Web/API/MediaSessionAction

To support an action on a media session, such as seeking, pausing, or changing tracks, you need to call the MediaSession interface's setActionHandler() method to establish a handler for that action. The specific type of media session action to be handled on a MediaSession is identified using a string from the MediaSessionAction enumerated type.

Syntax

A media session action's type is specified using a string from the MediaSessionAction enumerated type.

Values

Each of the actions is a common media session control request. Implement support for each of these in order to allow that type of action to be performed. The following strings identify the currently available types of media session action:

nexttrack

Advances playback to the next track.

pause

Pauses playback of the media.

play

Begins (or resumes) playback of the media.

previoustrack

Moves back to the previous track.

seekbackward

Seeks backward through the media from the current position. The MediaSessionActionDetails property seekOffset specifies the amount of time to seek backward.

seekforward

Seeks forward from the current position through the media. The MediaSessionActionDetails property seekOffset specifies the amount of time to seek forward.

seekto

Moves the playback position to the specified time within the media. The time to which to seek is specified in the MediaSessionActionDetails property seekTime. If you intend to perform multiple seekto operations in rapid succession, you can also specify the MediaSessionActionDetails property fastSeek property with a value of true. This lets the browser know it can take steps to optimize repeated operations, and is likely to result in improved performance.

skipad

Skips past the currently playing advertisement or commercial. This action may or may not be available, depending on the platform and user agent, or may be disabled due to subscription level or other circumstances.

stop

Halts playback entirely.

Description

A media session action may be generated by any media session action source; these sources include anything from UI widgets within the browser itself to media control keys on the user's keyboard to buttons on the user's headset or earbuds.

Examples

Adding action handlers

This example implements seek forward and backward actions for an audio player by setting up the seekforward and seekbackward action handlers.

let skipTime = 10; // Time to skip in seconds

navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler('seekforward', details => {
 // User clicked "Seek Forward" media notification icon.
 audio.currentTime = Math.min(audio.currentTime + skipTime,  
               audio.duration);
});

navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler('seekbackward', details => {
 // User clicked "Seek Backward" media notification icon.
 audio.currentTime = Math.max(audio.currentTime - skipTime, 0);
});

In this case, both the seekforward and seekbackward handlers are using a fixed distance, ignoring the time specified by the MediaSessionActionDetails passed into the handler.

Supporting multiple actions in one handler function

You can also, if you prefer, use a single function to handle multiple action types, by checking the value of the MediaSessionActionDetails object's action property:

let skipTime = 7;

navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler("seekforward", handleSeek);
navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler("seekbackward", handleSeek);

function handleSeek(details) {
  switch(details.action) {
    case "seekforward":
      audio.currentTime = Math.min(audio.currentTime + skipTime,
              audio.duration);
      break;
    case "seekbackward":
      audio.currentTime = Math.max(audio.currentTime - skipTime, 0);
      break;
  }
}

Here, the handleSeek() function handles both seekbackward and seekforward actions.

Using data provided by MediaSessionActionDetails

In this example, instead of seeking a specified distance, the seekforward and seekbackward handlers use the time specified in the MediaSessionActionDetails object's seekOffset property.

navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler("seekforward", handleSeek);
navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler("seekbackward", handleSeek);

function handleSeek(details) {
  switch(details.action) {
    case "seekforward":
      audio.currentTime = Math.min(audio.currentTime + details.seekOffset,
                                   audio.duration);
      break;
    case "seekbackward":
      audio.currentTime = Math.max(audio.currentTime - details.seekOffset, 0);
      break;
  }
});

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Media Session StandardThe definition of 'Media Session action types' 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
Media Session action types Experimental'	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 71 Disabled' Full support 71 Disabled' Disabled' From version 71: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
nexttrack	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 71 Disabled' Full support 71 Disabled' Disabled' From version 71: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
pause	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 71 Disabled' Full support 71 Disabled' Disabled' From version 71: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
play	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 71 Disabled' Full support 71 Disabled' Disabled' From version 71: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
previoustrack	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 71 Disabled' Full support 71 Disabled' Disabled' From version 71: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
seekbackward	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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
seekforward	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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
seekto	Chrome Full support 77	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 80 Disabled' Full support 80 Disabled' Disabled' From version 80: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 77	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
skipad	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 80 Disabled' Full support 80 Disabled' Disabled' From version 80: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0
stop	Chrome Full support 73	Edge Full support ≤79	Firefox Full support 71 Disabled' Full support 71 Disabled' Disabled' From version 71: 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 ?	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android Full support 57	Firefox Android No support No	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android Full support 7.0

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.

User must explicitly enable this feature.'

User must explicitly enable this feature.

Media Session action types by Mozilla Contributors is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.5.