HTMLMediaElement: readyState 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 HTMLMediaElement.readyState property indicates the readiness state of the media.

Value

A number which is one of the five possible state constants defined on the HTMLMediaElement interface:

HTMLMediaElement.HAVE_NOTHING (0)

No information is available about the media resource.

HTMLMediaElement.HAVE_METADATA (1)

Enough of the media resource has been retrieved that the metadata attributes are initialized. Seeking will no longer raise an exception.

HTMLMediaElement.HAVE_CURRENT_DATA (2)

Data is available for the current playback position, but not enough to actually play more than one frame.

HTMLMediaElement.HAVE_FUTURE_DATA (3)

Data for the current playback position as well as for at least a little bit of time into the future is available (in other words, at least two frames of video, for example).

HTMLMediaElement.HAVE_ENOUGH_DATA (4)

Enough data is available—and the download rate is high enough—that the media can be played through to the end without interruption.

Examples

This example will listen for audio data to be loaded for the element example. It will then check if at least the current playback position has been loaded. If it has, the audio will play.

html
<audio id="example" preload="auto">
  <source src="sound.ogg" type="audio/ogg" />
</audio>
js
const obj = document.getElementById("example");

obj.addEventListener("loadeddata", () => {
  if (obj.readyState >= HTMLMediaElement.HAVE_CURRENT_DATA) {
    obj.play();
  }
});

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# dom-media-readystate-dev

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
readyState
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 3 (Release date: 2009-09-15)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 3.5 (Release date: 2009-06-30)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 3.1 (Release date: 2008-03-18)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 18 (Release date: 2012-06-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 4 (Release date: 2011-03-29)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 12.1 (Release date: 2012-10-09)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 3 (Release date: 2009-06-17)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1 (Release date: 2013-04-27)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4 (Release date: 2013-12-09)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 3 (Release date: 2009-06-17)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support

See also

  • HTMLMediaElement: Interface used to define the HTMLMediaElement.readyState property