HTML5 provides a standard for playing audio files.
HTML5 Audio is a subject of the HTML5 specification, incorporating audio input, playback, and synthesis, as well as speech to text, in the browser.
Audio on the Web
Before HTML5, there was no standard for playing audio files on a web page.
Before HTML5, audio files could only be played with a plug-in (like flash).
The HTML5 <audio> element specifies a standard way to embed audio in a web page.
Browser Support
The numbers in the table specify the first browser version that fully supports the <audio> element.
| Element | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <audio> | 4.0 | 9.0 | 3.5 | 4.0 | 10.5 |
The HTML <audio> Element
To play an audio file in HTML, use the <audio> element:
Example
<audio controls>
<source src="horse.ogg" type="audio/ogg">
<source src="horse.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>
Try it Yourself »The <audio> element represents a sound, or an audio stream. It is commonly used to play back a single audio file within a web page, showing a GUI widget with play/pause/volume controls.
The <audio> element has these attributes:
global attributes (accesskey; class; contenteditable; contextmenu; dir; draggable; dropzone; hidden; id; lang; spellcheck; style; tabindex; title; translate)
autoplay = "autoplay" or "" (empty string) or empty Instructs the User-Agent to automatically begin playback of the audio stream as soon as it can do so without stopping.
preload = "none" or "metadata" or "auto" or "" (empty string) or empty Represents a hint to the User-Agent about whether optimistic downloading of the audio stream itself or its metadata is considered worthwhile.
"none": Hints to the User-Agent that the user is not expected to need the audio stream, or that minimizing unnecessary traffic is desirable.
"metadata": Hints to the User-Agent that the user is not expected to need the audio stream, but that fetching its metadata (duration and so on) is desirable.
"auto": Hints to the User-Agent that optimistically downloading the entire audio stream is considered desirable.
controls = "controls" or "" (empty string) or empty Instructs the User-Agent to expose a user interface for controlling playback of the audio stream.
loop = "loop" or "" (empty string) or empty Instructs the User-Agent to seek back to the start of the audio stream upon reaching the end. mediagroup = string Instructs the User-Agent to link multiple videos and/or audio streams together.
muted = "muted" or "" (empty string) or empty Represents the default state of the audio stream, potentially overriding user preferences. src = non-empty [URL] potentially surrounded by spaces The URL for the audio stream.
HTML Audio - How It Works
The controls attribute adds audio controls, like play, pause, and volume.
Text between the <audio> and </audio> tags will display in browsers that do not support the <audio> element.
Multiple <source> elements can link to different audio files. The browser will use the first recognized format.
HTML Audio - Browser Support
Currently, there are 3 supported file formats for the <audio> element: MP3, Wav, and Ogg:
| Browser | MP3 | Wav | Ogg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internet Explorer | YES | NO | NO |
| Chrome | YES | YES | YES |
| Firefox | YES | YES | YES |
| Safari | YES | YES | NO |
| Opera | YES | YES | YES |
HTML Audio - Media Types
| File Format | Media Type |
|---|---|
| MP3 | audio/mpeg |
| Ogg | audio/ogg |
| Wav | audio/wav |
HTML Audio - Methods, Properties, and Events
HTML5 defines DOM methods, properties, and events for the <audio> element.
This allows you to load, play, and pause audios, as well as set duration and volume.
There are also DOM events that can notify you when an audio begins to play, is paused, etc.
For a full DOM reference, go to our HTML5 Audio/Video DOM Reference.
HTML5 Audio Tags
| Tag | Description |
|---|---|
| <audio> | Defines sound content |
| <source> | Defines multiple media resources for media elements, such as <video> and <audio> |
HTML Audio - Web Speech API
The Web Speech API aims to provide an alternative input method for web applications (without using a keyboard). With this API, developers can give web apps the ability to transcribe voice to text, from the computer's microphone. The recorded audio is sent to speech servers for transcription, after which the text is typed out for the user. The API itself is agnostic of the underlying speech recognition implementation and can support both server based as well as embedded recognizers. The HTML Speech Incubator group has proposed the implementation of audio-speech technology in browsers in the form of uniform, cross-platform APIs. The API contains both:
- Speech Input API
- Text to Speech API