If you publish podcast episodes on WordPress.com, the file you hand it should be an .mp3. The official podcasting documentation is unusually direct about it: "For best compatibility across all platforms, use the .mp3 format for your audio files."
This guide takes you from a video file — a recorded interview, a screen capture, a webinar — to an MP3 sitting in your Media Library and playing inside a Podcast Episode block. You will need the source file, a plan that lets you upload it, and a way to pull the audio out.
Before you start
Check which plan you are on. WordPress.com's "Working with audio" page states: "You can upload audio files with any paid plan on WordPress.com." Video sits behind a higher gate — the Accepted file types guide says its video section "applies to sites with our WordPress.com Premium, Business, and Commerce plans. For free sites and sites on the Personal plan, upgrade your plan to access this feature."
That gap is the first practical reason to convert before you upload: audio clears any paid plan, while the video it came from may not. The plan thresholds are messier than they look, and the official pages disagree with each other depending on which block you use.
Check your remaining storage. Per the same Accepted file types page: "Your site's available storage also limits file size. You cannot upload a file that is larger than the storage space remaining on your site. Each plan includes a different amount of storage." The per-plan allowances are listed in storage space by plan. The same page also says you can "reliably upload files up to 2 GB" — note the word reliably; the docs do not present that as a hard ceiling.
On self-hosted WordPress, none of the plan rules apply. There the ceiling comes from your server: the Media screen documentation says you will see "maximum upload size for files, as set by your hosting provider." WordPress core's own MIME table maps mp3|m4a|m4b to audio/mpeg, so all three extensions are recognised by a default install.
Step 1: Decide the format before you export
This is the step people skip, and it is the one that costs a re-upload. WordPress.com's Create a podcast page spells out what each format does downstream, at the podcast apps rather than at WordPress:
- ".mp3: Works with all platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, and others)"
- ".m4a: Works with most platforms except Spotify"
- ".ogg and .wav: Not accepted by Apple Podcasts or Spotify"
Read that middle line carefully. An .m4a episode is not broken — it plays in most apps — it just will not reach Spotify listeners. If your editor exports M4A by default, which several do, you can publish for months before someone tells you the show is missing from one of the two biggest directories.
The .wav line is the one that catches people who are being careful about quality. Uploading an uncompressed master feels like the safe choice; per the documentation above, it is the choice that gets you rejected by both Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
One documented inconsistency worth knowing: the Accepted file types page lists .mp3, .m4a, .ogg, .wav and .flac under Audio, while the podcasting page's sentence names only the first four. The official docs do not state how .flac behaves in a podcast feed either way, so treat that as unanswered and check the official documentation before relying on it.
Step 2: Extract the audio and convert it to MP3
Converting before upload is the platform's own advice, not ours — the upload troubleshooting page says that for files in unsupported formats "you should convert them to a valid file type before uploading. You can do this with editing software or a free online converter."
Try it right here
Runs in your browser. Your file is not uploaded anywhere.
This runs inside your browser tab. The video is read from disk, the audio track is written out as MP3 locally, and you get the file back — nothing is uploaded to a server, which matters when the source video is large enough that you did not want to upload it to WordPress in the first place.
If your recording is already audio and just in the wrong container, skip the extraction and convert directly: M4A to MP3 covers the Spotify gap described above, and WAV to MP3 covers uncompressed masters. Both produce the format the documentation recommends.
The official pages say nothing about a recommended bitrate, sample rate, or channel count for podcast audio, so do not take a number from a blog post as gospel — check the official documentation if you need a specification to hit.
Step 3: Upload the file to your own site
WordPress.com's podcasting page is explicit about where the file must live: "Do not embed audio from SoundCloud or Audiomack, as Apple Podcasts cannot download files from external hosting services."
The same logic extends to video. If you want to skip the extraction entirely, the docs note that "The Podcast Episode block accepts a video file in place of an audio file. Click Upload in the block and pick your video." But they immediately add the qualifier: "For best results, upload the video directly to your WordPress.com site rather than using YouTube or Vimeo links, as those may not work properly in podcast apps."
So a linked file is not the same as an uploaded one, in either direction. Podcast apps fetch the media; they cannot fetch what lives behind someone else's player.
Step 4: Add it with the right block
The instruction is one sentence: "Add your audio file with the Podcast Episode block or the Audio block." Those are the two supported routes.
On self-hosted WordPress, if the Audio block rejects the file, the editor's documented message is "Sorry, this file type is not supported here." That is a type problem, not a size problem.
Step 5: Cover art
Keep the subject of this requirement straight, because it is not WordPress imposing it: "Apple Podcasts and Spotify both require a square image (equal width and height), between 1400×1400 and 3000×3000 pixels, in JPG or PNG format, using a standard RGB color space (not CMYK)."
Common mistakes
- Trusting your editor's default export. Many produce M4A. That is the format the docs flag as working everywhere except Spotify.
- Uploading a WAV master "for quality". Per the documentation,
.oggand.wavare "Not accepted by Apple Podcasts or Spotify". - Hosting the audio somewhere else and embedding it. The docs name SoundCloud and Audiomack specifically, with the reason: Apple Podcasts cannot download from external hosting services.
- Assuming an upload error is about size. WordPress.com documents the message "This file cannot be processed by the web server." as meaning "The file type is not supported," and adds plainly: "This message is not about the file's size." There is a full breakdown of that error if you are seeing it.
FAQ
What audio file format does WordPress recommend for podcasts?
MP3. The official wording is "For best compatibility across all platforms, use the .mp3 format for your audio files," and the format table lists .mp3 as working with "all platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts, and others)."
Can I use M4A for a podcast episode on WordPress?
The documentation says .m4a "Works with most platforms except Spotify". It will upload and play; it just leaves Spotify listeners out. Convert it with M4A to MP3 if that matters to you.
Will a WAV or OGG file work?
Not for the two largest directories. The docs list .ogg and .wav together as "Not accepted by Apple Podcasts or Spotify."
Can I publish a video file as a podcast episode? Yes — the Podcast Episode block "accepts a video file in place of an audio file." The docs recommend uploading the video to your own site rather than linking YouTube or Vimeo, since those "may not work properly in podcast apps." Extracting an MP3 first is usually lighter on storage and sidesteps the higher plan requirement for video uploads.
Does WordPress convert my audio to MP3 automatically?
The official documentation does not state that it does. Automatic conversion is documented for VideoPress video uploads, not for audio files, so convert to .mp3 yourself before uploading and check the official documentation if you need confirmation for your setup.
More step-by-step walkthroughs in the how-to guides, or browse every browser-based converter and extractor in all Clapr tools.
Format guidance quoted from WordPress.com's Create a podcast, Working with audio, Accepted file types, and upload troubleshooting pages, checked 16 September 2026. Verify against the official pages before publishing.
