Adding Your Own Audio Files to Wedding Player: Full Guide

This is the full technical guide to adding your own audio files to Wedding Player. If you haven’t already, check the five ways to add music to Wedding Player first — for most couples, Apple Music or Wedding Player Originals is the easier route.

Supported formats

Wedding Player handles the four formats you’ll actually have on disk:

• MP3 — the universal one. Anything ripped, downloaded, or exported is almost certainly an MP3
• M4A — Apple’s preferred format. iTunes purchases, GarageBand exports, anything from the Mac Music app
• WAV — uncompressed, larger files. Common from professional DAWs
• AIFF — uncompressed Apple format, mostly seen with audio engineers

If your file is FLAC, OGG, or WMA, convert it first. Free tools like XLD on Mac or VLC on any platform will do it in seconds.

Where the file needs to live

Your device’s file manager is the bridge. Anything it can see, Wedding Player can pick up.

On iPhone or iPad (Files app):

• iCloud Drive — drop the file in any iCloud Drive folder on your Mac, or use iCloud for Windows on a PC, and it’s on your iPhone within seconds
• On My iPhone — files saved locally to the iPhone, no cloud involved
• Dropbox / Google Drive / OneDrive — these all surface in the Files app once you’ve installed their iOS apps
• AirDrop from Mac to iPhone — saves to the Files app’s Downloads folder by default

On Android (Files picker):

• Google Drive — drop the file into Google Drive on your Mac or Windows PC and it appears on your Android device within seconds
• Downloads / Local storage — anything saved directly to the device’s internal storage
• Dropbox / OneDrive — surface through their Android apps once installed
• USB cable to PC or Mac — drop files into the device’s Music or Downloads folder directly

If the file is somewhere Wedding Player can’t see it (a streaming service, a webpage, another app’s private library), you need to get it into the file manager first.

Five practical paths

1. From a computer via cloud sync

The smoothest path. Drop the file into a synced folder on your computer, wait a few seconds, then pick it from the file manager on your device.

• Mac → iPhone/iPad: drop into any iCloud Drive folder. Appears in the Files app within seconds.
• Windows → iPhone/iPad: install iCloud for Windows from Apple, then drop into the iCloud Drive folder. Same result.
• Mac or Windows → Android: drop into Google Drive (or use the Google Drive desktop app for automatic syncing). Appears in the Files picker.

Works for couples who are doing custom edits on a computer and don’t want to mess with cables.

2. Direct transfer (AirDrop, Quick Share, or USB)

For one-off transfers when you don’t want to wait for cloud sync:

• Mac → iPhone/iPad (AirDrop): right-click the file on your Mac, AirDrop to your iPhone. iOS prompts you to save it to Files.
• Windows → iPhone/iPad: no AirDrop equivalent. Either connect with a USB-C / Lightning cable and use the Apple Devices app (Windows 11) or iTunes (Windows 10), or fall back to Option 1 (cloud sync).
• Android → Android, or PC → Android (Quick Share / Nearby Share): Android’s built-in Quick Share works with Windows PCs and other Android devices. Saves to the Downloads folder.
• Mac or Windows → Android (USB cable): plug in, the device shows up as removable storage. Drop the file into the Music or Downloads folder directly.

3. From a CD

Ripping a CD is a computer job. Phones and tablets don’t support optical drives and have no built-in tools for audio conversion — you’ll need a Mac or Windows PC (and either a built-in or USB optical drive).

On Mac — the easy way: Music app

The Mac’s built-in Music app will rip a CD for you with no extra software. Before you start, change the import format — the default is AAC (M4A), which works fine in Wedding Player, but MP3 is more universally compatible.

Go to Music → Settings → Files → Import Settings, change the format to MP3 Encoder, quality to 320 kbps, click OK. Then:

1. Insert the CD (or connect a USB disc drive — most modern Macs don’t have a built-in optical drive)
2. Music asks whether to import — click Yes
3. Wait two to five minutes. The tracks appear in your library
4. Right-click any imported track → Show in Finder
5. Drag the MP3 file into iCloud Drive (for iPhone/iPad) or Google Drive (for Android)

On Mac — the cleaner way: XLD (free)

If you’d rather not add the track to your Music library, XLD rips the CD straight to a folder of MP3s with no library involved.

1. Download XLD from tmkk.undo.jp/xld — free, Mac-only
2. Open XLD → XLD → Preferences → General. Set output format to MP3, encoder to LAME, bit rate to 320 kbps, and choose a destination folder
3. Insert the CD. XLD fetches the track list automatically
4. Click Convert — all tracks are ripped to MP3 in your destination folder
5. Drag the MP3s to iCloud Drive (for iPhone/iPad) or Google Drive (for Android)

XLD also handles FLAC, WAV, and other formats, so it’s worth keeping around for any future conversions.

