---
title: "Set up Music-on-hold"
slug: "set-up-music-on-hold"
updated: 2026-10-28T15:49:41Z
published: 2026-10-28T15:49:41Z
canonical: "help.8x8.com/set-up-music-on-hold"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.8x8.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up Music-on-hold

8x8 Work allows you to replace dead air with hold music or your business announcement. When you put your callers on hold, you can play a hold music or announce a marketing message until the call is resumed.

## Features

- Allows you to replace dead air with hold music or a business announcement.
- Ability to create your own audio files whether by uploading or recording your own announcement.
- Ability to create and access the hold music library from within the user profile.
- Ability to play the hold music or announcement at a variety of speed.
- Ability to change or delete the hold music from within the user profile

## Limitations

- Hold music plays from the beginning of the file, but not continuously.

**Assign Hold Music to a User**

**To assign hold music to a user:+**

1. Go to **Home > Users**.
2. While creating or editing an existing user profile, scroll down to see **Music-on-hold**.
3. If you have not defined any hold music for this user, the default audio file is played each time a caller is placed on hold. Click **Change** to open the audio files library. For details, see our content on [](/documentation/docs/set-up-hot-desks)[Manage Audio Files Library](/documentation/docs/set-up-voicemail-settings#manage-audio-files). In the audio files library, you can see the uploaded audio files. The audio files must have AU, WAV, VOX, and MP3 the format, and be 10 MB or smaller. You can listen to a music file, play it at a different speed, edit its name, download on your computer, or delete it from the list.
4. Click **Select** to add the music to the user's profile and **Save**. The hold music will be offered to the callers who contact the user.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/e3a59e39-abd3-4423-964c-0a4008dc5673/Images/Documentation/user-assign-hold-music.gif?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-03T21%3A52%3A29Z&se=2026-11-03T22%3A52%3A29Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=eH291%2F8cIeQuMqBgdpgQ5BLk1MIMoeB25JYTBLk4dq0%3D)

**Add a Hold Music Audio File**

As an administrator, you can add or record new audio files to the audio library, and replace the default audio with a custom audio file. The audio files must have the AU, WAV, VOX, and MP3 format.

**To add a hold music audio file:**

1. Go to **Home > Users**.
2. While creating or editing an existing user profile, scroll down to see **Music-on-hold**.
3. Click **Change** to open the audio files.
4. In the audio files library, select an existing audio file from the list, or click **+ Create Audio Files** to upload a new file.
5. Select **By uploading an audio file** from the menu. See how you can [call to record a new audio file](/documentation/docs/set-up-music-on-hold#record-audio-file).
6. Enter a **Name** for the recording and a **Note** to yourself to make it easier to find later. The recording can be an existing and professionally created audio file.
7. Click **Save**. The audio file is added to your audio files library. You can select the new audio file to be added to the user profile and save.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/e3a59e39-abd3-4423-964c-0a4008dc5673/Images/Documentation/user-hold-audio-file-upload.gif?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-03T21%3A52%3A29Z&se=2026-11-03T22%3A52%3A29Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=eH291%2F8cIeQuMqBgdpgQ5BLk1MIMoeB25JYTBLk4dq0%3D)

**Record a New Audio File**

**To record an audio file:**

1. Go to **Home > Users**.
2. While creating or editing an existing user profile, scroll down to see **Music-on-hold**.
3. Click **Change** to open the audio files.
4. In the audio files library, click **+ Create Audio Files**.
5. Select **By calling a number to record** from the menu.
6. Enter a **Name** and a **Note** for the recording to make it easier to find later.
7. Enter a **Phone Number or Extension** on which you would like to record your initial greeting, and click **Call now**. The system will call your extension or a specified number and prompt you to record a new audio.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/e3a59e39-abd3-4423-964c-0a4008dc5673/Images/Documentation/user-hold-audio-file-record.gif?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-03T21%3A52%3A29Z&se=2026-11-03T22%3A52%3A29Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=eH291%2F8cIeQuMqBgdpgQ5BLk1MIMoeB25JYTBLk4dq0%3D)
8. Follow the 8x8 recording instructions, and click **Save** when finished. The recording appears in the audio file library.
9. **Select** the new recorded audio to add it to the user's profile music on hold.
10. Click to **Save** the user profile.

**Change Music-on-hold**

You can change Music-on-hold for multiple users via Bulk Edit. Prior to this release, you could change the Music-on-hold for each user individually.

**To change the Music-on-hold in bulk:**

1. Go to the **Users** page and select the users you would like to update.
2. Click **Bulk Edit**.
3. Select **Music-on-hold settings** and click **Change** to choose one from the list.
4. Click **Select**. The new music-on-hold appears .
5. Click **Continue**.
6. Review the report to see whether all selected users with their music-on-hold are correctly updated. Click **Confirm Bulk Edits**. A new task is created. You can monitor the task's progress in the Tasks area.

![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/e3a59e39-abd3-4423-964c-0a4008dc5673/Images/Documentation/user-hold-music-change-bulk.gif?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-03T21%3A52%3A29Z&se=2026-11-03T22%3A52%3A29Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=eH291%2F8cIeQuMqBgdpgQ5BLk1MIMoeB25JYTBLk4dq0%3D)

**Delete the Existing Hold Music**

**To delete the existing hold music:**

1. Go to **Home > Users**.
2. While creating or editing an existing user profile, scroll down to see **Music-on-hold**.
3. Click **Change** to open the audio files.
4. Select the music file you had selected for your music on hold, and click ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/e3a59e39-abd3-4423-964c-0a4008dc5673/Images/Documentation/icon_delete_13x18.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-03T21%3A52%3A29Z&se=2026-11-03T22%3A52%3A29Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=eH291%2F8cIeQuMqBgdpgQ5BLk1MIMoeB25JYTBLk4dq0%3D). The music on hold is deleted from the user's profile page.
5. Click to **Save** the user profile.

## FAQ

Refer to the following frequently-asked questions for more information:

**How can I delete an audio file?**

The audio file is a music or message used for callers hold music, auto attendants prompts, call queues greetings, and ring groups music. The audio file repository can be accessed from Users edit page. While editing a user, go to **Music-On-Hold** and click **Change** next to the default audio file. The Audio files page opens. Click ![](https://cdn.us.document360.io/e3a59e39-abd3-4423-964c-0a4008dc5673/Images/Documentation/icon_delete_13x18.png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-03T21%3A52%3A29Z&se=2026-11-03T22%3A52%3A29Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=eH291%2F8cIeQuMqBgdpgQ5BLk1MIMoeB25JYTBLk4dq0%3D) next to the audio file that you like to delete. You can also access the audio files from [Auto Attendant](/documentation/docs/set-up-automatic-call-handling), [Call Queues](/documentation/docs/set-up-call-queues), and [Ring Groups](/documentation/docs/set-up-ring-groups) edit pages.