Develop Reference

HTML5 Audio Player not moving playhead to the end [duplicate]

A notable issue that's appearing as I'm building a simple audio streaming element in HTML5 is that the <audio> tag doesn't behave as one would expect in regards to playing and pausing a live audio stream.
I'm using the most basic HTML5 code for streaming the audio, an <audio> tag with controls, the source of which is a live stream.
Current outcome: When the stream is first played, it plays whatever is streaming as expected. When it's paused and played again, however, the audio resumes exactly where it left off when the stream was previously paused. The user is now listening to a delayed version of the stream. This occurrence isn't browser-specific.
Desired outcome: When the stream is paused, I want the stream to stop. When it is played again, I want it resume where the stream is currently at, not where it was when the user paused the stream.
Does anyone know of a way to make this audio stream resume properly after it's been paused?
Some failed attempts I've made to fix this issue:
Altering the currentTime of the audio element does nothing to streaming audio.
I've removed the audio element from the DOM when the user stops stream playback and added it back in when user resumes playback. The stream still continues where the user left off and worse yet downloads another copy of the stream behind the scenes.
I've added a random GET variable to the end of the stream URL every time the stream is played in an attempt to fool the browser into believing that it's playing a new stream. Playback still resumes where the user paused the stream.

Best way to stop a stream, and then start it again seems to be removing the source and then calling load:
var sourceElement = document.querySelector("source");
var originalSourceUrl = sourceElement.getAttribute("src");
var audioElement = document.querySelector("audio");
function pause() {
sourceElement.setAttribute("src", "");
audioElement.pause();
// settimeout, otherwise pause event is not raised normally
setTimeout(function () {
audioElement.load(); // This stops the stream from downloading
});
}
function play() {
if (!sourceElement.getAttribute("src")) {
sourceElement.setAttribute("src", originalSourceUrl);
audioElement.load(); // This restarts the stream download
}
audioElement.play();
}

Resetting the audio source and calling the load() method seems to be the simplest solution when you want to stop downloading from the stream.
Since it's a stream, the browser will stop downloading only when the user gets offline. Resetting is necessary to protect your users from burning through their cellular data or to avoid serving outdated content that the browser downloaded when they paused the audio.
Keep in mind though that when the source attribute is set to an empty string, like so audio.src = "", the audio source will instead be set to the page's hostname. If you use a random word, that word will be appended as a path.
So as seen below, setting audio.src ="", means that audio.src === "https://stacksnippets.net/js". Setting audio.src="meow" will make the source be audio.src === "https://stacksnippets.net/js/meow" instead. Thus the 3d paragraph is not visible.
const audio1 = document.getElementById('audio1');
const audio2 = document.getElementById('audio2');
document.getElementById('p1').innerHTML = `First audio source: ${audio1.src}`;
document.getElementById('p2').innerHTML = `Second audio source: ${audio2.src}`;
if (audio1.src === "") {
document.getElementById('p3').innerHTML = "You can see me because the audio source is set to an empty string";
}
<audio id="audio1" src=""></audio>
<audio id="audio2" src="meow"></audio>
<p id="p1"></p>
<p id="p2"></p>
<p id="p3"></p>
Be aware of that behavior if you do rely on the audio's source at a given moment. Using the about URI scheme seems to trick it into behaving in a more reliable way. So using "about:" or "about:about", "about:blank", etc. will work fine.
const resetAudioSource = "about:"
const audio = document.getElementById('audio');
audio.src = resetAudioSource;
document.getElementById('p1').innerHTML = `Audio source: -- "${audio.src}"`;
// Somewhere else in your code...
if (audio.src === resetAudioSource){
document.getElementById('p2').innerHTML = "You can see me because you reset the audio source."
}
<audio id="audio"></audio>
<p id="p1"></p>
<p id="p2"></p>
Resetting the audio.src and calling the .load() method will make the audio to try to load the new source. The above comes in handy if you want to show a spinner component while the audio is loading, but don't want to also show that component when you reset your audio source.
A working example can be found here: https://jsfiddle.net/v2xuczrq/
If the source is reset using a random word, then you might end up with the loader showing up when you also pause the audio, or until the onError event handler catches it. https://jsfiddle.net/jcwvue0s/
UPDATE: The strings "javascript:;" and "javascript:void(0)" can be used instead of the "about:" URI and this seems to work even better as it will also stop the console warnings caused by "about:".

