500 KB MP3 sample file

An MP3 file of exactly 512,000 bytes. It is a valid MPEG-1 Audio Layer III file, generated for this site and checked with an independent parser.

sample-mp3-500kb.mp3

500 KB512,000 bytes

Download 500 KB MP3

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Type: audio/mpeg
SHA-256: 9f868f851a94227fa6b1cf641c3f77e0915e740ea6bbcb615b341b05dfcbc268
Direct URL: https://sampletestfiles.com/downloads/mp3/sample-mp3-500kb.mp3

What is in this file

1,224 MPEG audio frames (32.0 s) of a synthesised musical phrase that repeats every eight seconds, after an ID3v2.3 tag. 306 bytes of zero bytes in the tag's standard padding area bring the file to the exact size.

Duration	32.0 s
Bit rate	128 kbit/s constant
Sample rate	44,100 Hz
Channels	Stereo
Format	MPEG-1 Audio Layer III
Tags	ID3v2.3 (title, artist, album, genre)

First bytes of the file

The first 64 bytes of sample-mp3-500kb.mp3 as a hex dump: offset, bytes, then the same bytes as text. The MP3 signature is 49 44 33.

00000000  49 44 33 03 00 00 00 00 03 1a 54 49 54 32 00 00  |ID3.......TIT2..|
00000010  00 14 00 00 00 53 61 6d 70 6c 65 20 4d 50 33 20  |.....Sample MP3 |
00000020  28 35 30 30 20 4b 42 29 54 50 45 31 00 00 00 10  |(500 KB)TPE1....|
00000030  00 00 00 53 61 6d 70 6c 65 54 65 73 74 46 69 6c  |...SampleTestFil|

Preview

Displays the file in your browser.

Where 500 KB matters

A 512,000-byte file: larger than most API body limits, smaller than most upload limits. These are the default limits a file of this size is useful for testing:

System	Limit	Note
Amazon DynamoDB items	400 KB per item	500 KB cannot be stored as a single item.
Express body parsers	100 KB by default	Rejected unless the limit is raised.
nginx request body	1 MB by default (client_max_body_size)	Accepted with room to spare.

All 500 KB sample files

Use this file for

Testing that APIs return 413 for oversized bodies
Testing audio upload and playback
Checking duration detection and waveform rendering

Testing notes for MP3

Duration is not stored in a header. Players estimate it from bit rate and file size, which goes wrong for variable-bit-rate files that lack a Xing header.
A large ID3 tag with artwork can push the first audio frame far into the file, confusing naive sniffers.

MP3 format reference

Technical details

File name	sample-mp3-500kb.mp3
Format	MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III)
Extension	.mp3
MIME type	audio/mpeg
Size	512,000 bytes (500 KB)
Kind	Binary
Signature	49 44 33
SHA-256	9f868f851a94227fa6b1cf641c3f77e0915e740ea6bbcb615b341b05dfcbc268
Created	2026-10-10
Validation	Exact size, signature bytes and structure checked when the file was generated
Preview	Available on this page
Source	Generated for this site; not copied from elsewhere
Licence	Free to use, modify and redistribute (terms)
Category	Audio

Validated for expected format and integrity. As with any download, scan the file with your own security tools before opening it. How files are made and checked

Download from the command line and verify

Fetch the file with curl, then compare its checksum with the SHA-256 value above.

curl -o sample-mp3-500kb.mp3 'https://sampletestfiles.com/downloads/mp3/sample-mp3-500kb.mp3'
sha256sum sample-mp3-500kb.mp3     # Linux
shasum -a 256 sample-mp3-500kb.mp3 # macOS

On Windows, run Get-FileHash sample-mp3-500kb.mp3 -Algorithm SHA256 in PowerShell. A matching value proves that the download is complete and unaltered.

Related files

Questions about this file

Is this file exactly 500 KB?: Yes. It is 512,000 bytes, which is 500 KB in the binary units that operating systems and server limits use (1 KB = 1,024 bytes).
What is inside the 500 KB MP3 file?: 1,224 MPEG audio frames (32.0 s) of a synthesised musical phrase that repeats every eight seconds, after an ID3v2.3 tag. 306 bytes of zero bytes in the tag's standard padding area bring the file to the exact size.
What is on the MP3 samples?: A short synthesised musical phrase that repeats. It was generated by code for this site, so it is free of any music copyright.

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