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MediaSource: handle property

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

The handle read-only property of the MediaSource interface returns a MediaSourceHandle object, a proxy for the MediaSource that can be transferred from a dedicated worker back to the main thread and attached to a media element via its HTMLMediaElement.srcObject property.

Note: handle is only visible on MediaSource instances inside dedicated workers.

Each MediaSource object created inside a dedicated worker has its own distinct MediaSourceHandle. The handle getter will always return the MediaSourceHandle instance specific to the associated dedicated worker MediaSource instance. If the handle has already been transferred to the main thread using postMessage(), the handle instance in the worker is technically detached and can't be transferred again.

Note: This feature is available in Web Workers

Value

A MediaSourceHandle object instance.

Examples

The handle property can be accessed inside a dedicated worker and the resulting MediaSourceHandle object is then transferred over to the thread that created the worker (in this case the main thread) via a postMessage() call:

js

// Inside dedicated worker
let mediaSource = new MediaSource();
let handle = mediaSource.handle;
// Transfer the handle to the context that created the worker
postMessage({ arg: handle }, [handle]);

mediaSource.addEventListener("sourceopen", () => {
  // Await sourceopen on MediaSource before creating SourceBuffers
  // and populating them with fetched media — MediaSource won't
  // accept creation of SourceBuffers until it is attached to the
  // HTMLMediaElement and its readyState is "open"
});

Over in the main thread, we receive the handle via a message event handler, attach it to a <video> via its HTMLMediaElement.srcObject property, and play the video:

js

worker.addEventListener("message", (msg) => {
  let mediaSourceHandle = msg.data.arg;
  video.srcObject = mediaSourceHandle;
  video.play();
});

Note: MediaSourceHandles cannot be successfully transferred into or via a shared worker or service worker.

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
handle 108 108 No No 94 No 108 108 No 73 No 21.0

See also

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https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaSource/handle