Additional Financial Information - Additional Information (Detail) $ / shares in Units, $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	6 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2023 USD ($) $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2023 USD ($) $ / shares	Mar. 31, 2022 USD ($)	Nov. 10, 2022 $ / shares
Dividends Payable [Line Items]
Interest payments	$ 50	$ 44	$ 75	$ 57
Income and withholding taxes paid	72	37	117	66
Net gain on divestiture	$ 0	$ 0	$ 41	0
Debt instrument, covenant, total indebtedness to EBITDA ratio	3.50		3.50
Dividends paid	$ 83		$ 167	156
Dividends paid (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares	$ 0.16		$ 0.32
Noncash investing activities related to acquisition of music publishing rights and music catalogs				$ 125
Common Stock
Dividends Payable [Line Items]
Cash dividends declared (in dollars per share) \| $ / shares					$ 0.16

Aggregate dividends paid during the period for each share of common stock outstanding.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 505
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120397183&loc=d3e187085-122770

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_CommonStockDividendsPerShareCashPaid
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The per share amount of a dividend declared, but not paid, as of the financial reporting date.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126999549&loc=d3e4304-108586

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendsPayableAmountPerShare
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:perShareItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DividendsPayableLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of gain (loss) from sale and disposal of integrated set of activities and assets capable of being conducted and managed for purpose of providing return in form of dividend, lower cost, or other economic benefit to investor, owner, member and participant.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2009/role/commonPracticeRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 28
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126954810&loc=d3e3602-108585

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 810
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1B
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=109239629&loc=SL4582445-111684

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GainLossOnSaleOfBusiness
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of cash paid during the current period to foreign, federal, state, and local authorities as taxes on income, net of any cash received during the current period as refunds for the overpayment of taxes.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126999549&loc=d3e4297-108586

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IncomeTaxesPaidNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of cash paid for interest, excluding capitalized interest, classified as operating activity. Includes, but is not limited to, payment to settle zero-coupon bond for accreted interest of debt discount and debt instrument with insignificant coupon interest rate in relation to effective interest rate of borrowing attributable to accreted interest of debt discount.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126999549&loc=d3e4297-108586

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 17
-Subparagraph (d)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126954810&loc=d3e3367-108585

Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 25
-Subparagraph (e)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126954810&loc=d3e3536-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_InterestPaidNet
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The amount of investments that an Entity acquires in a noncash (or part noncash) acquisition. Noncash is defined as information about all investing and financing activities of an enterprise during a period that affect recognized assets or liabilities but that do not result in cash receipts or cash payments in the period. "Part noncash" refers to that portion of the transaction not resulting in cash receipts or cash payments in the period.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 5
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126999549&loc=d3e4332-108586

Reference 2: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 3
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126999549&loc=d3e4304-108586

Reference 3: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 4
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126999549&loc=d3e4313-108586

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NoncashOrPartNoncashAcquisitionInvestmentsAcquired1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Cash outflow in the form of capital distributions and dividends to common shareholders, preferred shareholders and noncontrolling interests.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 230
-SubTopic 10
-Section 45
-Paragraph 15
-Subparagraph (a)
-URI https://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=126954810&loc=d3e3291-108585

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_PaymentsOfDividends
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Debt Instrument, Covenant, Total Indebtedness To EBITDA Ratio

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	wmg_DebtInstrumentCovenantTotalIndebtednessToEBITDARatio
Namespace Prefix:	wmg_
Data Type:	xbrli:pureItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementClassOfStockAxis=us-gaap_CommonStockMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: