HTMLMediaElement: preload property
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 preload property of the HTMLMediaElement interface is a string that provides a hint to the browser about what the author thinks will lead to the best user experience.
It reflects the preload attribute of the <audio> element and the <video> element.
Value
A string. Possible values are as follows:
none-
Indicates that the media should not be preloaded.
metadata-
Indicates that only media metadata (e.g., length) is fetched.
auto-
Indicates that the whole media file can be downloaded, even if the user is not expected to use it.
- empty string
-
A synonym of the
autovalue.
Examples
html
<video
id="el"
controls
src="https://example.com/media.mp4"
poster="https://example.com/media.jpg"
width="800"
height="600"
preload="metadata">
Sorry, your browser doesn't support embedded videos, but don't worry, you can
<a href="https://example.com/media.mp4" download="media.mp4">download it</a>
and watch it with your favorite video player!
</video>
js
const el = document.getElementById("el");
console.log(el.preload); // Output: "metadata"
Specifications
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| HTML # dom-media-preload |
Browser compatibility
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preload
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Legend
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- Full support
- Full support