When you try to play audio files that are copied from an audio CD in a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, the audio files do not play.

This issue may occur if the audio files are inserted into the presentation by using the Sound from File option instead of by using the Play CD Audio Track option.

CD audio files have a .cda file format. The .cda file format is not recognized if you try to insert the file into a PowerPoint presentation by using the Sound from File option.

The .cda file format is recognized if you use the Play CD Audio Track option to insert the file into a PowerPoint presentation.

To insert a CD audio file into a presentation, use one of the following methods, as appropriate for the version of PowerPoint that you are using.

Note You must insert the audio CD into the CD drive to play the audio file during the presentation.

PowerPoint 2000

1. Insert the CD into the CD drive.
2. Display the slide to which you want to add a CD audio track.
3. On the Insert menu, point to Movies and Sounds, and then click Play CD Audio Track.
4. Select the track and the timing options that you want, and then click OK. A CD icon appears on the slide.
5. When you receive the message, click Yes if you want the CD to play automatically when you display the slide. If you want the CD to play only when you click the CD icon during the presentation, click No.
6. To preview the music in normal view, double-click the CD icon.

PowerPoint 2002

1. Insert the CD into the CD drive.
2. In normal view, click the slide on which you want the music to start to play on the Slides tab.
3. On the Insert menu, point to Movies and Sounds, and then click Play CD Audio Track.
4. If you want the music to repeat, click to select the Loop until stopped check box.
5. Under Play CD audio track, set the starting track number and the ending track number in the Track boxes. To play only one track or only part of a track, type the same number in both boxes.
6. In the At boxes, set the starting time for the starting track and ending time for the ending track. By default, the starting time is zero. The ending time is the total number of minutes for the ending track.
7. Click OK. When you are prompted, perform one of the following actions:
   • To play the music automatically when you display the slide, click Yes.
   • To play the music when you click the CD icon during the presentation, click No.
8. To adjust the settings that control when to stop the music, right-click the CD icon on the slide, and then click Custom Animation.
9. In the Custom Animation task pane, click the arrow on the selected item in the Custom Animation list, and then click Effect Options.
10. On the Effect tab, perform one of the following actions under Stop playing:
    • To stop the music when you click the slide, click On click. This is the default setting.
    • To stop the music after the current slide, click After current slide.
    • To continue playing music for several slides, click After, and then set the total number of slides for which the music should play.

PowerPoint 2003

1. Insert the CD into the CD drive.
2. In normal view, click the slide on which you want the music to start to play on the Slides tab.
3. On the Insert menu, point to Movies and Sounds, and then click Play CD Audio Track.
4. Under Clip selection, set the starting track number and the ending track number in the Start at track and End at track boxes. To play only one track or only part of a track, type the same number in both boxes.
5. In the time boxes, set the starting time for the starting track and the ending time for the ending track. By default, the starting time is zero. The ending time is the total number of minutes for the ending track.
6. If you want the music to repeat, click to select the Loop until stopped check box.
7. Click OK. When you are prompted, perform one of the following actions:
   • To play the music automatically when you display the slide, click Automatically.
   • To play the music when you click the CD icon during the presentation, click When Clicked.

If you do not want to have to insert the CD during the presentation, consider using a sound file that you can embed into the presentation.

You can insert many popular sound file formats into a presentation. To do this, point to Movies and Sounds on the Insert menu, and then click Sound from File. Typically, you can insert the following file formats into a presentation:

• AIFF audio file (.aiff)
• AU audio file (.au)
• MIDI file (.mid or .midi)
• MP3 audio file (.mp3)
• Windows audio file (.wav)
• Windows media audio file (.wma)

The supported formats are determined by capabilities of the computer. The Insert Sound dialog box contains a list of the supported audio file formats that can be inserted on the computer.

Consider the following information when you also insert other audio file formats in a presentation. By default, sounds are automatically linked to the file instead of linked in the file (embedded). The exception is Windows audio (.wav) files that are smaller than the sound-linking threshold setting when the audio files are inserted in a presentation. By default, the threshold is set to 100 kilobytes (KB). You can change this threshold to be more than or less than 100 KB.

When your presentation has linked files, you must copy the linked files and the presentation if you will give the presentation on another computer. The Package for CD feature can facilitate the copying of a presentation that has linked content from one computer to another.

If the path name of a linked file exceeds 128 characters, PowerPoint cannot find and then play that linked file. You can either rename the linked file or shorten the path name by copying the linked file into the folder that contains your presentation. Then, update the links automatically by using the Package for CD feature. Alternatively, update the links manually by removing the audio files from the presentation and then adding them again. To avoid broken links, put copies of all media and other linked content into the folder that contains your presentation before you insert the media into the presentation.