HTMLMediaElement.canPlayType()

The HTMLMediaElement method canPlayType() reports how likely it is that the current browser will be able to play media of a given MIME type.

Note: This feature is not available in Web Workers.

Syntax

canPlayResponse = audioOrVideo.canPlayType(mediaType);

Parameters

mediaType
A DOMString containing the MIME type of the media.

Return value

A DOMString indicating how likely it is that the media can be played. The string will be one of the following values:

probably
Media of the type indicated by the mediaType parameter is probably playable on this device.
maybe
Not enough information is available to determine for sure whether or not the media will play until playback is actually attempted.
"" (empty string)
Media of the given type definitely can't be played on the current device.

Example

var obj = document.createElement('video');
console.log(obj.canPlayType('video/mp4')); // "maybe"

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
HTML Living Standard
The definition of 'canplaytype' in that specification.		 Living Standard
HTML5
The definition of 'HTMLMediaElement.canplaytype' in that specification.		 Recommendation Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also