Web/API/AudioContext/suspend

The suspend() method of the AudioContext Interface suspends the progression of time in the audio context, temporarily halting audio hardware access and reducing CPU/battery usage in the process — this is useful if you want an application to power down the audio hardware when it will not be using an audio context for a while.

This method will cause an INVALID_STATE_ERR exception to be thrown if called on an OfflineAudioContext.

Syntax

var audioCtx = new AudioContext();
audioCtx.suspend().then(function() { ... });

Returns

A Promise that resolves with void. The promise is rejected if the context has already been closed.

Example

The following snippet is taken from our AudioContext states demo ([[../../../../../../../mdn.github.io/webaudio-examples/audiocontext-states/index|see it running live]].) When the suspend/resume button is clicked, the AudioContext.state is queried — if it is running, suspend() is called; if it is suspended, resume() is called. In each case, the text label of the button is updated as appropriate once the promise resolves.

susresBtn.onclick = function() {
  if(audioCtx.state === 'running') {
    audioCtx.suspend().then(function() {
      susresBtn.textContent = 'Resume context';
    });
  } else if(audioCtx.state === 'suspended') {
    audioCtx.resume().then(function() {
      susresBtn.textContent = 'Suspend context';
    });  
  }
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Web Audio APIThe definition of 'close()' 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
`suspend`	Chrome Full support 43	Edge Full support 14	Firefox Full support 40	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari Full support Yes	WebView Android Full support 43	Chrome Android Full support 43	Firefox Android Full support 40	Opera Android Full support Yes	Safari iOS Full support Yes	Samsung Internet Android Full support 4.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support