Audio prompt file format requirements — WAV vs MP3 in Architect

When customers are placed on hold waiting for a callback, the audio prompt format directly impacts their experience.

If the hold prompt is a large WAV file and the system buffers it slowly, the customer hears silence before the prompt starts. For callbacks specifically, we use short, compressed prompts to minimize the gap between the system connecting and the customer hearing the first word.

We actually use the audio prompt completion as a webhook trigger.

Our ServiceNow integration listens for the prompt.played event. When the ‘Your callback is confirmed’ prompt finishes playing, our webhook fires a REST API call to ServiceNow to create a follow-up task for the assigned agent. If the prompt format fails and the event never fires, the ServiceNow ticket is never created.