Web/API/AudioContext/createMediaElementSource

The createMediaElementSource() method of the AudioContext Interface is used to create a new MediaElementAudioSourceNode object, given an existing HTML <audio> or <video> element, the audio from which can then be played and manipulated.

For more details about media element audio source nodes, check out the MediaElementAudioSourceNode reference page.

Syntax

var audioCtx = new AudioContext();
var source = audioCtx.createMediaElementSource(myMediaElement);

Parameters

myMediaElement: An HTMLMediaElement object that you want to feed into an audio processing graph to manipulate.

Returns

A MediaElementAudioSourceNode.

Example

This simple example creates a source from an <audio> element using createMediaElementSource(), then passes the audio through a GainNode before feeding it into the AudioDestinationNode for playback. When the mouse pointer is moved, the updatePage() function is invoked, which calculates the current gain as a ratio of mouse Y position divided by overall window height. You can therefore increase and decrease the volume of the playing music by moving the mouse pointer up and down.

Note: You can also [[../../../../../../../mdn.github.io/webaudio-examples/media-source-buffer/index|view this example running live]], or view the source.

var audioCtx = new (window.AudioContext || window.webkitAudioContext)();
var myAudio = document.querySelector('audio');
var pre = document.querySelector('pre');
var myScript = document.querySelector('script');

pre.innerHTML = myScript.innerHTML;

// Create a MediaElementAudioSourceNode
// Feed the HTMLMediaElement into it
var source = audioCtx.createMediaElementSource(myAudio);

// Create a gain node
var gainNode = audioCtx.createGain();

// Create variables to store mouse pointer Y coordinate
// and HEIGHT of screen
var CurY;
var HEIGHT = window.innerHeight;

// Get new mouse pointer coordinates when mouse is moved
// then set new gain value

document.onmousemove = updatePage;

function updatePage(e) {
    CurY = (window.Event) ? e.pageY : event.clientY + (document.documentElement.scrollTop ? document.documentElement.scrollTop : document.body.scrollTop);

    gainNode.gain.value = CurY/HEIGHT;
}


// connect the AudioBufferSourceNode to the gainNode
// and the gainNode to the destination, so we can play the
// music and adjust the volume using the mouse cursor
source.connect(gainNode);
gainNode.connect(audioCtx.destination);

Note: As a consequence of calling createMediaElementSource(), audio playback from the HTMLMediaElement will be re-routed into the processing graph of the AudioContext. So playing/pausing the media can still be done through the media element API and the player controls.

Specifications

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

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
`createMediaElementSource`	Chrome Full support 14	Edge Full support 12	Firefox Full support 25	IE No support No	Opera Full support 15	Safari Full support 6	WebView Android Full support Yes	Chrome Android Full support 18	Firefox Android Full support 26	Opera Android Full support 14	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support 1.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support