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  5. <embed>

<embed>: The Embed External Content element

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since ⁨July 2015⁩.

The <embed> HTML element embeds external content at the specified point in the document. This content is provided by an external application or other source of interactive content such as a browser plug-in.

Try it

<embed
  type="image/jpeg"
  src="/shared-assets/images/examples/flowers.jpg"
  width="250"
  height="200" />

Note: This topic documents only the element that is defined as part of the HTML Living Standard. It does not address earlier, non-standardized implementation of the element.

Keep in mind that most modern browsers have deprecated and removed support for browser plug-ins, so relying upon <embed> is generally not wise if you want your site to be operable on the average user's browser.

Attributes

This element's attributes include the global attributes.

height

The displayed height of the resource, in CSS pixels. This must be an absolute value; percentages are not allowed.

src

The URL of the resource being embedded.

type

The MIME type to use to select the plug-in to instantiate.

width

The displayed width of the resource, in CSS pixels. This must be an absolute value; percentages are not allowed.

Usage notes

You can use the object-position property to adjust the positioning of the embedded object within the element's frame.

Note: The object-fit property has no effect on <embed> elements.

Accessibility

Use the title attribute on an embed element to label its content so that people navigating with assistive technology such as a screen reader can understand what it contains. The title's value should concisely describe the embedded content. Without a title, they may not be able to determine what its embedded content is. This context shift can be confusing and time-consuming, especially if the embed element contains interactive content like video or audio.

Examples

html
<embed
  type="video/quicktime"
  src="movie.mov"
  width="640"
  height="480"
  title="Title of my video" />

Technical summary

Content categories Flow content, phrasing content, embedded content, interactive content, palpable content.
Permitted content None; it is a void element.
Tag omission Must have a start tag and must not have an end tag.
Permitted parents Any element that accepts embedded content.
Implicit ARIA role No corresponding role
Permitted ARIA roles application, document, img, none, presentation
DOM interface HTMLEmbedElement

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# the-embed-element

Browser compatibility

See also

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