HTMLMediaElement

The HTMLMediaElement interface adds to HTMLElement the properties and methods needed to support basic media-related capability that's common to both audio and video. The HTMLVideoElement and HTMLAudioElement elements both inherit this interface.

Properties

Inherits properties from its ancestors, HTMLElement, Element, Node, and EventTarget.

HTMLMediaElement.audioTracks

An AudioTrackList that represents the list of AudioTrack objects contained in the element.

HTMLMediaElement.autoplay

A Boolean that reflects the autoplay HTML attribute, indicating whether playback should automatically begin as soon as enough media is available to do so without interruption.

HTMLMediaElement.bufferedRead only

Returns a new TimeRanges object that indicates the ranges of the media source that the browser has buffered (if any) at the moment the buffered property is accessed.

HTMLMediaElement.controller

A MediaController object that represents the media controller assigned to the element, or null if none is assigned.

HTMLMediaElement.controls

A Boolean that reflects the controls HTML attribute, indicating whether user interface items for controlling the resource should be displayed.

HTMLMediaElement.crossOrigin

A string indicating the CORS setting for this media element.

HTMLMediaElement.currentSrcRead only

A DOMString with the absolute URL of the chosen media resource.

HTMLMediaElement.currentTime

A double indicating the current playback time in seconds. Setting this value seeks the media to the new time.

HTMLMediaElement.defaultMuted

A Boolean that reflects the muted HTML attribute, which indicates whether the media element's audio output should be muted by default.

HTMLMediaElement.defaultPlaybackRate

A double indicating the default playback rate for the media.

HTMLMediaElement.durationRead only

Returns a double indicating the length of the media in seconds, or zero if no media data is available.

HTMLMediaElement.endedRead only

Returns a Boolean that indicates whether the media element has ended playback.

HTMLMediaElement.errorRead only

Returns a MediaError object for the most recent error, or null if there has not been an error.

HTMLMediaElement.initialTimeRead only

Returns a double that indicates the initial playback position in seconds.

HTMLMediaElement.loop

A Boolean that reflects the loop HTML attribute, which indicates whether the media element should start over when it reaches the end.

HTMLMediaElement.mediaGroup

A DOMString that reflects the mediagroup HTML attribute, which indicates the name of the group of elements it belongs to. A group of media elements shares a common controller.

HTMLMediaElement.mediaKeys Read only

Returns a reference to the MediaKeys interface, which is a set of keys that an associated HTMLMediaElement can use for decription of media data during playback.

HTMLMediaElement.mozAudioCaptured

[enter description]

HTMLMediaElement.mozCaptureStream

[enter description]

HTMLMediaElement.mozCaptureStreamUntilEnded

[enter description]

HTMLMediaElement.mozAudioChannelType

Returns a DOMString that can be used to set the audio channel that the sound coming from an <audio> or <video> element will play in, on a Firefox OS device. See Using the AudioChannels API for more details.

HTMLMediaElement.mozChannelsRead only

The number of channels in the audio resource (e.g., 2 for stereo).

HTMLMediaElement.mozFragmentEnd

[enter description]

HTMLMediaElement.mozFrameBufferLength

Indicates the number of samples that will be returned in the framebuffer of each MozAudioAvailable event. This number is a total for all channels, and by default is set to be the number of channels * 1024 (e.g., 2 channels * 1024 samples = 2048 total).

The mozFrameBufferLength property can be set to a new value, for lower latency, or larger amounts of data, etc. The size given must be a number between 512 and 16384. Using any other size results in an exception being thrown. The best time to set a new length is after the loadedmetadata event fires, when the audio info is known, but before the audio has started or MozAudioAvailable events have begun firing.

HTMLMediaElement.mozGetMetadata

[enter description]

HTMLMediaElement.mozPreservesPitch

[enter description]

HTMLMediaElement.mozSampleRateRead only

The number of samples per second that will be played. For example, 44100 samples per second is the sample rate used by CD audio.

HTMLMediaElement.srcObject

Lets you set or get the Media Stream to be played or being played.

HTMLMediaElement.muted

Whether audio is muted. true if the audio is muted, and false otherwise.

HTMLMediaElement.networkStateRead only

An unsigned short (enumeration) indicating the current state of fetching the media over the network.

HTMLMediaElement.pausedRead only

Indicates whether the media element is paused.

HTMLMediaElement.playbackRate

The rate at which the media is being played back. 

