Uploading requirements
Browser and OS compatibility
If you are using an older browser and/or computer, you might encounter difficulties when uploading, so we recommend keeping things up to date. We encourage users to use Google Chrome or Firefox to have the best SoundCloud experience.
Find our supported browser versions here.
Confirmed email address attached to your account
To upload, you must first confirm the email address attached to your account. Please check your spam folder if you did not receive an account confirmation email.
If you still have not received this, please send yourself another one through your Settings page.
Time left on your account
There's a difference in upload limits for free (Basic), Artist, and Artist Pro subscriptions.
Free (Basic) and Artist users can upload a total of 3 hours.
Artist Pro subscribers can enjoy unlimited uploads. Learn more about our Pro plans here.
If you are a Free or a Artist user, you can see how many minutes you have left on your Tracks page:
What type of file can I upload?
We recommend uploading in a lossless format like WAV, FLAC, AIFF, or ALAC. We also support a wide variety of lossy formats, including OGG, MP2, MP3, AAC, AMR, and WMA.
The maximum file size is 4GB uncompressed. If your file exceeds these criteria, please split it into separate uploads.
Check our supported file formats for a full list of support codecs and containers.
We transcode all tracks to various codecs optimized for streaming playback. We want to preserve your work, so we recommend you upload uncompressed or lossless audio files to ensure that the transcoding process results in the best possible quality. When you make your track downloadable, however, this allows your listeners to download it in the same format you uploaded it in without any additional transcoding.
Will my file be available for high-quality streaming?
If you upload a stereo file in a lossless format like WAV, FLAC, AIFF, or ALAC, we’ll transcode it in a high-quality format optimized for music streaming like AAC 256 kbps.
If you have the originals but uploaded your tracks in a lossy format before, you can re-upload them by following these steps.
What’s the best file I can upload?
We recommend uploading in a lossless format like WAV, FLAC, AIFF, or ALAC. If possible, the bit depth and sample rate should be 16 bits and 44.1 kHz, respectively.
When you upload a track on SoundCloud, we optimize it for streaming. As part of that process, we resample and transcode it to a high-performance codec. These codecs are highly optimized, but they can increase peak levels, which can cause clipping. We recommend leaving between -0.5 and -1 dBFS of headroom to prevent artifacts like clipping during transcoding. In the rare case where more headroom is required, check the resulting stream.
When uploading, how long can a single file be?
To be uploaded successfully onto SoundCloud, your track cannot be longer than 24 hours.