Common html5 audio format for 2013?

Question

Can somebody advise a single audio format to maximize compatibility between desktop browsers?

The program isn't audio driven and I consider audio and extra bonus.

Also: [What to do with the incompatibilities in HTML 5 audio across browsers?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/2303032/38108) (2010-02-20) and [What Options Are There for Cross-Browser Compatible Audio?](http://stackoverflow.com/q/13147951/38108) (2012-10-30) — Graham Perrin, Jan 10 '13 at 14:04

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Jan 10 '13 at 08:32

2

The most common format that is utilized by most browsers is .wav Audio Formats and Browser Support. However with html 5 you can always specify fallbacks for browser that might not support that format e.g

<audio controls>
   <source src="horse.wav" type="audio/wav">
   <source src="horse.ogg" type="audio/ogg">
   <source src="horse.mp3" type="audio/mpeg">
   Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>

edited Jan 10 '13 at 08:32

Mikhail

7,749
11
62
136

answered Jan 10 '13 at 05:35

Mario Dennis

2,986
13
35
50

Have you every worried that wav is file-size inefficient? – Mikhail Jan 10 '13 at 05:45
Yes WAV is not recommended for use on the web due to file size. – Ian Devlin Jan 10 '13 at 08:27

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 10 '13 at 08:29

There is no single audio format that works cross-browser. MP3 is supported by Safari, Chrome and IE9+, whereas Firefix and Opera both support WebM (and Ogg but WebM is better).

There are plans for Firefox to eventually support MP3 I hear, but I don't know when that is.

You could also use a library such as MediaElementJS which will automatically fallback to using Flash to play an audio file if the browser doesn't support it.

Common html5 audio format for 2013?

2 Answers2