Note: I'm leaving this answer for the sake of posterity, since it was the best solution I or anyone could come up with at the time for my issue. But I've since marked Ciantic's later idea as the best solution because it actually stops the stream downloading and playback like I originally wanted. Consider that solution instead of this one.
One solution I came up with while troubleshooting this issue was to ignore the play and pause functions on the audio element entirely and just set the volume property of the audio element to 0 when user wishes to stop playback and then set the volume property back to 1 when the user wishes to resume playback.
The JavaScript code for such a function would look much like this if you're using jQuery (also demonstrated in this fiddle):
/*
* Play/Stop Live Audio Streams
* "audioElement" should be a jQuery object
*/
function streamPlayStop(audioElement) {
if (audioElement[0].paused) {
audioElement[0].play();
} else if (!audioElement[0].volume) {
audioElement[0].volume = 1;
} else {
audioElement[0].volume = 0;
}
}
I should caution that even though this achieves the desired functionality for stopping and resuming live audio streams, it isn't ideal because the stream, when stopped, is actually still playing and being downloaded in the background, using up bandwidth in the process.
However, this solution doesn't necessarily take up more bandwidth than just using .play() and .pause() on a streaming audio element. Simply using the audio tag with streaming audio uses up a great deal of bandwidth anyway, because once streaming audio is played, it continues to download the contents of the stream in the background when it is paused.
It should be noted that this method won't work in iOS because of purposefully built-in limitations for iPhones and iPads:
On iOS devices, the audio level is always under the user’s physical control. The volume property is not settable in JavaScript. Reading the volume property always returns 1.
If you choose to use the workaround in this answer, you'll need to create a fallback for iOS devices that uses the play() and pause() functions normally, or your interface will be unable to pause the stream.

Tested #Ciantics code and it worked with some modifications, if you want to use multiple sources.
As the source is getting removed, the HTML audio player becomes inactive, so the source (URL) needs to be added directly after again to become active.
Also added an event listener at the end to connect the function when pausing:
var audioElement = document.querySelector("audio");
var sources = document.querySelector("audio").children;
var sourceList = [];
for(i=0;i<sources.length;i++){
sourceList[i] = sources[i].getAttribute("src");
}
function pause() {
for(i=0;i<sources.length;i++){
sources[i].setAttribute("src", "");
}
audioElement.pause();
// settimeout, otherwise pause event is not raised normally
setTimeout(function () {
audioElement.load(); // This stops the stream from downloading
});
for(i=0;i<sources.length;i++){
if (!sources[i].getAttribute("src")) {
sources[i].setAttribute("src", sourceList[i]);
audioElement.load(); // This restarts the stream download
}
}
}
audioElement.addEventListener("pause", pause);

How to check whether a sound file is playing in JavaScript

var soundObject = null;
function PlaySound() {
var textvalue = document.getElementById('<%= TextBox7.ClientID %>').value;
if (soundObject != null) {
document.body.removeChild(soundObject);
soundObject.removed = true;
soundObject = null;
}
soundObject = document.createElement("embed");
soundObject.setAttribute("src", textvalue);
soundObject.setAttribute("hidden", false);
soundObject.setAttribute("autostart", true);
document.getElementById("div1").appendChild(soundObject);
Above is my javascript code, TextBox7.text="c:\temp\abc.wav" in c#. I have two questions:
1. Is there anyway to tell whether the file c:\temp\abc.wax exists before playing the audio file?
2. How to check if the file start playing or not (since I put autostart)?
My intention is to alert user if the file does not exist or not playing?
PS: Actually, the program is working, it will play the audio when file exists and show a blackscreen if the audio file not found. I just want to make it better so that the user know what is going on.

The <embed> element does not give you that level of control over the audio file being played. If you are able to, I would strongly encourage using the HTML5 <audio> element instead. It inherits from the HTMLMediaElement Dom interface which gives you access to a lot more media specific data. The <embed> element only inherits from the HTMLElement which does not give the same level of control.
You can change your above code to be:
soundObject = new Audio();
soundObject.src = textValue;
soundObject.hidden = true;
soundObject.autoplay = true;
document.getElementById("div1").appendChild(soundObject);
soundObject.play();
Once you do that if you get an error on playback you can use soundObject.error to access the error message. This will give you an error if the file doesn't exist or any other error during playback.
To tell if the file is actively playing you can monitor the soundObject.played to see what part of the file has already been played.
I hope this solves your problem for you!
Edit:
I am attaching a JSFiddle that will hopefully give you a better idea of how to use this feature here.