On Windows — fre:ac (free)

Windows Media Player can rip CDs to MP3 on older Windows versions, but it’s been removed from Windows 11 in favour of Media Player (limited) and Windows 10 stripped some of the controls. The reliable cross-Windows option is fre:ac, a free open-source ripper.

1. Download fre:ac from freac.org — free, Windows / Mac / Linux
2. Open fre:ac → Options → General Settings → Encoders. Set the encoder to LAME MP3 Encoder, bit rate to 320 kbps, and choose a destination folder
3. Insert the CD. fre:ac fetches the track list from CDDB / freedb automatically
4. Click the red Start Encoding button — all tracks are ripped to MP3 in your destination folder
5. Drag the MP3s into iCloud Drive (for iPhone/iPad — install iCloud for Windows first) or Google Drive (for Android)

fre:ac also handles FLAC, WAV, OGG, and Opus conversions if you ever need them.

4. From an email or message

• iPhone / iPad: tap and hold the audio attachment, choose Save to Files, pick a location.
• Android: tap the attachment, choose Save or Download. It lands in the Downloads folder (or wherever you pick), visible to the Files picker.

Either way, the file is now visible to Wedding Player.

5. From another app on your phone

Most audio apps have a Share or Export option that lands the file somewhere Wedding Player can see it.

• iPhone / iPad: GarageBand, Voice Memos, third-party editors — use Share → Save to Files.
• Android: WaveEditor, Lexis Audio Editor, or any third-party recorder — use Share → Save to device, or export directly to Downloads / Google Drive.

Editing before you import

If you’re trimming, fading, or otherwise customising a track, do it before importing. Free options across platforms:

• GarageBand (Mac and iPhone/iPad, free) — drag a track in, trim with the splitter, add a fade in or fade out, export as M4A. Excellent for processional cuts where you want the music to start at exactly the right verse
• QuickTime Player (Mac, free) — Edit → Trim. Doesn’t add fades, but fast for hard-cutting an intro or outro
• Voice Memos (iPhone / iPad, free) — surprisingly capable for quick trims if you’ve recorded something on your phone
• Audacity (Mac, Windows, Linux, free) — the long-standing open-source audio editor. Handles trim, fades, normalisation, and export to MP3 or WAV. The right tool if you’re on Windows
• WaveEditor / Lexis Audio Editor (Android, free with optional in-app purchase) — touch-friendly trim, fade, and export. Both export straight to Downloads or Google Drive

Wedding Player itself doesn’t currently offer trim controls inside the app, so any timing edits need to happen in your editor of choice first.

What happens when you import

Wedding Player does three things automatically the moment a file lands in a moment:

1. Copies the file into the moment’s storage. The original file in Files stays untouched. Even if you later delete it from iCloud Drive or move it on your Mac, the version inside Wedding Player keeps working
2. Runs volume normalisation. Different tracks come from different masters at different levels. Normalisation brings everything into the same loudness range so a quiet acoustic intro and a loud orchestral processional don’t startle the room
3. Adds it to the playlist with crossfade and fade-out support. Same engine that handles Apple Music and Wedding Player Originals tracks. Mixed-source moments work seamlessly

Things to check before the day

• Pre-flight Live Mode. Tap Go Live during rehearsal. The app warns you if any local file is missing or empty. If you’ve imported a track and later moved or deleted the source, this is where you find out
• Run a full rehearsal in Airplane Mode. Local files don’t need a network at all, but the rehearsal confirms it
• Volume on the venue PA. Normalisation gets you a consistent baseline, but the final volume always wants a sound check on the actual system you’ll be playing through
• Battery and Do Not Disturb. Live Mode reminds you about both, but it’s worth setting up the night before

What about ripping a song from Spotify or YouTube?

We can’t recommend ripping audio from streaming services. It violates their terms of service and depending on where you live can violate copyright law. If you need a specific song, check whether it’s available on Apple Music — if you have a subscription, you can use it directly inside Wedding Player without any file management at all.

For CDs you own: technically, ripping a CD for personal use sits in a legal grey area in the UK (a 2015 private copying exception was struck down by the courts in 2017), though enforcement against individuals is effectively non-existent. In the US, personal-use copying is generally covered by fair use. Either way — only rip what you’ve paid for.

For the avoidance of doubt: the music in your ceremony is your responsibility. Most weddings are private events covered by personal-use exemptions, but venues sometimes carry their own performance licences (PRS in the UK, ASCAP/BMI in the US) that may apply. Talk to your venue about which side of the line you’re on.

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Wedding Player is a ceremony music app for iPhone and iPad, with the Android version in the final stages of development. It includes Wedding Player Originals — 35 fully licensed instrumental ceremony tracks — alongside Apple Music (iOS) integration and your own audio files. Free to try.