AudioContext.createMediaElementSource()

The createMediaElementSource() method of the AudioContext Interface is used to create a new MediaElementAudioSourceNode object, given an existing HTML <audio> or <video> element, the audio from which can then be played and manipulated.

For more details about media element audio source nodes, check out the MediaElementAudioSourceNode reference page.

Syntax

var audioCtx = new AudioContext();
var source = audioCtx.createMediaElementSource(myMediaElement);

Parameters

myMediaElement
An HTMLMediaElement object that you want to feed into an audio processing graph to manipulate.

Returns

A MediaElementAudioSourceNode.

Example

This simple example creates a source from an <audio> element using createMediaElementSource(), then passes the audio through a GainNode before feeding it into the AudioDestinationNode for playback. When the mouse pointer is moved, the updatePage() function is invoked, which calculates the current gain as a ratio of mouse Y position divided by overall window height. You can therefore increase and decrease the volume of the playing music by moving the mouse pointer up and down.

var audioCtx = new (window.AudioContext || window.webkitAudioContext)();
var myAudio = document.querySelector('audio');
var pre = document.querySelector('pre');
var myScript = document.querySelector('script');

pre.innerHTML = myScript.innerHTML;

// Create a MediaElementAudioSourceNode
// Feed the HTMLMediaElement into it
var source = audioCtx.createMediaElementSource(myAudio);

// Create a gain node
var gainNode = audioCtx.createGain();

// Create variables to store mouse pointer Y coordinate
// and HEIGHT of screen
var CurY;
var HEIGHT = window.innerHeight;

// Get new mouse pointer coordinates when mouse is moved
// then set new gain value

document.onmousemove = updatePage;

function updatePage(e) {
    CurY = (window.Event) ? e.pageY : event.clientY + (document.documentElement.scrollTop ? document.documentElement.scrollTop : document.body.scrollTop);

    gainNode.gain.value = CurY/HEIGHT;
}

// connect the AudioBufferSourceNode to the gainNode
// and the gainNode to the destination, so we can play the
// music and adjust the volume using the mouse cursor
source.connect(gainNode);
gainNode.connect(audioCtx.destination);

Note: As a consequence of calling createMediaElementSource(), audio playback from the HTMLMediaElement will be re-routed into the processing graph of the AudioContext. So playing/pausing the media can still be done through the media element API and the player controls.

Specifications

Specification Status Comment
Web Audio API
The definition of 'createMediaElementSource()' in that specification.
Working Draft  

Browser compatibility

Feature Chrome Firefox (Gecko) Internet Explorer Opera Safari (WebKit)
Basic support 10.0webkit 25.0 (25.0)  Not supported 15.0webkit
22
6.0webkit
Feature Android Firefox Mobile (Gecko) Firefox OS IE Mobile Opera Mobile Safari Mobile Chrome for Android
Basic support ? 26.0 1.2 ? ? ? 33.0

See also

Document Tags and Contributors

 Contributors to this page: cfromcle, Jeremie, teoli, chrisdavidmills
 Last updated by: cfromcle,