Add and play audio files

Add an audio file

Add audio the same way as any other file: Add asset (or press 1), drag and drop onto the canvas or a board, or paste. Pactto accepts MP3, WAV, M4A and AIFF (.aiff or .aif) files, up to the same size limit as other files. You need Can edit access or to be the room owner.

While it uploads, the audio item shows Uploading… with a percentage. Once the upload finishes, Pactto draws the waveform. Until then, a simple progress bar shows in its place.

Play it

• Click the play button in the middle of the waveform, or select the audio and press Space.
• Click anywhere on the waveform to jump to that moment. Hover over it to see the time under the pointer.
• Select the audio to show the scrub bar and controls below it: play or pause, Playback speed, the volume button and the time. Drag the scrub bar to move through the file.
• Click Playback speed to cycle through 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 2x, 0.5x and 0.75x.
• Hover over the volume button to show the volume bar. Click it to mute or unmute.

Times show as minutes and seconds (for example 1:05), or hours, minutes and seconds past one hour.

Zoom into the waveform

1. Hold Cmd (Mac) or Ctrl (Windows) and scroll over the waveform, or pinch on a trackpad. The waveform zooms around the pointer, up to 64 times.
2. To move along a zoomed waveform, scroll sideways, hold Shift and scroll, or drag the highlighted part of the scrub bar.

While it plays, the zoomed view follows the playhead. The zoom is only on your screen, and it resets when you reload the page.

Comment on a moment or a range

1. Select the audio and pick the Comment tool (K).
2. Click the audio to comment at the current time, or click a spot on the waveform to comment at that moment.
3. To comment on a range, drag across the waveform or the comment row below the scrub bar. The hint Drag to create a range shows where to drag.
4. Write your comment and post it.

Comments show as avatars in a row under the scrub bar at their time, with a line across the waveform. Click an avatar to open the comment and move the audio to that moment. Comments on audio do not get a pin on the canvas. In the Comments panel they are grouped under audio. See Comment on a video frame, a video range, or a PDF page for how timed comments work.

Focus, present and share

• Click Enter focus mode in the audio's title bar to show it full width. See Focus on one item or board.
• An audio file inside a board is a slide when you present the board. See Present in a room.
• If you are the spotlight, play, pause and jumps are shared with the people following you, the same as for videos. See Play videos and keep them in sync for everyone.
• The title bar also has Download (the original file) and the review status.

If something goes wrong

• "Audio is still processing.": an AIFF file is being prepared for playback. Wait a moment. You can still download it.
• "This audio can't be played.": Pactto could not prepare the file for playback in the browser. Download it to listen, or upload it again in another format such as WAV or MP3.
• "Supported types: Videos, images, PDFs, audio": the file is in a format Pactto does not take, such as OGG or FLAC. Convert it to MP3, WAV, M4A or AIFF.

Good to know

• You cannot attach audio files to comments or send them to the AI Assistant.