Feature Detect Autoplay HTML5 Audio - Audio on Mobile Browsers

Question

So I have a site where users would want to demo audio output produced by a server side script. They select some options and hit a create button. I then AJAX in a HTML5 audio element in with the autoplay attribute set to true. This works great on desktops, not so much on mobile.

My workaround until now was to use a PHP code snippet to determine from the user-agent string whether the device accessing my site was a mobile device. I would then display the HTML5 audio player so the user could hit the play button to still play the audio.

The thing is, user-agent string to detect mobile is now not working for newer phones. So my bad practice has finally come back to haunt me. Is there a way to feature detect for the ability to autoplay audio?

could you not just explicitly call play with js after the ajax call — kalpaitch, Jul 03 '13 at 15:29
@kalpaitch can you? My impression was that on mobile the user has to explicitly play audio to avoid unwanted bandwidth usage. — thatidiotguy, Jul 03 '13 at 15:46
Try this http://stackoverflow.com/questions/7120703/how-do-i-detect-if-the-html5-autoplay-attribute-is-supported — Akshaya Raghuvanshi, Jul 04 '13 at 00:26
@Zenith You should post that link with a little more information in an answer. I am going to try that out tomorrow and if that works you get the bounty! As far as I can tell modernizr cannot detect `autoplay` — thatidiotguy, Jul 22 '13 at 17:55
@Zenith With a few modifications yes it did work. Post an answer and I will accept yours. Just please point to the code I post as well so that people can see the code I actually used to detect the feature. Thanks again for the great link. — thatidiotguy, Jul 24 '13 at 14:26

score 19 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:45

Yes, there are indeed ways to do so.

The following is a short tried-and-tested example of detecting browser support of the autoplay attribute which you could use for both desktop and mobile browsers featured on GitHub.

The example is as follows, with comments from myself explaining how it works:

var AUTOPLAY = false; // A flag to be used in the anonymous function

(function() {

    // Audio file data URIs; MP3 + OGG
    var mp3 = 'data:audio/mpeg;base64,/+MYxAAAAANIAUAAAASEEB/jwOFM/0MM/90b/+RhST//w4NFwOjf///PZu////9lns5GFDv//l9GlUIEEIAAAgIg8Ir/JGq3/+MYxDsLIj5QMYcoAP0dv9HIjUcH//yYSg+CIbkGP//8w0bLVjUP///3Z0x5QCAv/yLjwtGKTEFNRTMuOTeqqqqqqqqqqqqq/+MYxEkNmdJkUYc4AKqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq';
    var ogg = 'data:audio/ogg;base64,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';

    try {
        var audio = new Audio(); // Construct new Audio object
        var src = audio.canPlayType('audio/ogg') ? ogg : mp3; // Ternary statement determining the value of the src variable, which will be either ogg or mp3.
        audio.autoplay = true; // Set autoplay to true

        // This event will only be triggered if setting the autoplay attribute to true works.             
        $(audio).on('play', function() {
            AUTOPLAY = true; // Set the global flag to true, indicating we have support.
        });

        audio.src = src; // Set the audio objects src to the value of the src variable.
    } catch(e) {
        console.log('[AUTOPLAY-ERROR]', e);
        // This means we were unsuccessful - this browser doesn't support the autoplay attribute.
    }
})(); // Invoke anonymous function.

There is an example of this snippet in-use over at PicDinner.com

For the slightly modified version the OP used for his particular use-case, check his answer.

I implemented this into my login form and then onsubmit of the form (because this works best when the value is checked after a delay) I then populate the AUTOPLAY value into a hidden field in the login form. Then when the user logs in I can save the value to the session and remember it for their entire experience without needing to execute this on every page. — Sherri, Jul 29 '14 at 15:27
The real problem is that this script is crashing on Chrome for mobile. — Sherri, Aug 04 '14 at 04:21
Worth noting this requires **jQuery** for the `$(audio).on()` bit. Could probably use `addEventListener` instead? — Iest, Nov 04 '14 at 23:22

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 24 '13 at 14:26

Here is the html page I used to test for autoplay.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
    <head>
        <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
        <script>
            var AUTOPLAY = false;

            $(function() {

                $("#message").html("AUTOPLAY = FALSE");

                // Audio file data URIs from comments in
                // [this gist](https://gist.github.com/westonruter/253174)
                // via [mudcube](https://github.com/mudcube)
                var mp3 = 'data:audio/mpeg;base64,/+MYxAAAAANIAUAAAASEEB/jwOFM/0MM/90b/+RhST//w4NFwOjf///PZu////9lns5GFDv//l9GlUIEEIAAAgIg8Ir/JGq3/+MYxDsLIj5QMYcoAP0dv9HIjUcH//yYSg+CIbkGP//8w0bLVjUP///3Z0x5QCAv/yLjwtGKTEFNRTMuOTeqqqqqqqqqqqqq/+MYxEkNmdJkUYc4AKqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq';

                var ogg = 'data:audio/ogg;base64,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';

                try 
                {
                    var audio = new Audio();
                    var src = audio.canPlayType('audio/ogg') ? ogg : mp3;
                    audio.autoplay = true;
                    audio.volume = 0;

                    $("#message").html("AUTOPLAY = FALSE");

                    // this will only be triggered if autoplay works
                    $(audio).on('play', function() {
                        AUTOPLAY = true;
                        $("#message").html('AUTOPLAY = TRUE');
                    });

                    audio.src = src;
                } 
                catch(e) 
                {
                    $("#message").html('[AUTOPLAY-ERROR]'+e);
                }
            });
        </script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="message">

        </div>
    </body>
</html>

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 15 '18 at 11:26

Help for future answer seekers, an ideal way to check if auto-play supported or not by the browsers/devices:

var promise = document.getElementById('video').play();

if( typeof promise !== 'undefined' ) {
    promise.then(function() {
        // auto-play started!
    }).catch(function(error) {
        // auto-play failed
    });
}

Please note, media play promise is not supported by all browsers yet. In case if browser doesn't support it, it will return undefined.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 03 '13 at 15:29

0

http://modernizr.com/ should have everything that you need to implement detection for autoplay audio

answered Jul 03 '13 at 15:29

taylorc93

3,676
2
20
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2

I'm not seeing that as testable in the modernizr documentation. http://modernizr.com/docs/#features-html5 – thatidiotguy Jul 03 '13 at 15:51

Feature Detect Autoplay HTML5 Audio - Audio on Mobile Browsers

4 Answers4

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