The instrument has found the most use in chamber and contemporary music, where it is valued for its unusual tone colour.

It is also employed in double-reed ensembles such as Amoris,[2] and in film scoring.

2, both by Bruno Maderna, Vérifications by Samuel Andreyev, and Ar-Loth (1967) by Paolo Renosto.

Other contemporary works for the instrument are Scherzo Furioso[3] by William Blezard, Tasmanian Ants[4] by Ian Keith Harris, Iberian Improvisations[5] and Bailables[6][7][8][9][10] by Leonard Salzedo, Variations on a Sicilian Shepherd Tune[11] by Clive Strutt.

Two concerti have been written featuring the piccolo oboe in addition to the other four members of the oboe family, these works being David Stock's "Oborama" (second movement: Crisp, Bright) and James Stephenson's "Rituals and Dances," both written for Alex Klein.