TextTrackList

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 TextTrackList interface is used to represent a list of the text tracks defined for the associated video or audio element, with each track represented by a separate TextTrack object in the list.

Text tracks can be added to a media element declaratively using the <track> element or programmatically using the HTMLMediaElement.addTextTrack() method.

An instance of this object can be retrieved using the textTracks property of an HTMLMediaElement object.

For a given HTMLMediaElement object media, the individual tracks can be accessed using:

EventTarget TextTrackList

Instance properties

This interface also inherits properties from its parent interface, EventTarget.

length Read only

The number of tracks in the list.

Instance methods

This interface also inherits methods from its parent interface, EventTarget.

getTrackById()

Returns the TextTrack found within the TextTrackList whose id matches the specified string. If no match is found, null is returned.

Events

addtrack

Fired when a new text track has been added to the media element. Also available via the onaddtrack property.

change

Fired when a text track has been made active or inactive. Also available via the onchange property.

removetrack

Fired when a new text track has been removed from the media element. Also available via the onremovetrack property.

Usage notes

In addition to being able to obtain direct access to the text tracks present on a media element, TextTrackList lets you set event handlers on the addtrack and removetrack events, so that you can detect when tracks are added to or removed from the media element's stream.

Examples

Getting a video element's text track list

To get a media element's TextTrackList, use its textTracks property.

js
const textTracks = document.querySelector("video").textTracks;

Monitoring track count changes

In this example, we have an app that displays information about the number of channels available. To keep it up to date, handlers for the addtrack and removetrack events are set up.

js
textTracks.onaddtrack = updateTrackCount;
textTracks.onremovetrack = updateTrackCount;

function updateTrackCount(event) {
  trackCount = textTracks.length;
  drawTrackCountIndicator(trackCount);
}

Specifications

Specification
HTML
# text-track-api

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
TextTrackList
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 23 (Release date: 2012-11-06)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 6 (Release date: 2012-07-25)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 25 (Release date: 2013-02-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1.5 (Release date: 2013-09-25)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
addtrack event
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 23 (Release date: 2012-11-06)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 6 (Release date: 2012-07-25)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 25 (Release date: 2013-02-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1.5 (Release date: 2013-09-25)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
change event
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 33 (Release date: 2014-02-20)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 18 (Release date: 2018-10-02)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 20 (Release date: 2014-03-04)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 7 (Release date: 2013-10-22)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 33 (Release date: 2014-02-26)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 20 (Release date: 2014-03-06)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 2 (Release date: 2014-10-17)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
getTrackById
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 33 (Release date: 2014-02-20)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 18 (Release date: 2018-10-02)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 20 (Release date: 2014-03-04)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 8 (Release date: 2014-10-16)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 33 (Release date: 2014-02-26)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 20 (Release date: 2014-03-06)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 8 (Release date: 2014-09-17)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 2 (Release date: 2014-10-17)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 4.4.3 (Release date: 2014-06-02)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 8 (Release date: 2014-09-17)
footnote Full support
length
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 23 (Release date: 2012-11-06)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 6 (Release date: 2012-07-25)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 25 (Release date: 2013-02-27)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 1.5 (Release date: 2013-09-25)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
removetrack event
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 33 (Release date: 2014-02-20)
footnote Full support
Edge – Full support
Edge 18 (Release date: 2018-10-02)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera – No support
Opera 12.1 – 12.1 (Release date: 2012-11-20)
footnote Removed in 15 and later
Opera – Full support
Opera 20 (Release date: 2014-03-04)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 7 (Release date: 2013-10-22)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 33 (Release date: 2014-02-26)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 31 (Release date: 2014-07-22)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – No support
Opera Android 12.1 – 12.1 (Release date: 2012-10-09)
footnote Removed in 14 and later
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 20 (Release date: 2014-03-06)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 2 (Release date: 2014-10-17)
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 7 (Release date: 2013-09-18)
footnote Full support

Legend

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

Full support
Full support
Has more compatibility info.