Web/API/MediaCapabilities

The MediaCapabilities interface of the Media Capabilities API provides information about the decoding abilities of the device, system and browser. The API can be used to query the browser about the decoding abilities of the device based on codecs, profile, resolution, and bitrates. The information can be used to serve optimal media streams to the user and determine if playback should be smooth and power efficient.

The information is accessed through the mediaCapabilities property of the Navigator interface.

Methods

MediaCapabilities.encodingInfo()

When passed a valid media configuration, it returns a promise with information as to whether the media type is supported, and whether encoding such media would be smooth and power efficient.

MediaCapabilities.decodingInfo()

When passed a valid media configuration, it returns a promise with information as to whether the media type is supported, and whether decoding such media would be smooth and power efficient.

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Media CapabilitiesThe definition of 'MediaCapabilities' in that specification.	Draft	Initial definition

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table on this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

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
MediaCapabilities Experimental'	Chrome Full support 66	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 63	IE No support No	Opera Full support 55	Safari ?	WebView Android Full support 66	Chrome Android Full support 66	Firefox Android Full support 63	Opera Android Full support 48	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0
decodingInfo Experimental'	Chrome Full support 66	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 63	IE No support No	Opera Full support 55	Safari ?	WebView Android Full support 66	Chrome Android Full support 66	Firefox Android Full support 63	Opera Android Full support 48	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 9.0
encodingInfo Experimental'	Chrome Full support 67 Disabled' Full support 67 Disabled' Disabled' From version 67: this feature is behind the chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features preference (needs to be set to enabled). To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.	Edge Full support ≤79 Disabled' Full support ≤79 Disabled' Disabled' From version ≤79: this feature is behind the chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features preference (needs to be set to enabled).	Firefox Full support 63	IE No support No	Opera ?	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 67 Disabled' Full support 67 Disabled' Disabled' From version 67: this feature is behind the chrome://flags/#enable-experimental-web-platform-features preference (needs to be set to enabled). To change preferences in Chrome, visit chrome://flags.	Firefox Android Full support 63	Opera Android ?	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android No support No

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.

User must explicitly enable this feature.'

User must explicitly enable this feature.

See also

• HTMLMediaElement's method canPlayType()
• MediaSource's method isTypeSupported()
• Navigator interface

MediaCapabilities by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.