Playing Music Through Your TV—Here’s How

by Estelle July 25, 2026

written by Estelle July 25, 2026

If you want to play your favorite music through your TV, there are several ways to do it. In this guide, we’ll show you how it works.

Playing Music Through Your TV via a Cable Connection

If your TV has a 3.5mm jack or RCA audio input, you can easily connect any playback device using the appropriate cable.
If you want to play music from a smartphone, for example, you may need a 3.5mm-to-RCA adapter. You can find these at affordable prices on Amazon, for instance.
The downside of this solution: You need a cable and are tied to the location of the playback device.

Similar to what you’d do in a car, you can also connect a Bluetooth receiver to your TV—provided it has the right port.
This typically connects to your device via a 3.5mm jack. Now you can connect your smartphone or tablet to the receiver, select it as the playback device, and finally stream the music to your TV.

If you want more options and a greater range than Bluetooth devices offer, we recommend a streaming stick such as Google’s Chromecast.
It plugs into an HDMI port on your TV and connects to your Wi-Fi network. Through this network, you can now access the stick from almost any device (possibly via an additional app) and play not only music but also videos and photos.

Most smart TVs today feature a so-called DLNA function. This allows you to stream media over your Wi-Fi network without additional hardware. To do this, you must first connect the TV to your home network via its menu.
Now you can launch your music player on a tablet or smartphone that’s connected to the same network. You’ll usually see a screen icon in the top-right corner. Tap it, and your device will search for other playback devices nearby. If your TV appears in the list, you can select it as the “Player” and stream your music.

If you’ve connected your TV to your home network via an Ethernet cable or connected an external storage device via USB, you can usually browse the connected media directly through the TV menu.
Simply click on the folder containing your favorite music and play it on the TV. This requires that your device be able to handle the audio format in question. It’s best to check the user manual for supported formats.

Alternatively, you can, of course, still connect a DVD player to your TV and use it to play an audio CD.
The following applies to all options: Make sure that the correct input (such as headphone jack, RCA, or HDMI) is active and selected on the TV for playback.