HTMLMediaElement.playedRead only

The ranges of the media source that the browser has played, if any.

HTMLMediaElement.preload

Reflects the preload HTML attribute, indicating what data should be preloaded, if any. Possible values are: none, metadata, auto. See preload attribute documentation for details.

HTMLMediaElement.readyStateRead only

An unsigned short (enumeration) indicating the readiness state of the media.

HTMLMediaElement.seekableRead only

The time ranges that the user is able to seek to, if any.

HTMLMediaElement.seekingRead only

Indicates whether the media is in the process of seeking to a new position.

HTMLMediaElement.sinkIdRead only

The unique ID of the audio device delivering output, or an empty string if it is using the user agent default. This ID should be one of the MediaDeviceInfo.deviceid values returned from MediaDevices.enumeratedDevices(), id-multimedia, or id-communications.

HTMLMediaElement.src

Reflects the src HTML attribute, containing the URL of a media resource to use. Gecko implements a similar capability for streams: mozSrcObject.

HTMLMediaElement.textTracks

Represents the list of TextTrack objects contained in the element.

HTMLMediaElement.videoTracks

Represents the list of VideoTrack objects contained in the element.

Note: Gecko supports only single track playback, and the parsing of tracks' metadata is only available for media with the Ogg container format.

HTMLMediaElement.volume

The audio volume, from 0.0 (silent) to 1.0 (loudest).

Event handler properties

HTMLMediaElement.onmozinterruptbegin

Sets the EventHandler called when the media element is interrupted because of the audiochannel manager.

HTMLMediaElement.onmozinterruptend

Sets the EventHandler called when the interruption is concluded.

onencrypted

[description here]

Methods

Inherits methods from its ancestors, HTMLElement, Element, Node, and EventTarget.

HTMLMediaElement.addTextTrack()

Adds a text track (such as a track for subtitles) to a media element.

HTMLMediaElement.canPlayType()

Determines whether the specified media type can be played back.

HTMLMediaElement.fastSeek(double time)

Directly seeks to the given time.

HTMLMediaElement.load()

Resets the media element and restarts the media resource. Any pending events are discarded. How much media data is fetched is still affected by the preload attribute. This method can be useful for releasing resources after any src attribute and source element descendants have been removed. Otherwise, it is usually unnecessary to use this method, unless required to rescan source element children after dynamic changes.

HTMLMediaElement.mozGetMetadata()

Returns Object. The mozGetMetadata method returns a javascript object whose properties represent metadata from the playing media resource as {key: value} pairs. A separate copy of the data is returned each time the method is called. This method must be called after the loadedmetadata event fires.

HTMLMediaElement.mozLoadFrom(HTMLMediaElement other)

This method, available only in Mozilla's implementation, loads data from another media element. This works similarly to load() except that instead of running the normal resource selection algorithm, the source is simply set to the other element's currentSrc. This is optimized so this element gets access to all of the other element's cached and buffered data; in fact, the two elements share downloaded data, so data downloaded by either element is available to both.

HTMLMediaElement.pause()

Pauses the media playback.

HTMLMediaElement.play()

Begins playback of the media.

HTMLMediaElement.setMediaKeys

Returns Promise. Sets the MediaKeys keys to use when decrypting media during playback.

HTMLMediaElement.setSinkId

Returns Promise. Sets the ID of the audio device through which audio output should be rendered if the application is authorized to play out of a given device.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

[1] The NETWORK_LOADED state was removed to align with the HTML spec in Gecko 2.0 (Firefox 4 / Thunderbird 3.3 / SeaMonkey 2.1).

[2] Previously Gecko implemented this as autobuffer.

[3] Gecko implements this in lowercase, i.e. crossorigin.

[4] The feature was removed in Gecko 23.0 (Firefox 23 / Thunderbird 23 / SeaMonkey 2.20).

[5] The implementation is hidden behind the media.track.enabled preference.

[6] The implementation is hidden behind the media.webvtt.enabled preference, defaulting there to true.

[7] This feature was removed in 24.0 (24).

[8] This feature is hidden behind a flag.

[9] Gecko doesn't implement this yet. See bug 847376.

[10] Gecko doesn't implement this yet. See bug 847377.

See also

• References
  • <video> and <audio> HTML elements.
  • HTMLVideoElement and HTMLAudioElement interfaces, derived from HTMLMediaElement.
• Articles
  • Using HTML5 audio and video
  • Media formats supported by the audio and video elements
  • Web Audio API