MediaSession: setPositionState() method

The setPositionState() method of the MediaSession interface is used to update the current document's media playback position and speed for presentation by user's device in any kind of interface that provides details about ongoing media. This can be particularly useful if your code implements a player for type of media not directly supported by the browser.

Call this method on the navigator object's mediaSession object.

Syntax

js
setPositionState()
setPositionState(stateDict)

Parameters

stateDict Optional

An object providing updated information about the playback position and speed of the document's ongoing media. If the object is empty, the existing playback state information is cleared. This object can contain the following parameters:

duration Optional

A floating-point value giving the total duration of the current media in seconds. This should always be a positive number, with positive infinity (Infinity) indicating media without a defined end, such as a live stream.

playbackRate Optional

A floating-point value indicating the rate at which the media is being played, as a ratio relative to its normal playback speed. Thus, a value of 1 is playing at normal speed, 2 is playing at double speed, and so forth. Negative values indicate that the media is playing in reverse; -1 indicates playback at the normal speed but backward, -2 is double speed in reverse, and so on.

position Optional

A floating-point value indicating the last reported playback position of the media in seconds. This must always be a positive value.

Return value

None (undefined).

Exceptions

TypeError

This error can occur in an array of circumstances:

  • The specified object's duration is missing, negative, or null.
  • Its position is either negative or greater than duration.
  • Its playbackRate is zero.

Examples

Below is a function which updates the position state of the current MediaSession track.

js
function updatePositionState() {
  navigator.mediaSession.setPositionState({
    duration: audioEl.duration,
    playbackRate: audioEl.playbackRate,
    position: audioEl.currentTime,
  });
}

We can use this function when updating media session metadata and within callbacks for actions, such as below.

js
navigator.mediaSession.setActionHandler("seekbackward", (details) => {
  // our time to skip
  const skipTime = details.seekOffset || 10;

  // set our position
  audioEl.currentTime = Math.max(audioEl.currentTime - skipTime, 0);
  updatePositionState();
});

Specifications

Specification
Media Session
# dom-mediasession-setpositionstate

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser