19 Answers19

Swift 2.3

Swift 3

Swift 4 (iOS 13 compatible)

Swift version: 5.4 and Above

Game style:

Swift 4 (iOS 12 compatible)

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