Picture-in-Picture API

The Picture-in-Picture API allow websites to create a floating video window always on top of other windows so that users may continue consuming media while they interact with other content sites, or applications on their device.

Interfaces

PictureInPictureWindow

Represents the floating video window; contains width and height properties, and an onresize event handler property.

Methods

The Picture-in-Picture API adds methods to the HTMLVideoElement and Document interfaces to allow toggling of the floating video window.

Methods on the HTMLVideoElement interface

HTMLVideoElement.requestPictureInPicture()

Requests that the user agent enters the video into picture-in-picture mode

Methods on the Document interface

Document.exitPictureInPicture()

Requests that the user agent returns the element in picture-in-picture mode back into its original box.

Properties

The Picture-in-Picture API augments the HTMLVideoElement, Document, and DocumentOrShadowRoot interfaces with properties that can be used to determine if the floating video window mode is supported and available, if picture-in-picture mode is currently active, and which video is floating.

Properties on the HTMLVideoElement interface

HTMLVideoElement.autoPictureInPicture

The autoPictureInPicture property will automatically enter and leave the picture-in-picture mode for a video element when the user switches tab and/or applications.

HTMLVideoElement.disablePictureInPicture

The disablePictureInPicture property will provide a hint to the user agent to not suggest the picture-in-picture to users or to request it automatically.

Properties on the Document interface

Document.pictureInPictureEnabled

The pictureInPictureEnabled property tells you whether or not it is possible to engage picture-in-picture mode. This is false if picture-in-picture mode is not available for any reason (e.g. the "picture-in-picture" feature has been disallowed, or picture-in-picture mode is not supported).

Properties on the DocumentOrShadowRoot interface

DocumentOrShadowRoot.pictureInPictureElement

The pictureInPictureElement property tells you which Element is currently being displayed in the floating window. If this is null, the document has no node currently in picture-in-picture mode.

Events

The Picture-in-Picture API defines three events, which can be used to detect when picture-in-picture mode is toggled and when the floating video window is resized.

enterpictureinpicture

Sent to a HTMLVideoElement when it enters picture-in-picture mode. The associated event handler is HTMLVideoElement.onenterpictureinpicture

leavepictureinpicture

Sent to a HTMLVideoElement when it leaves picture-in-picture mode. The associated event handler is HTMLVideoElement.onleavepictureinpicture

resize

Sent to a PictureInPictureWindow when it changes size. The associated event handler is PictureInPictureWindow.onresize

Controlling styling

The :picture-in-picture CSS pseudo-class matches the video element currently in picture-in-picture mode, allowing you to configure your stylesheets to automatically adjust the size, style, or layout of content when a video switches back and forth between picture-in-picture and traditional presentation modes.

Controlling access

The availability of picture-in-picture mode can be controlled using Feature Policy. The full-screen mode feature is identified by the string "picture-in-picture", with a default allow-list value of "self", meaning that picture-in-picture mode is permitted in top-level document contexts, as well as to nested browsing contexts loaded from the same origin as the top-most document.

See Using Feature Policy to learn more about using Feature Policy to control access to an API.

Examples

In this example, a video is presented in a web page. Clicking the button below lets the user toggle the floating video window.

Toggling full-screen mode

This code is called by a click handler when the user clicks the "Toggle Picture-in-Picture" button:

function togglePictureInPicture() {
  if (document.pictureInPictureElement) {
      document.exitPictureInPicture();
  } else {
    if (document.pictureInPictureEnabled) {
      video.requestPictureInPicture(); 
    }
  }
}

This block starts by looking at the value of the document's pictureInPictureElement attribute. If the value is null, no video is in the floating window. so we can request a video to enter the picture-in-picture mode; otherwise, it's the element that's currently in picture-in-picture mode. Switching to picture-in-picture mode is done by calling HTMLVideoElement.requestPictureInPicture() on the <video> element.

If a video is in the floating window (pictureInPictureElement is not null), we call exitPictureInPicture() on the document to bring the video back into its initial box.

Specifications

Browser compatibility

HTMLVideoElement.requestPictureInPicture

HTMLVideoElement.disablePictureInPicture

See also

• HTMLVideoElement.requestPictureInPicture()
• HTMLVideoElement.autoPictureInPicture
• HTMLVideoElement.disablePictureInPicture
• Document.pictureInPictureEnabled
• Document.exitPictureInPicture()
• DocumentOrShadowRoot.pictureInPictureElement
• :picture-in-picture