MediaSource.addSourceBuffer

The addSourceBuffer() method of the MediaSource interface creates a new SourceBuffer of the given MIME type and adds it to the MediaSource's SourceBuffers list.

Syntax

var sourceBuffer = mediaSource.addSourceBuffer(mimeType);

Parameters

mimeType

The MIME type of the source buffer you want to create.

Returns

A SourceBuffer object.

Errors

The following errors may be thrown when calling this method.

Error	Explanation
InvalidAccessError	The supplied mimeType is an empty string.
InvalidStateError	MediaSource.readyState is not equal to open.
NotSupportedError	The supplied mimeType is not supported by the current browser, or it is not compatible with the mimeTypes specified for the SourceBuffer objects that already exist in MediaSource.sourceBuffers.
QuotaExceededError	The user agent can't handle any more SourceBuffer objects, or creating a SourceBuffer based on this mimeType would result in an unsupported SourceBuffer configuration.

Example

The following snippet is from a simple example written by Nick Desaulniers (view the full demo live, or download the source for further investigation.)

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);
  });
};

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
Media Source Extensions The definition of 'addSourceBuffer()' in that specification.	Candidate Recommendation	Initial definition.

Browser compatibility

[1] Available after switching the about:config preference media.mediasource.enabled to true. In addition, support was limited to a whitelist of sites, for example YouTube, Netflix, and other popular streaming sites. The whitelist was removed and Media Source Extensions was enabled by default in 42+ for all sites.

[2] Only works on Windows 8+.

See also

• SourceBuffer
• SourceBufferList