SourceBuffer

The SourceBuffer interface represents a chunk of media to be passed into an HTMLMediaElement and played, via a MediaSource object. This can be made up of one or several media segments.

Properties

SourceBuffer.appendWindowEnd

Controls the timestamp for the end of the append window.

SourceBuffer.appendWindowStart

Controls the timestamp for the start of the append window. This is a timestamp range that can be used to filter what media data is appended to the SourceBuffer. Coded media frames with timestamps within this range will be appended, whereas those outside the range will be filtered out.

SourceBuffer.audioTracks Read only

A list of the audio tracks currently contained inside the SourceBuffer.

SourceBuffer.buffered Read only

Returns the time ranges that are currently buffered in the SourceBuffer.

SourceBuffer.mode

Controls how the order of media segments in the SourceBuffer is handled, in terms of whether they can be appended in any order, or they have to be kept in a strict sequence.

SourceBuffer.textTracks Read only

A list of the text tracks currently contained inside the SourceBuffer.

SourceBuffer.timestampOffset

Controls the offset applied to timestamps inside media segments that are subsequently appended to the SourceBuffer.

SourceBuffer.updating Read only

A boolean indicating whether the SourceBuffer is currently being updated — i.e. whether an SourceBuffer.appendBuffer(), SourceBuffer.appendStream(), or SourceBuffer.remove() operation is currently in progress.

SourceBuffer.videoTracks Read only

A list of the video tracks currently contained inside the SourceBuffer.

Event handlers

SourceBuffer.onabort

Fired whenever SourceBuffer.appendBuffer() or SourceBuffer.appendStream() is ended by a call to SourceBuffer.abort(). SourceBuffer.updating changes from true to false.

SourceBuffer.onerror

Fired whenever an error occurs during SourceBuffer.appendBuffer() or SourceBuffer.appendStream(). SourceBuffer.updating changes from true to false.

SourceBuffer.onupdate

Fired whenever SourceBuffer.appendBuffer() method or the SourceBuffer.remove() completes. SourceBuffer.updating changes from true to false. This event is fired before onupdateend.

SourceBuffer.onupdateend

Fired whenever SourceBuffer.appendBuffer() method or the SourceBuffer.remove() has ended. This event is fired after onupdate.

SourceBuffer.onupdatestart

Fired whenever the value of SourceBuffer.updating transitions from false to true.

Methods

Inherits methods from its parent interface, EventTarget.

SourceBuffer.abort()

Aborts the current segment and resets the segment parser.

SourceBuffer.appendBuffer()

Appends media segment data from an ArrayBuffer or ArrayBufferView object to the SourceBuffer.

SourceBuffer.appendBufferAsync()

Starts the process of asynchronously appending the specified buffer to the SourceBuffer. Returns a Promise which is fulfilled once the buffer has been appended.

SourceBuffer.appendStream()

Appends media segment data from a ReadableStream object to the SourceBuffer.

SourceBuffer.changeType()

Changes the MIME type that future calls to appendBuffer() will expect the new data to conform to.

SourceBuffer.remove()

Removes media segments within a specific time range from the SourceBuffer.

SourceBuffer.removeAsync()

Starts the process of asynchronously removing media segments in the specified range from the SourceBuffer. Returns a Promise which is fulfilled once all matching segments have been removed.

Examples

The following simple example loads a video chunk by chunk as fast as possible, playing it as soon as it can. This example was written by Nick Desaulniers and can be viewed live here (you can also download the source for further investigation.)

var video = document.querySelector('video');

var assetURL = 'frag_bunny.mp4';
// Need to be specific for Blink regarding codecs
// ./mp4info frag_bunny.mp4 | grep Codec
var mimeCodec = 'video/mp4; codecs="avc1.42E01E, mp4a.40.2"';

if ('MediaSource' in window && MediaSource.isTypeSupported(mimeCodec)) {
  var mediaSource = new MediaSource();
  //console.log(mediaSource.readyState); // closed
  video.src = URL.createObjectURL(mediaSource);
  mediaSource.addEventListener('sourceopen', sourceOpen);
} else {
  console.error('Unsupported MIME type or codec: ', mimeCodec);
}

function sourceOpen (_) {
  //console.log(this.readyState); // open
  var mediaSource = this;
  var sourceBuffer = mediaSource.addSourceBuffer(mimeCodec);
  fetchAB(assetURL, function (buf) {
    sourceBuffer.addEventListener('updateend', function (_) {
      mediaSource.endOfStream();
      video.play();
      //console.log(mediaSource.readyState); // ended
    });
    sourceBuffer.appendBuffer(buf);
  });
}

function fetchAB (url, cb) {
  console.log(url);
  var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest;
  xhr.open('get', url);
  xhr.responseType = 'arraybuffer';
  xhr.onload = function () {
    cb(xhr.response);
  };
  xhr.send();
}

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
SourceBuffer
31
23-31
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
18
15-18
8
4.4.3
31
25-31
42
18
14-18
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
2.0-3.0
abort
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
25
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
2.0
appendBuffer
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
appendBufferAsync
No
No
62
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
appendStream
No
12-79
No
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
appendWindowEnd
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
appendWindowStart
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
audioTracks
51
79
12-79
No
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
38
8
No
51
No
41
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
No
buffered
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
changeType
70
79
63
No
?
12.1
70
70
63
?
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
10.0
mode
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
onabort
53
17
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
30
8
53
53
42
30
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
6.0
onerror
53
17
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
30
8
53
53
42
30
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
6.0
onupdate
53
17
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
30
8
53
53
42
30
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
6.0
onupdateend
53
17
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
30
8
53
53
42
30
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
6.0
onupdatestart
53
17
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
30
8
53
53
42
30
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
6.0
remove
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
removeAsync
No
No
62
No
No
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
textTracks
No
18
No
No
No
8
No
No
No
No
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
No
timestampOffset
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
updating
23
12
42
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
15
8
4.4.3
33
42
14
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
3.0
videoTracks
51
79
12-79
No
11
Only works on Windows 8+.
38
8
No
51
No
41
13
Exposed in Mobile Safari on iPad but not on iPhone.
No

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/SourceBuffer