---

title: Media description: Record and play audio on the device.

Android	iOS	Windows 8.1 Store	Windows 8.1 Phone	Windows 10 Store	Travis CI

cordova-plugin-media

This plugin provides the ability to record and play back audio files on a device.

NOTE: The current implementation does not adhere to a W3C specification for media capture, and is provided for convenience only. A future implementation will adhere to the latest W3C specification and may deprecate the current APIs.

This plugin defines a global Media Constructor.

Although in the global scope, it is not available until after the deviceready event.

1document.addEventListener("deviceready", onDeviceReady, false);
2function onDeviceReady() {
3    console.log(Media);
4}

Report issues with this plugin on the Apache Cordova issue tracker

Installation

1cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-media

Supported Platforms

• Android
• BlackBerry 10
• iOS
• Windows Phone 7 and 8
• Tizen
• Windows 8
• Windows
• Browser

Windows Phone Quirks

• Only one media file can be played back at a time.

Media

1var media = new Media(src, mediaSuccess, [mediaError], [mediaStatus]);

Parameters

• src: A URI containing the audio content. (DOMString)

• mediaSuccess: (Optional) The callback that executes after a Media object has completed the current play, record, or stop action. (Function)

• mediaError: (Optional) The callback that executes if an error occurs. (Function)

• mediaStatus: (Optional) The callback that executes to indicate status changes. (Function)

NOTE: cdvfile path is supported as src parameter:

1var my_media = new Media('cdvfile://localhost/temporary/recording.mp3', ...);

Constants

The following constants are reported as the only parameter to the mediaStatus callback:

• Media.MEDIA_NONE = 0;
• Media.MEDIA_STARTING = 1;
• Media.MEDIA_RUNNING = 2;
• Media.MEDIA_PAUSED = 3;
• Media.MEDIA_STOPPED = 4;

Methods

• media.getCurrentAmplitude: Returns the current position within an audio file.

• media.getCurrentPosition: Returns the current position within an audio file.

• media.getDuration: Returns the duration of an audio file.

• media.play: Start or resume playing an audio file.

• media.pause: Pause playback of an audio file.

• media.pauseRecord: Pause recording of an audio file.

• media.release: Releases the underlying operating system's audio resources.

• media.resumeRecord: Resume recording of an audio file.

• media.seekTo: Moves the position within the audio file.

• media.setVolume: Set the volume for audio playback.

• media.startRecord: Start recording an audio file.

• media.stopRecord: Stop recording an audio file.

• media.stop: Stop playing an audio file.

Additional ReadOnly Parameters

• position: The position within the audio playback, in seconds.

  • Not automatically updated during play; call getCurrentPosition to update.

• duration: The duration of the media, in seconds.

media.getCurrentAmplitude

Returns the current amplitude of the current recording.

media.getCurrentAmplitude(mediaSuccess, [mediaError]);

Supported Platforms

• Android
• iOS

Parameters

• mediaSuccess: The callback that is passed the current amplitude (0.0 - 1.0).

• mediaError: (Optional) The callback to execute if an error occurs.

Quick Example

1// Audio player
2//
3var my_media = new Media(src, onSuccess, onError);
4
5// Record audio
6my_media.startRecord();
7
8mediaTimer = setInterval(function () {
9    // get media amplitude
10    my_media.getCurrentAmplitude(
11        // success callback
12        function (amp) {
13            console.log(amp + "%");
14        },
15        // error callback
16        function (e) {
17            console.log("Error getting amp=" + e);
18        }
19    );
20}, 1000);

media.getCurrentPosition

Returns the current position within an audio file. Also updates the Media object's position parameter.

media.getCurrentPosition(mediaSuccess, [mediaError]);

Parameters

• mediaSuccess: The callback that is passed the current position in seconds.

• mediaError: (Optional) The callback to execute if an error occurs.

Quick Example

1// Audio player
2//
3var my_media = new Media(src, onSuccess, onError);
4
5// Update media position every second
6var mediaTimer = setInterval(function () {
7    // get media position
8    my_media.getCurrentPosition(
9        // success callback
10        function (position) {
11            if (position > -1) {
12                console.log((position) + " sec");
13            }
14        },
15        // error callback
16        function (e) {
17            console.log("Error getting pos=" + e);
18        }
19    );
20}, 1000);

media.getDuration

Returns the duration of an audio file in seconds. If the duration is unknown, it returns a value of -1.

media.getDuration();

Quick Example

1// Audio player
2//
3var my_media = new Media(src, onSuccess, onError);
4
5// Get duration
6var counter = 0;
7var timerDur = setInterval(function() {
8    counter = counter + 100;
9    if (counter > 2000) {
10        clearInterval(timerDur);
11    }
12    var dur = my_media.getDuration();
13    if (dur > 0) {
14        clearInterval(timerDur);
15        document.getElementById('audio_duration').innerHTML = (dur) + " sec";
16    }
17}, 100);

media.pause

Pauses playing an audio file.

