How-to
Advantage+ "Add music": which ads get a soundtrack, how to turn it off, and why the API is different
Meta can put a soundtrack under your image and carousel ads, and "Christmas music on a summer campaign" is the version people remember. What Meta documents, where the toggle is, and the one API parameter that turns it off.
The short answer
Meta can put music under single image and carousel ads in Facebook Feed, Facebook Reels, Instagram feed, Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels. In Ads Manager you switch it off per ad, in the Enhancements panel, or for everything at once with the "All optimizations" switch. Through the API, music is the one enhancement that is not a creative_features_spec key: you pass asset_feed_spec.audios as an empty array. Adlio sends that empty array on every creative it creates, so music is always off.
Everything Meta-specific below is quoted from Meta's help pages and developer guide, fetched 31 August 2026. It also corrects something we wrote earlier.
What Meta documents
From Meta's help page "About Advantage+ Creative", fetched 31 August 2026:
- Purpose: "Music can be added to your ad to match the look and feel of other content on Meta that uses sound."
- Where: "Music that is not AI generated can be delivered to Facebook Feed, Facebook Reels, Instagram feed, Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels for single image and carousel ads. AI-generated music can be delivered to Facebook Reels for single image ads (both static image ads and ads animated with image animation)."
- Selection: "In Ads Manager, you can choose either automatic or manual music selections. If you choose automatic, we will automatically apply either AI-generated music or music from the existing music library based on what we think will be more performant."
Meta's second page, "How to Add Music to Ads Using Ads Manager", lists Instagram Reels, Stories and Feed for single image ads as the supported placements. It also describes the manual flow: "you'll select up to 5 songs and we'll use a song from one of your selections at delivery". Existing posts and Creative Hub posts are excluded.
One honest gap. Several vendor guides (HyperFX, Flighted, Metalla) say Meta also adds music to video ads without audio. We could not find that on any Meta page. We print Meta's version, image and carousel, and flag the video claim as unconfirmed.
Why people hate it
The complaints are about fit, not existence. "horror movie music" on fitness ads. "Christmas music playing on summer campaigns" (Ads Uploader's guide, June 2026). "a random track under a UGC voiceover is a mess" (SparkUGC, August 2026). Automatic selection picks by predicted performance, not by brand. For a brand with a sound identity, that is a coin flip on every impression.
Jon Loomer's middle ground (2024): keep it, preview the tracks first, use manual selection. That works for one ad. It does not work for forty.
How to turn it off in Ads Manager
- Per ad: in the Enhancements panel, switch off "Add music" (or "Music", the label has varied). Meta's music help page describes the toggle next to Music in the Advantage+ creative flow and a "Change music" control for automatic or manual selection.
- All at once: the "All optimizations" switch at the top of the Enhancements panel turns music off with everything else. AdNabu's August 2026 guide notes the reverse too: "Music is on by default when you enable 'all the optimisations'".
- Bulk: Ads tab, select ads of the same format, Edit dropdown, "Advantage+ creative", toggle off, publish.
Why the API handles music differently, and the correction
Every other enhancement is a key inside degrees_of_freedom_spec.creative_features_spec with an enroll_status. Music is not. Meta's developer guide is explicit: "Most Advantage+ creative features can be opted into using the creative_features_spec parameter with the exception of the music feature which is implemented with the asset_feed_spec parameter." Opting in looks like "audios": [{ "type": "random" }]. To opt out, the guide says, pass asset_feed_spec.audios as empty.
Two consequences:
- A key called
musicinsidecreative_features_specis rejected (error #100). We saw that when we probed the live API. It is also why our earlier articles said the API "cannot switch music off". That wording was wrong. The API can, through a different parameter, and we have corrected those articles. - A tool that only sets
creative_features_spechas said nothing about music. Since 31 August 2026, Adlio sends an explicit emptyaudiosarray on every image, video and carousel creative, validated live. The opt-out is stated, not implied.
Meta's reference table also lists music_generation (no description), and Ads Manager itself writes a key called audio when you switch everything off. The live API accepts both. Adlio sends OPT_OUT for both as well, belt and braces.
Verify on a live ad
Open an ad from the batch and check the Enhancements section: Music should read off. In the Reels and Stories previews, an image ad should show no sound icon. If you create ads by API, read the creative back and check that asset_feed_spec has no audio entries. The recipe is in how to audit enhancements via the API. The complete control map is in how to turn off Advantage+ creative enhancements.
If you launch in bulk, the cheapest place to switch music off is at creation. Adlio sends an empty audio list and the opt-out for every enhancement key on every creative it creates. See bulk upload Facebook ads with enhancements off.
Frequently asked questions
Which ads can Meta add music to?+
Per Meta's help: "Music that is not AI generated can be delivered to Facebook Feed, Facebook Reels, Instagram feed, Instagram Stories and Instagram Reels for single image and carousel ads. AI-generated music can be delivered to Facebook Reels for single image ads." Meta's pages document image and carousel ads. Several vendor blogs say video ads too, but we found no Meta source for that.
Can I choose the track?+
Yes. Meta offers automatic or manual selection: "If you choose manual, you can manually select between AI-generated music or music from the existing music library." In the manual flow you pick up to five songs and Meta uses one of them at delivery.
Is there a creative_features_spec key for music?+
No, and this is the correction. Meta's developer guide states: "Most Advantage+ creative features can be opted into using the creative_features_spec parameter with the exception of the music feature which is implemented with the asset_feed_spec parameter." To opt out, pass asset_feed_spec.audios as an empty array. A key named music inside creative_features_spec is rejected, which is what we saw in testing.
Does Adlio turn music off?+
Yes. Adlio sends an empty asset_feed_spec.audios on every image, video and carousel creative, the opt-out Meta's developer guide describes, and OPT_OUT for the audio and music_generation keys in creative_features_spec. All three were validated against the live API on 31 August 2026. There is no music toggle in Adlio: it is always off.
Sources
Adlio team
Built by media buyers who launch Meta ads in volume. Questions or corrections: support@adlio.ai.
Topic cluster
Advantage+ control
Keeping Meta's automatic creative enhancements off, on every ad, and proving it.
- Advantage+ "Text improvements": what Meta changes in your copy, and how to turn it off
- Advantage+ "Expand image" and video expansion: the generated pixels around your creative, explained
- Advantage+ "Visual touch-ups" and "Adjust brightness and contrast": the edits that change how your product looks
- Advantage+ "Add overlays", dynamic overlays and standard labels: the text Meta puts on top of your image
- Advantage+ "Add music": which ads get a soundtrack, how to turn it off, and why the API is different
- How to audit Advantage+ enhancements on existing ads through the Marketing API
- Advantage+ creative vs Advantage+ sales campaigns (formerly shopping): five products, one name
- Do Advantage+ creative enhancements improve performance? What Meta published, what practitioners report, and how to test it yourself