Web/API/MediaSession/playbackState

The playbackState property of the MediaSession interface indicates whether the current media session is playing or paused.

Syntax

let playbackState = mediaSession.playbackState;
mediaSession.playbackState = playbackState;

Value

A DOMString indicating the current playback state of the media session. The value may be one of the following:

none: The browsing context doesn't currently know the current playback state, or the playback state is not available at this time.
paused: The browser's media session is currently paused. Playback may be resumed.
playing: The browser's media session is currently playing media, which can be paused.

Example

The following example sets up two functions for playing and pausing, then uses them as callbacks with the relevant action handlers. Each function harnesses the playbackState property to indicate whether the audio is playing or paused.

const actionHandlers = [
  // play
  [
    'play',
    async function() {
      // play our audio
      await audioEl.play();
      // set playback state
      navigator.mediaSession.playbackState = "playing";
      // update our status element
      updateStatus(allMeta[index], 'Action: play  |  Track is playing...')
    }
  ],
  [
    'pause',
    () => {
      // pause out audio
      audioEl.pause();
      // set playback state
      navigator.mediaSession.playbackState = "paused";
      // update our status element
      updateStatus(allMeta[index], 'Action: pause  |  Track has been paused...');
    }
  ],
]

for (const [action, handler] of actionHandlers) {
  try {
    navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler(action, handler);
  } catch (error) {
    console.log(`The media session action "${action}" is not supported yet.`);
  }
}

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Media Session StandardThe definition of 'playbackState' in that specification.	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
`playbackState` Experimental'	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 76 Disabled' Full support 76 Disabled' Disabled' From version 76: this feature is behind the `dom.media.mediasession.enabled` preference (needs to be set to `true`). To change preferences in Firefox, visit about:config.	IE No support No	Opera Full support Yes	Safari No support No	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS No support No	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
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.

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