Audio messages

You can use Cloud API to send voice messages and basic audio messages.

Voice messages

A voice message (sometimes referred to as a voice note, voice memo, or audio) is a recording of one or more persons speaking, and can include background sounds like music. Voice messages include features like automatic download, profile picture, and voice icon, not available with a basic audio message. If the user has set voice message transcripts to Automatic, a text transcription of the message will also be included.

• Voice messages require .ogg files encoded with the OPUS codec. If you send a different file type or a file encoded with a different codec, voice message transcription will fail.
• The play icon will only appear if the file is 512KB or smaller, otherwise it will be replaced with a download icon (a downward facing arrow).
• Your business's profile image is used as the profile image, accompanied by a microphone icon.
• The text transcription appears if the user has enabled Automatic voice message transcripts. If the user has set this to Manual, the text "Transcribe" will appear instead, which will display the transcribed text once tapped. If the user has set voice message transcripts to Never, no text will appear.

Basic audio messages

Basic audio messages display a download icon and a music icon. When the WhatsApp user taps the play icon, the user must manually download the audio message for the WhatsApp client to load and then play the audio file.

• The download icon will be replaced with a play icon if the WhatsApp user has enabled auto-download for audio media and conditions for auto-download are met (e.g. connected to wi-fi).
• If you send a .ogg file encoded with the OPUS code as a basic audio message, the music icon will be replaced with a microphone icon. In addition, if the user has enabled Automatic or Manual voice message transcripts, a text transcription or the text "Transcribe" will accompany the message.

Request syntax

Use the POST /<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages endpoint to send an audio message to a WhatsApp user.

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER>",
  "type": "audio",
  "audio": {
    "id": "<MEDIA_ID>", <!-- Only if using uploaded media -->
    "link": "<MEDIA_URL>", <!-- Only if using hosted media (not recommended) -->
    "voice": <IS_VOICE?> <!-- Only include if sending voice message -->
  }
}'

Request parameters

Supported audio formats

The most common errors associated with audio files are mismatched MIME types (MIME type doesn't match the file type indicated by the file name) and invalid encoding for Ogg files (OPUS codec only). If you encounter an error when sending a message with a media file, ensure your audio file's actual MIME type matches its type, and is of a type listed above. For Ogg files, ensure you are encoding with the OPUS codec.

Example request

Example request to send an image message using an uploaded media ID and a caption.

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v24.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "+16505551234",
  "type": "audio",
  "audio": {
    "id" : "1013859600285441",
    "voice": true
  }
}'

Example Response

{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "contacts": [
    {
      "input": "+16505551234",
      "wa_id": "16505551234"
    }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "wamid.HBgLMTY0NjcwNDM1OTUVAgARGBI1RjQyNUE3NEYxMzAzMzQ5MkEA"
    }
  ]
}