Compact WP Audio Player

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Directory rank vs rivals

wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you

How often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.

Share of active installs on each version of this plugin · 100% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.

Refined from the date this plugin crossed into its current band.

No paid tier is visible, so we don't put a figure on revenue or sale value: that would be guessing. The install base is a real asset to an acquirer, just not one public data lets us price.

1. ★★★★★ groggy72

   1mo ago

   Thank for making a great plugin. Really appreciate it.

   Read on wp.org ↗
2. ★★★★★ alanpaterson997

   1.4y ago

   Really love this plug in! I wanted exactly this – just a single, simple button, alternating between play and pause, allowing people to play or not as they saw fit, linking to an audio file in the back bedroom. And suddenly, there it was! And even I, a floundering newbie, managed to get it into my (Astra) footer without too much stumbling around. Result! And then we reach the ‘but’… The music, der, cuts out the moment you leave a page. You can restart it when you get to the next page, but that’s really not ideal, plus you’ll be starting at the very beginning, which isn’t a very good place to start again, and again, and again, whatever warbling Julie Andrews says. Now, if anyone knows how this could be setup to play – or pause – site-wide and stay there site-wide regardless of navigation, or of any plug-in with this one’s simplicity & elegance that could, I’d love to hear about it. Meantime, like I say, love it! Clean, simple, elegant.

   Read on wp.org ↗
3. ★★★★★ Anonymous User

   3.1y ago

   It does what it promises very well. I have replaced the controls images with custom ones. Is it possible to get a code snippet to be able to choose between different “play” images? This topic was modified 2 years, 4 months ago by Anonymous User.

   Read on wp.org ↗
4. ★★★★★ alexpcox

   3.3y ago

   Ridiculously simple. Works well. I customised the play/pause images to fit the design of my website. It plays audio. Job done. Please keep supporting it, it’s great!

   Read on wp.org ↗
5. ★★★★★ Senri Miura

   4.0y ago

   The play button of this plug-in is pasted on the top page. It is better not to take up extra space with compacts. It’s been working fine so far. If it’s greedy, I think it would be even better if there were variations in icon design.

   Read on wp.org ↗
6. ★★★★★ nsim2021

   4.3y ago

   It’s a cute plugin. It’s been around a long time, nice to see the developer sticking with it. I installed it years ago in a draft web site I still am working on. I want a music file to play when someone loads the home page. Therefore, the autoplay option to play an audio/mp3 file as soon as the page loads is great. However, it never stops playing. I have the player in the sidebar so the visitor can see it to shut it off if they want. However, there is no way to tell the little player to ONLY PLAY ONCE. That’s all I need it for. When the visitor arrives at the web site. Unfortunately, is plays the music on every single page load. I would kindly suggest that you add a default feature to limit plays to once, on the first page load, regardless of how many different pages are loaded. Thanks for thinking about it.

   Read on wp.org ↗
7. ★★★★★ perrydc

   4.5y ago

   I love the compactness, but it needs to kill all audio playing on the page when I hit the play button. Otherwise, we have multiple audio playing over each other.

   Read on wp.org ↗
8. ★★★★★ smc2935

   5.4y ago

   I’m using it to play a couple different songs on multiple pages. Exactly what I needed. Simple, easy to use and a clean look.

   Read on wp.org ↗

Recent releases and news for this plugin

1. — Version 1.9.15 Using the wp_safe_remote_get function instead of wp_remote_get to get the file headers. 1.9.15
2. — Version 1.9.14 Added output escaping to the fileurl shortcode parameter. Refactored the autoplay JavaScript code so output escaping can be added easily. 1.9.14
3. — Version 1.9.13 Added a settings option and a filter to disable the URL validation for the fileurl parameter. 1.9.13
4. — Version 1.9.12 The fileurl field will also accept the relative URL value (example: /wp-content/uploades/audio.mp3) 1.9.12
5. — Version 1.9.11 Added a fallback for the fileurl verification when the PHP URL validation fail for non-latin characters. 1.9.11
6. — Version 1.9.10 Added a CSS wrapper class for the audio player to make it work better with block themes. Validate URL for the ‘fileurl’ parameter of the shortcode. 1.9.10

6 disclosed vulnerabilities on record for this plugin, all fixed in the current version. Sites on older versions stay exposed until they update.

1. Medium · 6.4 Compact WP Audio Player <= 1.9.14 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Server-Side Request Forgery ↗
   2025-01-03 CVE-2024-56279 Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Affects <= 1.9.14 Patched in 1.9.15
2. Medium · 6.4 Compact WP Audio Player <= 1.9.13 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via sc_embed_player Shortcode ↗
   2024-10-23 CVE-2024-10176 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.9.13 Patched in 1.9.14
3. Medium · 6.4 Compact WP Audio Player <= 1.9.9 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via fileurl ↗
   2024-03-25 CVE-2024-29917 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.9.9 Patched in 1.9.10
4. Medium · 6.4 Compact WP Audio Player <= 1.9.7 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2022-12-27 CVE-2022-4542 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.9.7 Patched in 1.9.8
5. Medium · 4.3 Compact WP Audio Player <= 1.9.6 - Setting Change via Cross-Site Request Forgery ↗
   2021-09-15 CVE-2021-24735 Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Affects <= 1.9.6 Patched in 1.9.7
6. Medium · 6.4 Compact WP Audio Player <= 1.9.6 - Contributor+ Stored Cross-Site Scripting ↗
   2021-09-15 CVE-2021-24734 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') Affects <= 1.9.6 Patched in 1.9.7

Automated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 6.7.1

Translated into 4 languages, 3 at 90% or more

Growth timeline

Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow

1. 2025-07-26 30K+ → 20K+ down

Competes with

The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).

• AudioIgniter Music Player 10K+ installs · 4.5★ · 2 shared tags A
• HTML5 Audio Player – The Ultimate No-Code Podcast, MP3 & Audio Player 10K+ installs · 4.6★ · 2 shared tags A
• rtMedia for WordPress, BuddyPress and bbPress 7K+ installs · 3.7★ · 2 shared tags B
• Spreaker Shortcode 4K+ installs · 3.8★ · 2 shared tags D
• mb.miniAudioPlayer – an HTML5 audio player for your mp3 files 3K+ installs · 4.4★ · 2 shared tags D
• T Themify Audio Dock 900+ installs · 3.8★ · 2 shared tags C

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Compact WP Audio Player: 20K+ active installs, 4.1★ (69 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-08-29. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/compact-wp-audio-player