Web/API/AudioContext/AudioContext

The AudioContext() constructor creates a new AudioContext object which represents an audio-processing graph, built from audio modules linked together, each represented by an AudioNode.

Syntax

var audioCtx = new AudioContext();
var audioCtx = new AudioContext(options);

Parameters

options Optional: An object based on the AudioContextOptions dictionary that contains zero or more optional properties to configure the new context. Available properties are as follows:

latencyHint Optional The type of playback that the context will be used for, as a value from the AudioContextLatencyCategory enum or a double-precision floating-point value indicating the preferred maximum latency of the context in seconds. The user agent may or may not choose to meet this request; check the value of AudioContext.baseLatency to determine the true latency after creating the context. sampleRate Optional The sampleRate to be used by the AudioContext, specified in samples per second. The value may be any value supported by AudioBuffer. If not specified, the preferred sample rate for the context's output device is used by default.

Return value

The newly constructed AudioContext instance.

Exceptions

NotSupportedError: The specified sampleRate isn't supported by the context.

Usage notes

The specification doesn't go into a lot of detail about things like how many audio contexts a user agent should support, or minimum or maximum latency requirements (if any), so these details can vary from browser to browser. Be sure to check the values if they matter to you.

In particular, the specification doesn't indicate a maximum or minimum number of audio contexts that must be able to be open at the same time, so this is left up to the browser implementations to decide.

Google Chrome

Per-tab audio context limitation in Chrome

Prior to version 66 Google Chrome only supported up to six audio contexts per tab at a time.

Non-standard exceptions in Chrome

If the value of the latencyHint property isn't valid, Chrome throws a TypeError exception with the message "The provided value '...' is not a valid enum value of type AudioContextLatencyCategory".

Example

This example creates a new AudioContext for interactive audio (optimizing for latency) and a sample rate of 44.1kHz.

var AudioContext = window.AudioContext || window.webkitAudioContext;

var audioCtx = new AudioContext({
  latencyHint: 'interactive',
  sampleRate: 44100,
});

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Web Audio APIThe definition of 'AudioContext()' in that specification.	Working Draft	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`AudioContext()` constructor	Chrome Full support 35 Notes' Full support 35 Notes' Notes' Prior to Chrome 66, each tab is limited to 6 audio contexts in Chrome; attempting to create more will throw a `DOMException`. For details see Per-tab audio context limitation in Chrome. Notes' If `latencyHint` isn't valid, Chrome throws a `TypeError` exception. See Non-standard exceptions in Chrome for details. No support 14 — 57 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 25	IE No support No	Opera Full support 22 Notes' Full support 22 Notes' Notes' Prior to Opera 53, each tab is limited to 6 audio contexts in Opera; attempting to create more will throw a `DOMException`. For details see Per-tab audio context limitation in Chrome. Notes' If `latencyHint` isn't valid, Opera throws a `TypeError` exception. See Non-standard exceptions in Chrome for details. No support 15 — 44 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Safari Full support 6.1 Prefixed' Full support 6.1 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	WebView Android Full support 37 Notes' Full support 37 Notes' Notes' Prior to WebView 66, each tab is limited to 6 audio contexts in WebView; attempting to create more will throw a `DOMException`. For details see Per-tab audio context limitation in Chrome. Notes' If `latencyHint` isn't valid, WebView throws a `TypeError` exception. See Non-standard exceptions in Chrome for details. No support ≤37 — 44 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Chrome Android Full support 35 Notes' Full support 35 Notes' Notes' Prior to Chrome 66, each tab is limited to 6 audio contexts in Chrome; attempting to create more will throw a `DOMException`. For details see Per-tab audio context limitation in Chrome. Notes' If `latencyHint` isn't valid, Chrome throws a `TypeError` exception. See Non-standard exceptions in Chrome for details. No support 18 — 57 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Firefox Android Full support 26	Opera Android Full support 22 Notes' Full support 22 Notes' Notes' Prior to Opera Android 47, each tab is limited to 6 audio contexts in Opera; attempting to create more will throw a `DOMException`. For details see Per-tab audio context limitation in Chrome. Notes' If `latencyHint` isn't valid, Opera throws a `TypeError` exception. See Non-standard exceptions in Chrome for details. No support 14 — 43 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Safari iOS Full support 6.1 Prefixed' Full support 6.1 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit	Samsung Internet Android Full support 3.0 Notes' Full support 3.0 Notes' Notes' Prior to Samsung Internet 9.0, each tab is limited to 6 audio contexts in Samsung Internet; attempting to create more will throw a `DOMException`. For details see Per-tab audio context limitation in Chrome. Notes' If `latencyHint` isn't valid, Samsung Internet throws a `TypeError` exception. See Non-standard exceptions in Chrome for details. No support 1.0 — 7.0 Prefixed' Prefixed' Implemented with the vendor prefix: webkit
`latencyHint` option Experimental'	Chrome Full support 60	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera Full support 47	Safari ?	WebView Android Full support 60	Chrome Android Full support 60	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android Full support 44	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 8.0
`sampleRate` option Experimental'	Chrome Full support 74	Edge Full support 79	Firefox No support No	IE No support No	Opera No support No	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support 74	Chrome Android Full support 74	Firefox Android ?	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support 11.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Compatibility unknown: Compatibility unknown
Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.': Experimental. Expect behavior to change in the future.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.
Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.': Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.