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

canPlayType(type)

Parameters

type

A string specifying the MIME type of the media and (optionally) a codecs parameter containing a comma-separated list of the supported codecs.

Return value

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

"" (empty string)

The media cannot be played on the current device.

probably

The media is probably playable on this device.

maybe

There is not enough information to determine whether the media can play (until playback is actually attempted).

Examples

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

Specifications

Specification
HTML Standard
# dom-navigator-canplaytype-dev

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also