HTMLMediaElement: canPlayType() method
Baseline Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.
TheHTMLMediaElement methodcanPlayType() reports how likely it is that the current browser will be able to play media of a givenMIME type.
Syntax
js
canPlayType(type)Parameters
typeA string specifying theMIME type of the media and (optionally) a
codecsparameter containing a comma-separated list of the supported codecs.
Return value
A string indicating how likely it is that the media can be played.The string will be one of the following values:
""(empty string)The media cannot be played on the current device.
probablyThe media is probably playable on this device.
maybeThere is not enough information to determine whether the media can play (until playback is actually attempted).
Examples
js
let obj = document.createElement("video");console.log(obj.canPlayType("video/mp4")); // "maybe"Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| HTML # dom-navigator-canplaytype-dev |
Browser compatibility
See also
HTMLMediaElement: Interface used to define theHTMLMediaElement.canPlayType()methodMediaCapabilities- Handling media support issues in web content
- Media type and format guide
- Codecs in common media types