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

Browser compatibility

Desktop Mobile
Chrome Edge Firefox Internet Explorer Opera Safari WebView Android Chrome Android Firefox for Android Opera Android Safari on IOS Samsung Internet
createMediaElementSource
14
12
25
No
15
6
≤37
18
25
14
6
1.0

See also

© 2005–2021 MDN contributors.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License v2.5 or later.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/AudioContext/createMediaElementSource