The HTMLMediaElement.canPlayType() method determines whether the specified media type can be played back.
Note: This feature is not available in Web Workers.
Syntax
str = audioOrVideo.canPlayType(mediaType);
Parameters
- mediaType
- A
DOMStringcontaining the MIME type of the media.
Return value
A String. Possible values are:
'probably': The specified media type appears to be playable.'maybe': Cannot tell if the media type is playable without playing it.''(empty string): The specified media type definitely cannot be played.
Note: Previously canPlayType('video/webm') returned 'probably'. Starting with Gecko 28 (Firefox 28 / Thunderbird 28 / SeaMonkey 2.25 / Firefox OS 1.3), it returns 'maybe'. (bug 884275)
Example
var obj = document.createElement('video');
console.log(obj.canPlayType('video/mp4')); // "maybe"
Specifications
| Specification | Status | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| HTML Living Standard The definition of 'HTMLMediaElement.canplaytype' in that specification. |
Living Standard | No change from HTML5 |
| HTML5 The definition of 'HTMLMediaElement.canplaytype' in that specification. |
Recommendation | 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.
| Feature | Chrome | Edge | Firefox | Internet Explorer | Opera | Safari |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | Yes | Yes | 3.5 | 9 | Yes | Yes |
| Feature | Android webview | Chrome for Android | Edge mobile | Firefox for Android | Opera Android | iOS Safari | Samsung Internet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
See also
- The interface defining it,
HTMLMediaElement.