Problems preloading audio in Javascript

I'm trying to make a cross-device/browser image and audio preloading scheme for a GameAPI I'm working on. An audio file will preload, and issue a callback once it completes.
The problem is, audio will not start to load on slow page loads, but will usually work on the second try, probably because it cached it and knows it exists.
I've narrowed it down to the audio.load() function. Getting rid of it solves the problem, but interestingly, my motorola droid needs that function.
What are some experiences you've had with HTML5 audio preloading?
Here's my code. Yes, I know loading images in a separate function could cause a race condition :)
var resourcesLoading = 0;
function loadImage(imgSrc) {
//alert("Starting to load an image");
resourcesLoading++;
var image = new Image();
image.src = imgSrc;
image.onload = function() {
//CODE GOES HERE
//alert("A image has been loaded");
resourcesLoading--;
onResourceLoad();
}
}
function loadSound(soundSrc) {
//alert("Starting to load a sound");
resourcesLoading++;
var loaded = false;
//var soundFile = document.createElement("audio");
var soundFile = document.createElement("audio");
console.log(soundFile);
soundFile.autoplay = false;
soundFile.preload = false;
var src = document.createElement("source");
src.src = soundSrc + ".mp3";
soundFile.appendChild(src);
function onLoad() {
loaded = true;
soundFile.removeEventListener("canplaythrough", onLoad, true);
soundFile.removeEventListener("error", onError, true);
//CODE GOES HERE
//alert("A sound has been loaded");
resourcesLoading--;
onResourceLoad();
}
//Attempt to reload the resource 5 times
var retrys = 4;
function onError(e) {
retrys--;
if(retrys > 0) {
soundFile.load();
} else {
loaded = true;
soundFile.removeEventListener("canplaythrough", onLoad, true);
soundFile.removeEventListener("error", onError, true);
alert("A sound has failed to loaded");
resourcesLoading--;
onResourceLoad();
}
}
soundFile.addEventListener("canplaythrough", onLoad, true);
soundFile.addEventListener("error", onError, true);
}
function onResourceLoad() {
if(resourcesLoading == 0)
onLoaded();
}
It's hard to diagnose the problem because it shows no errors and only fails occasionally.

I got it working. The solution was fairly simple actually:
Basically, it works like this:
channel.load();
channel.volume = 0.00000001;
channel.play();
If it isn't obvious, the load function tells browsers and devices that support it to start loading, and then the sound immediately tries to play with the volume virtually at zero. So, if the load function isn't enough, the fact that the sound 'needs' to be played is enough to trigger a load on all the devices I tested.
The load function may actually be redundant now, but based off the inconsistiency with audio implementation, it probably doesn't hurt to have it.
Edit: After testing this on Opera, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome, it looks like setting the volume to 0 will still preload the resource.

canplaythrough fires when enough data has buffered that it probably could play non-stop to the end if you started playing on that event. The HTML Audio element is designed for streaming, so the file may not have completely finished downloading by the time this event fires.
Contrast this to images which only fire their event once they are completely downloaded.
If you navigate away from the page and the audio has not finished completely downloading, the browser probably doesn't cache it at all. However, if it has finished completely downloading, it probably gets cached, which explains the behavior you've seen.
I'd recommend the HTML5 AppCache to make sure the images and audio are certainly cached.

The AppCache, as suggested above, might be your only solution to keep the audio cached from one browser-session to another (that's not what you asked for, right?). but keep in mind the limited amount of space, some browsers offer. Safari for instance allows the user to change this value in the settings but the default is 5MB - hardly enough to save a bunch of songs, especially if other websites that are frequented by your users use AppCache as well. Also IE <10 does not support AppCache.

Alright so I ran into the same problem recently, and my trick was to use a simple ajax request to load the file entirely once (which end into the cache), and then by loading the sound again directly from the cache and use the event binding canplaythrough.
Using Buzz.js as my HTML5 audio library, my code is basically something like that:
var self = this;
$.get(this.file_name+".mp3", function(data) {
self.sound = new buzz.sound(self.file_name, {formats: [ "mp3" ], preload: true});
self.sound.bind("error", function(e) {
console.log("Music Error: " + this.getErrorMessage());
});
self.sound.decreaseVolume(20);
self.sound.bind("canplaythrough",function(){ self.onSoundLoaded(self); });
});

Audio in a tool tip/hover?

