What Is Background Audio?
Background Audio adds a music or sound track to a video file, mixing it with the existing audio. Unlike video dubbing (which replaces the audio entirely), background audio preserves the original sound and layers a new track underneath at an adjustable volume level.
Why Add Background Audio?
Enhance presentations. Add subtle background music to narrated presentations, tutorials, or explainer videos to improve engagement and production value.
Music beds for voiceover. Layer ambient music under voice narration for podcasts, documentaries, or corporate videos.
Social media production. Add trending music or sound effects to video content without removing the original audio.
Video atmosphere. Add ambient sound, environmental audio, or mood music to footage that was recorded without it.
How It Works
Step 1: Select a video. Load any supported video format (MP4, AVI, MKV, MOV, WebM, and more). SoundWorks reads the video and detects its duration.
Step 2: Select background audio. Choose a music file or sound track in any supported audio format.
Step 3: Configure mixing.
- Volume: Set the background audio volume relative to the original (default: 25% for background music under narration)
- Looping: If the background audio is shorter than the video, automatically loop it to cover the full duration
- AAC encoding: Choose whether to encode the audio track as AAC for maximum compatibility
Step 4: Process. SoundWorks mixes the background audio with the existing video audio, preserves the video stream without re-encoding, and saves the result.
Smart Looping
When the background audio track is shorter than the video, SoundWorks detects this and offers to loop the audio automatically. The looped version is generated at the exact duration needed, then mixed with the video. No manual audio editing required.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does adding background audio re-encode the video? No. The video stream is copied without modification. Only the audio track is processed. This means no video quality loss and fast processing.
Can I adjust the volume of the original audio too? The background audio tool controls the volume of the added track. To adjust the original video’s audio volume, use the audio mastering tool on the extracted audio first.
What if my background audio is longer than the video? SoundWorks trims the audio to match the video duration. Only the portion that fits within the video length is used.
Can I add background audio to a video that has no audio? Yes. If the video has no audio stream, the background audio becomes the only audio track. The result is equivalent to the video dubbing feature.