What audio is available?

All RNZ audio is free to access, however you may incur data costs by downloading or streaming files.

Listen live

We offer live streams for National, Concert, and International. These are available at the top of every page under the "Listen live" button. The live streams play in a player at the bottom of the browser window.

As well as streaming via the RNZ website (or the app, see below), you can live stream audio in most third-party players (eg iTunes, VLC) by using the following urls:

(Please note: RNZ is unable to provide advice or support on how to use third-party players.)

Audio on demand

Most of our programmes are available as audio on demand. This means you can listen to the audio by clicking on links in our website.

Not all audio is available for copyright reasons. Sometimes music or other material may not appear in the web version of something that you heard on air.

Most of our audio is available on the website permanently, but occasionally an item will only be available for 30 days after broadcast.

Our latest radio audio page contains everything broadcast in the last few days, but each programme has an audio archive available as well. Most programmes have audio from 2008 onwards.

Audio can also be found by using the website search.

Downloadable audio

Many of our audio-on-demand items are also available to download as MP3 files. Most audio players can use MP3 files.

To download a file click on the download icon. This will save the file to your device.

Once the file is on your device you can play it there, or transfer it to another device such as a portable MP3 player.

Podcasts

RNZ has more than 100 podcasts available for free listening in our Podcasts section.

Our podcasts are also available for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and most other podcast apps.

Radio programme feeds

In addition, we publish podcast feeds of most of our radio programmes, these can be found and followed by going to the programme in the Radio section and clicking on the green "Follow this podcast" button.

RNZ app for iPhone and Android

To follow breaking local and international news, listen live to your favourite RNZ radio stations and programmes, and enjoy video or audio on demand, download the free RNZ app. It is available for both Android and iPhone.

For help with the app, visit this page.

Embedded Audio Player

If you wish to share our audio, you can add it to your own website by using our Embedded Audio Player. On the audio item's page, click the Embed button. This will give you a small piece of code which you can add to your website.

For Podcast audio (in the rnz.co.nz/podcasts section of the website) you can find the code at the bottom of the ‘Episode details’ section. To access this code tap or click on the ‘Episode details’ link displayed in the Podcast Episode you want to add.

Check the terms and conditions for use of the Embedded Audio Player.

Data rates

The standard service has a data rate of 64 kbs. This is roughly equivalent to AM radio quality.

Radio Reception Problems? Contact our Helpline:

Website issues?

Complete the feedback form here

Recent changes to the audio player

We introduced a new audio player at the start of September 2024.

What’s changed?

We’ve made some updates to our website to improve the experience we offer our audience. These changes are the first in a series of digital transformations we’ll be making over the coming months.

We have introduced a new Audio player

We’ve created a new audio player to provide RNZ’s audience with an improved listening experience.

  • The audio player will now open within the browser window or tab you’re already in — in the bottom-right-hand corner on a desktop computer or at the bottom of the page if you’re visiting on a mobile phone. The player will no longer open in its own window.
  • We’ve combined the experience of listening to live/broadcast audio and pre-recorded audio so both listening experiences will now happen in the same place.
  • We’ve introduced a few other new features:
    • The ability to control the order of your audio queue (the new Queue replaces what was called the Playlist in the previous version of our player).
    • The ability to skip back and forward in small increments with new buttons.
    • The ability to control the speed of the audio you’re listening to.
    • A view of your listening history so you can revisit audio you’ve played recently.
    • An updated look that provides more information on the show, story or programme audio or podcast episode you’re listening to.
    • A ‘Player’ view that focuses on one piece of audio at a time.
    • An ability to reduce the size of the audio player to a ‘mini’ version.

We have introduced a new Podcasts section

In addition to a new audio player, we have released a new Podcasts section to highlight our range of award-winning Podcasts.

This change means you’ll now see ‘Podcasts’ and ‘Series’ as separate items in our main navigation at the top of the page. The ‘Series’ section will continue to host our video series.

This section will include a page for each podcast that hosts all episodes, a new searchable A to Z listing page and some new curated groups to see podcasts with similar subject matter or topics.

Other differences you’ll see

You won’t initially be able to do a few things you’ve previously been able to.

Some accessibility issues will remain temporarily

We’ve done our best to accommodate the different accessibility needs of our audience and those who use assistive technology like screen readers. We know that some accessibility issues remain that we need to resolve to improve the experience for these members of our audience.

We have some work to do on focus states and to support users that browse with magnifying technologies.

Podcast information won’t initially be included in search

You won’t initially be able to search for podcast information from the search page of the website.

The issues highlighted above will be addressed in the next version of the website that we will deliver in the coming weeks.

If you have feedback about these changes or any other issues related to the website, please complete the feedback form here.

Troubleshooting

Why did my audio pause?

Our Podcasts section is delivered by different technology compared to the rest of our website. When you navigate from the Podcasts section to the rest of rnz.co.nz your audio may be paused by your browser. Your progress will not be lost and you can click or tap on the play button to resume playback.

You can avoid this pause by browsing RNZ in a separate tab or window. If you have rnz.co.nz open in different tabs you will notice in your browser that one of the tabs will have a sound icon. If you leave that tab alone and navigate in any other tab your playback will be uninterrupted.

How to save and rebuild your playlist

RNZ introduced a new audio player in early September 2024.

Because we don’t store account information on our website the change meant the audio added to the previous player’s playlist will not appear in the Queue in the new player.

The following information is advice we published to advise the steps to follow to rebuild your playlist in the new player’s Queue.


To save Playlist items please follow these steps:

1. Open your Playlist 
You can do this by selecting, clicking or tapping the Playlist button on the right-hand end of the main navigation at the top of any page on rnz.co.nz.
If you are on a desktop device the Playlist button will look something like this:


If you are on a mobile device the icon will look like this: 



When you have selected the Playlist button your Playlist will appear on the right-hand side of the window you are in and have a ‘Your Playlist’ label at the top.


2. Bookmark your Playlist

a. Select, click or tap on the heading on the top item in your Playlist. This will take you to the webpage that includes the audio you added to your Playlist.

b. Add the webpage to your browser’s bookmarks.

The process to bookmark a webpage will differ depending on the browser and device you’re using. For some information on how to bookmark a webpage, you can perform a web search for “how to bookmark a webpage” and look for information on the browser and device you are using. For example “how to bookmark a webpage Chrome browser on Mac”.

c. Once you understand how to bookmark webpages follow the same process for all the items in your full Playlist. 
You will need to go back to your Playlist to work through it after you bookmark each item. Each item should open in a new browser window so you may need to find the browser window you started from to confirm you’ve bookmarked every item.

3. After the new player is available

a. Select each of the web pages you bookmarked to open them again. 

b. On each webpage find the audio item.

c. Select, click or tap on the ‘Queue’ button. This will add the audio items to the new player’s queue for you to listen to when you’re ready.

d. Find the new audio player at the bottom of your browser window or by clicking/tapping the “Player” button in the top right-hand corner.

If you have any questions or feedback about support information for the how to save Playlist please submit it to the feedback form link at the top of this section

Ways to Listen

On the radio

Internet