media.pause();

Quick Example

1// Play audio
2//
3function playAudio(url) {
4    // Play the audio file at url
5    var my_media = new Media(url,
6        // success callback
7        function () { console.log("playAudio():Audio Success"); },
8        // error callback
9        function (err) { console.log("playAudio():Audio Error: " + err); }
10    );
11
12    // Play audio
13    my_media.play();
14
15    // Pause after 10 seconds
16    setTimeout(function () {
17        my_media.pause();
18    }, 10000);
19}

media.pauseRecord

Pauses recording an audio file.

media.pauseRecord();

Supported Platforms

• iOS

Quick Example

1// Record audio
2//
3function recordAudio() {
4    var src = "myrecording.mp3";
5    var mediaRec = new Media(src,
6        // success callback
7        function() {
8            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Success");
9        },
10
11        // error callback
12        function(err) {
13            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Error: "+ err.code);
14        });
15
16    // Record audio
17    mediaRec.startRecord();
18
19    // Pause Recording after 5 seconds
20    setTimeout(function() {
21        mediaRec.pauseRecord();
22    }, 5000);
23}

media.play

Starts or resumes playing an audio file.

1media.play();

Quick Example

1// Play audio
2//
3function playAudio(url) {
4    // Play the audio file at url
5    var my_media = new Media(url,
6        // success callback
7        function () {
8            console.log("playAudio():Audio Success");
9        },
10        // error callback
11        function (err) {
12            console.log("playAudio():Audio Error: " + err);
13        }
14    );
15    // Play audio
16    my_media.play();
17}

iOS Quirks

• numberOfLoops: Pass this option to the play method to specify the number of times you want the media file to play, e.g.:

    var myMedia = new Media("http://audio.ibeat.org/content/p1rj1s/p1rj1s_-_rockGuitar.mp3")
    myMedia.play({ numberOfLoops: 2 })
  

• playAudioWhenScreenIsLocked: Pass in this option to the play method to specify whether you want to allow playback when the screen is locked. If set to true (the default value), the state of the hardware mute button is ignored, e.g.:

    var myMedia = new Media("http://audio.ibeat.org/content/p1rj1s/p1rj1s_-_rockGuitar.mp3")
    myMedia.play({ playAudioWhenScreenIsLocked : false })
  

• order of file search: When only a file name or simple path is provided, iOS searches in the www directory for the file, then in the application's documents/tmp directory:

    var myMedia = new Media("audio/beer.mp3")
    myMedia.play()  // first looks for file in www/audio/beer.mp3 then in <application>/documents/tmp/audio/beer.mp3
  

media.release

Releases the underlying operating system's audio resources. This is particularly important for Android, since there are a finite amount of OpenCore instances for media playback. Applications should call the release function for any Media resource that is no longer needed.

media.release();

Quick Example

1// Audio player
2//
3var my_media = new Media(src, onSuccess, onError);
4
5my_media.play();
6my_media.stop();
7my_media.release();

media.resumeRecord

Resume recording an audio file.

media.resumeRecord();

Supported Platforms

• iOS

Quick Example

1// Record audio
2//
3function recordAudio() {
4    var src = "myrecording.mp3";
5    var mediaRec = new Media(src,
6        // success callback
7        function() {
8            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Success");
9        },
10
11        // error callback
12        function(err) {
13            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Error: "+ err.code);
14        });
15
16    // Record audio
17    mediaRec.startRecord();
18
19    // Pause Recording after 5 seconds
20    setTimeout(function() {
21        mediaRec.pauseRecord();
22    }, 5000);
23
24    // Resume Recording after 10 seconds
25    setTimeout(function() {
26        mediaRec.resumeRecord();
27    }, 10000);
28}

media.seekTo

Sets the current position within an audio file.

media.seekTo(milliseconds);

Parameters

• milliseconds: The position to set the playback position within the audio, in milliseconds.

Quick Example

1// Audio player
2//
3var my_media = new Media(src, onSuccess, onError);
4    my_media.play();
5// SeekTo to 10 seconds after 5 seconds
6setTimeout(function() {
7    my_media.seekTo(10000);
8}, 5000);

BlackBerry 10 Quirks

• Not supported on BlackBerry OS 5 devices.

media.setVolume

Set the volume for an audio file.

media.setVolume(volume);

Parameters

• volume: The volume to set for playback. The value must be within the range of 0.0 to 1.0.

