Voice Memo Files won't upload in Music App

Using the App Voice Memos on my Mac I recorded some voice files. I exported them to a Finder Folder. In Music on my Mac, I imported the files.


For some reason, some of the files have a Cloud Status as Uploaded, while others have a status of Waiting.


I tried deleting the files that won't upload and re-imported them, but their status stays the same.


I've searched and found all the standard "fixes for issues ...." Check SW revisions, make sure you have the correct settings, using the same accounts, are you on the internet, rebooting, wiping your drive and re-installing every piece of software you've ever purchased, blah, blah, blah ... None of the suggestions I've found have worked to resolve this issue.


I could understand if Apple Music won't upload any of my Voice Memo files. (well, not really, Apple should not have an issue if I use their software to create, share, sync, whatever) But it's odd that some work and some don't. Some files get uploaded and can be seen on my iPhone, while some files don't upload. I don't understand the random Cloud status. What is it that Apple does or doens't like about some of the Voice Memo files?


If anyone has found a solution for this, I'd appreciate it.

Mac Studio, macOS 15.6

Posted on Nov 27, 2025 5:19 AM

Reply
2 replies

Nov 28, 2025 2:59 AM in response to turingtest2

Thanks for your reply.


The files from Voice Memo are .m4a, Apple MPEG-4 audio.


After Apple Music imports them, Get Info in Music shows ...

AAC Audio file

256 kbps

48.000 kHz

Low Complexity

Mono

Encoded with com.apple.VoiceMemos


Which seems odd, because when I select Show in Finder, the finder window still shows the file as MPEG-4 audio.


Music uploads some but not all of the files. It uploaded the shortest file, 43 seconds and a much longer file at 10 minutes. But it won't upload other files that are in between these sizes.


So file sizes, or duration doesn't seem to be the issue. Nor does the file type seem to be an issue, as all the files are the same type.


Very frustrating.

Voice Memo Files won't upload in Music App

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