Flash Sound Tutorial | How to Add Sound to Flash Movies - Importing Audio Files into a Flash Document's Library

In this beginner's Flash sound tutorial, we're going to talk about the basics of how to add sound in Flash. Adding sound to your Flash projects can make them a little more interesting. You can use audio files to add voice over narrations, background music and sound effects, for example. One way of being able to work with sound using Flash is by importing the sound files into your Flash document. Some of the audio formats that Flash gives you the ability to import include, but are not limited to:

• MP3
• WAV
• AIFF

NOTE: Working with audio in Flash can take up a lot of resources. You might want to consider working with MP3 files over WAV and AIFF files since MP3 files are compressed and will take up less disk space. Also, if you won't be using the entire audio file, you might want to create a shorter version of the audio file using an audio editing application, and use that shortened version instead. This will help save more disk space.

To be able to add sound to the timeline of your Flash movie, import the audio file into your Flash document first. Here's how:

1. From the main menu, choose File > Import > Import to Library
   
2. When the Import to Library dialog box comes up, navigate to the folder that contains the audio file, select the file, and click on Open
   
3. Once Flash finishes importing the file, you should be able to see it in the Flash document's library
   

You can preview the audio file by selecting it in the library, and then clicking on the play button in the preview window.

In the next article, we're going to learn how to add imported audio files to a Flash document's timeline. That article is also going to talk about the difference between the Flash Event Sound and the Flash Stream Sound options - two options for synchronizing sound in Flash.

NEXT: Adding Sound to Flash Movie Timeline and Choosing Flash Sync Sound Options - Flash Event Sound vs Flash Stream Sound