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HTMLMediaElement.canPlayType

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 DOMString containing 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

Feature	Chrome	Edge	Firefox (Gecko)	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari
Basic support	(Yes)	(Yes)	3.5 (1.9.1) [1]	9	?	?

Feature	Android	Edge	Firefox Mobile (Gecko)	Firefox OS (Gecko)	IE Mobile	Opera Mobile	Safari Mobile
Basic support	(Yes)	(Yes)	(Yes)	(Yes)	?	(Yes)	(Yes)

[1] The NETWORK_LOADED state was removed to align with the HTML spec in Gecko 2.0 (Firefox 4 / Thunderbird 3.3 / SeaMonkey 2.1).