I would like to include audio that will automatically play when the user scrolls over. I have not found a tooltip that will do this. Does anyone know of a way to accomplish this?
(Note: The user will be warned about the audio before they have access to the page.)
UPDATE
I got this working thanks to Bakudan - хан ювиги. But is there a flash fall back available using Bakudan - хан ювиги's method? Thanks!
UPDATE 2
Using Bakudan - хан ювиги's recommended method for adding a flash fallback using swfobject leaves me a bit confused. My lack of javascript knowledge is where I get lost. Here is the code I am using for my audio:
<script>
// Mouseover/ Click sound effect- by JavaScript Kit (www.javascriptkit.com)
// Visit JavaScript Kit at http://www.javascriptkit.com/ for full source code
var html5_audiotypes={ //define list of audio file extensions
"mp3": "audio/mpeg",
"ogg": "audio/ogg",
}
function createsoundbite(sound){
var html5audio=document.createElement('audio')
if (html5audio.canPlayType){ //check support for HTML5 audio
for (var i=0; i<arguments.length; i++){
var sourceel=document.createElement('source')
sourceel.setAttribute('src', arguments[i])
if (arguments[i].match(/\.(\w+)$/i))
sourceel.setAttribute('type', html5_audiotypes[RegExp.$1])
html5audio.appendChild(sourceel)
}
html5audio.load()
html5audio.playclip=function(){
html5audio.pause()
html5audio.currentTime=0
html5audio.play()
}
return html5audio
}
else{
return {playclip:function(){throw new Error(
"Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio unfortunately")}}
}
}
//Initialize sound clips with 1 fallback file each:
var mouseoversound=createsoundbite(
"/messages4u/2011/images/october/laugh.ogg",
"/messages4u/2011/images/october/laugh.mp3")
</script>
I changed the else to the flash instead of the error message. How do I change this using swfobject to play the flash audio file? I am a bit lost by that.
Thanks for the help!

This is a good start. I`ve made a demo. If the audio is a little bit longer, add stopclip function to the createsoundbite function and then add it to the .mouseleave.
Edit:
To add flash change the else part. I'm very familiar with flash, but basically use one of the following:
create object - "document.createElement("object");... etc"
or which I think is better use swfobject

Here's a version that plays sound in older browsers and does not require flash:
var sound = document.createElement("audio");
if (!("src" in sound)) {
sound = document.createElement("bgsound");
}
document.body.appendChild(sound);
function playSound(src) {
sound.src = src;
sound.play && sound.play();
}
...
playSound("/sounds/something.mp3");
Edit: Here's a version that uses .hover() to play the sound when the mouse hovers over your element:
$(function) {
var sound = document.createElement("audio");
if (!("src" in sound)) {
sound = document.createElement("bgsound");
}
document.body.appendChild(sound);
$(".playable").hover(function() {
sound.src = this.soundFile;
sound.play && sound.play();
}, function() {
sound.src = "";
});
});
Set up your elements that you want to play a sound with a class of "playable" and custom attribute "soundFile" containing the source url for the sound file:
<span class="playable" soundFile="/sounds/something.mp3">Something</span>
<span class="playable" soundFile="/sounds/somethingElse.mp3">Something else</span>

soundmanager2

JS .play() on iPad plays wrong file...suggestions?

So, I am building a web app that has a div with text that changes on various user actions (it's stepping through an array of pieces of text). I'm trying to add audio to it, so I made another array with the sound files in the appropriate positions:
var phrases=['Please hand me the awl.','etc1','etc2','etc3'];
var phrasesAudio=['awl.mp3','etc1.mp3','etc2.mp3','etc3.mp3'];
And on each action completion, a 'counter' variable in incremented, and each array looks for the object at that counter
var audio = document.createElement("audio"),
canPlayMP3 = (typeof audio.canPlayType === "function" &&
audio.canPlayType("audio/mpeg") !== "");
function onAction(){
correct++;
document.getElementById('speech').innerHTML=phrases[correct];
if(canPlayMP3){
snd = new Audio(phrasesAudio[correct]);
}
else{
snd = new Audio(phrasesAudioOgg[correct]);
}
snd.play();
}
(the text replaces a div's HTML and I use .play() for the audio object)...usually works okay (and ALWAYS does in a 'real' browser), but on the iPad (the actual target device) after a few successful iterations, the TEXT continues to progress accurately, but the AUDIO will hiccup and repeat a sound file one or more times. I added some logging and looking there it reports that it's playing screw.mp3 (just an example, no particular file is more or less error prone), but in actuality it plays screwdriver.mp3 (the prior file, if there is an error, the audio always LAGS, never LEADS)...because of this I am thinking that the problem is with my use of .play()...so I tried setting snd=null; between each sound, but nothing changed...Any suggestions for how to proceed? This is my first use of audio elements so any advice is appreciated. Thanks.
edit: I've also tried setting the files with snd.src (based on https://wiki.mozilla.org/Audio_Data_API) and this caused no audio to play

for iPad you need to call snd.load() before snd.play() - otherwise you get "odd" behaviour...
see for some insight:
http://jnjnjn.com/187/playing-audio-on-the-ipad-with-html5-and-javascript/
Autoplay audio files on an iPad with HTML5
EDIT - as per comment from the OP:
Here https://developer.mozilla.org/En/Using_audio_and_video_in_Firefox you can find a tip on halting a currently playing piece of media with
var mediaElement = document.getElementById("myMediaElementID");
mediaElement.pause();
mediaElement.src = "";
and, following that with setting the correct src, load(), play() works great