MCI provides a standard set of commands applying to all types of media devices. Some of these commands can be extended to accommodate unique features of a particular type of device. For a complete reference to MCI command messages, see the message-directory chapter in the Multimedia Programmer's Reference.
The following table lists common audio playback and recording tasks along with the corresponding MCI command message to perform each task:
| MCI Command | Audio Task |
| MCI_OPEN | Open an audio device |
| MCI_CLOSE | Close an audio device |
| MCI_PLAY | Play all or part of audio selection, resume playback from pause |
| MCI_STOP | Stop playback |
| MCI_PAUSE | Pause playback |
| MCI_SEEK | Change current location |
| MCI_CUE | Cue a device so playback or recording begins with minimum delay |
| MCI_RECORD | Begin recording on a waveform audio device |
| MCI_SAVE | Save a recorded waveform audio file |
| MCI_INFO | Query device information such as the product name and the name of the device element currently associated with the device (returns information in string format) |
| MCI_GETDEVCAPS | Query device capabilities such as the device name, number of inputs and outputs (if the device can record) |
| MCI_STATUS | Query device status such as current playback position, media length, media format, time format, record level, CD audio track, MIDI sequencer tempo |
| MCI_SET | Set device parameters such as time format, waveform data format, MIDI sequencer tempo |