diff --git a/backend/cpp/llama/grpc-server.cpp b/backend/cpp/llama/grpc-server.cpp
index be277bfa..bac46095 100644
--- a/backend/cpp/llama/grpc-server.cpp
+++ b/backend/cpp/llama/grpc-server.cpp
@@ -133,6 +133,15 @@ json parse_options(bool streaming, const backend::PredictOptions* predict)
             });
     }
 
+    // for each audio in the request, add the audio data
+    for (int i = 0; i < predict->audios_size(); i++) {
+        data["audio_data"].push_back(json
+            {
+                {"id", i},
+                {"data",    predict->audios(i)},
+            });
+    }
+
     data["stop"] = predict->stopprompts();
     // data["n_probs"] = predict->nprobs();
     //TODO: images,
@@ -406,6 +415,16 @@ public:
                 }
             }
 
+            const auto &audio_data = data.find("audio_data");
+            if (audio_data != data.end() && audio_data->is_array())
+            {
+                for (const auto &audio : *audio_data)
+                {
+                    auto decoded_data = base64_decode(audio["data"].get<std::string>());
+                    files.push_back(decoded_data);
+                }
+            }
+
             // process files
             mtmd::bitmaps bitmaps;
             const bool has_mtmd = ctx_server.mctx != nullptr;
@@ -416,10 +435,10 @@ public:
                 for (auto & file : files) {
                     mtmd::bitmap bmp(mtmd_helper_bitmap_init_from_buf(file.data(), file.size()));
                     if (!bmp.ptr) {
-                        throw std::runtime_error("Failed to load image");
+                        throw std::runtime_error("Failed to load image/audio");
                     }
                     // calculate bitmap hash (for KV caching)
-                    std::string hash = fnv_hash(bmp.data(), bmp.nx()*bmp.ny()*3);
+                    std::string hash = fnv_hash(bmp.data(), bmp.n_bytes());
                     bmp.set_id(hash.c_str());
                     bitmaps.entries.push_back(std::move(bmp));
                 }
@@ -588,6 +607,16 @@ public:
                 }
             }
 
+            const auto &audio_data = data.find("audio_data");
+            if (audio_data != data.end() && audio_data->is_array())
+            {
+                for (const auto &audio : *audio_data)
+                {
+                    auto decoded_data = base64_decode(audio["data"].get<std::string>());
+                    files.push_back(decoded_data);
+                }
+            }
+
             // process files
             mtmd::bitmaps bitmaps;
             const bool has_mtmd = ctx_server.mctx != nullptr;
@@ -598,10 +627,10 @@ public:
                 for (auto & file : files) {
                     mtmd::bitmap bmp(mtmd_helper_bitmap_init_from_buf(file.data(), file.size()));
                     if (!bmp.ptr) {
-                        throw std::runtime_error("Failed to load image");
+                        throw std::runtime_error("Failed to load image/audio");
                     }
                     // calculate bitmap hash (for KV caching)
-                    std::string hash = fnv_hash(bmp.data(), bmp.nx()*bmp.ny()*3);
+                    std::string hash = fnv_hash(bmp.data(), bmp.n_bytes());
                     bmp.set_id(hash.c_str());
                     bitmaps.entries.push_back(std::move(bmp));
                 }
diff --git a/core/http/middleware/request.go b/core/http/middleware/request.go
index b6934a82..09f6b6ee 100644
--- a/core/http/middleware/request.go
+++ b/core/http/middleware/request.go
@@ -308,7 +308,7 @@ func mergeOpenAIRequestAndBackendConfig(config *config.BackendConfig, input *sch
 					input.Messages[i].StringVideos = append(input.Messages[i].StringVideos, base64) // TODO: make sure that we only return base64 stuff
 					vidIndex++
 					nrOfVideosInMessage++
-				case "audio_url", "audio":
+				case "audio_url", "audio", "input_audio":
 					// Decode content as base64 either if it's an URL or base64 text
 					base64, err := utils.GetContentURIAsBase64(pp.AudioURL.URL)
 					if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/templates/multimodal.go b/pkg/templates/multimodal.go
index 1436b85d..bc8bad7e 100644
--- a/pkg/templates/multimodal.go
+++ b/pkg/templates/multimodal.go
@@ -22,7 +22,8 @@ type MultimodalContent struct {
 }
 
 // https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/blob/be1d4a13db26750fac702ceb3af88ae4f39dc9f4/tools/mtmd/mtmd.h#L42
-const DefaultMultiModalTemplate = "{{ range .Audio }}[audio-{{.ID}}]{{end}}{{ range .Images }}<__image__>{{end}}{{ range .Video }}[vid-{{.ID}}]{{end}}{{.Text}}"
+// from <__image__> to <__media__> https://github.com/ggml-org/llama.cpp/blob/79c137f77677b3c8ee3c60a7da033721b938399a/tools/mtmd/mtmd.cpp#L83
+const DefaultMultiModalTemplate = "{{ range .Audio }}<__media__>{{end}}{{ range .Images }}<__media__>{{end}}{{ range .Video }}[vid-{{.ID}}]{{end}}{{.Text}}"
 
 func TemplateMultiModal(templateString string, opts MultiModalOptions, text string) (string, error) {
 	if templateString == "" {
diff --git a/pkg/templates/multimodal_test.go b/pkg/templates/multimodal_test.go
index d0918697..adea6b52 100644
--- a/pkg/templates/multimodal_test.go
+++ b/pkg/templates/multimodal_test.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ var _ = Describe("EvaluateTemplate", func() {
 				VideosInMessage: 0,
 			}, "bar")
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-			Expect(result).To(Equal("<__image__>bar"))
+			Expect(result).To(Equal("<__media__>bar"))
 		})
 
 		It("should handle messages with more images correctly", func() {
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ var _ = Describe("EvaluateTemplate", func() {
 				VideosInMessage: 0,
 			}, "bar")
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-			Expect(result).To(Equal("<__image__><__image__>bar"))
+			Expect(result).To(Equal("<__media__><__media__>bar"))
 		})
 		It("should handle messages with more images correctly", func() {
 			result, err := TemplateMultiModal("", MultiModalOptions{
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ var _ = Describe("EvaluateTemplate", func() {
 				VideosInMessage: 0,
 			}, "bar")
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-			Expect(result).To(Equal("[audio-0]<__image__><__image__>bar"))
+			Expect(result).To(Equal("<__media__><__media__><__media__>bar"))
 		})
 		It("should handle messages with more images correctly", func() {
 			result, err := TemplateMultiModal("", MultiModalOptions{
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ var _ = Describe("EvaluateTemplate", func() {
 				VideosInMessage: 0,
 			}, "bar")
 			Expect(err).NotTo(HaveOccurred())
-			Expect(result).To(Equal("[audio-0]<__image__>bar"))
+			Expect(result).To(Equal("<__media__><__media__>bar"))
 		})
 		It("should handle messages with more images correctly", func() {
 			result, err := TemplateMultiModal("", MultiModalOptions{