Supported Platforms

• Android
• iOS

Quick Example

1// Play audio
2//
3function playAudio(url) {
4    // Play the audio file at url
5    var my_media = new Media(url,
6        // success callback
7        function() {
8            console.log("playAudio():Audio Success");
9        },
10        // error callback
11        function(err) {
12            console.log("playAudio():Audio Error: "+err);
13    });
14
15    // Play audio
16    my_media.play();
17
18    // Mute volume after 2 seconds
19    setTimeout(function() {
20        my_media.setVolume('0.0');
21    }, 2000);
22
23    // Set volume to 1.0 after 5 seconds
24    setTimeout(function() {
25        my_media.setVolume('1.0');
26    }, 5000);
27}

media.startRecord

Starts recording an audio file.

media.startRecord();

Supported Platforms

• Android
• iOS
• Windows Phone 7 and 8
• Windows

Quick Example

1// Record audio
2//
3function recordAudio() {
4    var src = "myrecording.mp3";
5    var mediaRec = new Media(src,
6        // success callback
7        function() {
8            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Success");
9        },
10
11        // error callback
12        function(err) {
13            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Error: "+ err.code);
14        });
15
16    // Record audio
17    mediaRec.startRecord();
18}

Android Quirks

• Android devices record audio in Adaptive Multi-Rate format. The specified file should end with a .amr extension.
• The hardware volume controls are wired up to the media volume while any Media objects are alive. Once the last created Media object has release() called on it, the volume controls revert to their default behaviour. The controls are also reset on page navigation, as this releases all Media objects.

iOS Quirks

• iOS only records to files of type .wav and returns an error if the file name extension is not correct.

• If a full path is not provided, the recording is placed in the application's documents/tmp directory. This can be accessed via the File API using LocalFileSystem.TEMPORARY. Any subdirectory specified at record time must already exist.

• Files can be recorded and played back using the documents URI:

    var myMedia = new Media("documents://beer.mp3")
  

• Since iOS 10 it's mandatory to add a NSMicrophoneUsageDescription entry in the info.plist.

NSMicrophoneUsageDescription describes the reason that the app accesses the user’s microphone. When the system prompts the user to allow access, this string is displayed as part of the dialog box. To add this entry you can pass the variable MICROPHONE_USAGE_DESCRIPTION on plugin install.

Example: cordova plugin add cordova-plugin-media --variable MICROPHONE_USAGE_DESCRIPTION="your usage message"

If you don't pass the variable, the plugin will add an empty string as value.

Windows Quirks

• Windows devices can use MP3, M4A and WMA formats for recorded audio. However in most cases it is not possible to use MP3 for audio recording on Windows Phone 8.1 devices, because an MP3 encoder is not shipped with Windows Phone.

• If a full path is not provided, the recording is placed in the AppData/temp directory. This can be accessed via the File API using LocalFileSystem.TEMPORARY or ms-appdata:///temp/<filename> URI.

• Any subdirectory specified at record time must already exist.

Tizen Quirks

• Not supported on Tizen devices.

media.stop

Stops playing an audio file.

media.stop();

Quick Example

1// Play audio
2//
3function playAudio(url) {
4    // Play the audio file at url
5    var my_media = new Media(url,
6        // success callback
7        function() {
8            console.log("playAudio():Audio Success");
9        },
10        // error callback
11        function(err) {
12            console.log("playAudio():Audio Error: "+err);
13        }
14    );
15
16    // Play audio
17    my_media.play();
18
19    // Pause after 10 seconds
20    setTimeout(function() {
21        my_media.stop();
22    }, 10000);
23}

media.stopRecord

Stops recording an audio file.

media.stopRecord();

Supported Platforms

• Android
• iOS
• Windows Phone 7 and 8
• Windows

Quick Example

1// Record audio
2//
3function recordAudio() {
4    var src = "myrecording.mp3";
5    var mediaRec = new Media(src,
6        // success callback
7        function() {
8            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Success");
9        },
10
11        // error callback
12        function(err) {
13            console.log("recordAudio():Audio Error: "+ err.code);
14        }
15    );
16
17    // Record audio
18    mediaRec.startRecord();
19
20    // Stop recording after 10 seconds
21    setTimeout(function() {
22        mediaRec.stopRecord();
23    }, 10000);
24}

Tizen Quirks

• Not supported on Tizen devices.

MediaError

A MediaError object is returned to the mediaError callback function when an error occurs.

Properties

• code: One of the predefined error codes listed below.

• message: An error message describing the details of the error.

Constants

• MediaError.MEDIA_ERR_ABORTED = 1
• MediaError.MEDIA_ERR_NETWORK = 2
• MediaError.MEDIA_ERR_DECODE = 3
• MediaError.MEDIA_ERR_NONE_SUPPORTED = 4