HTMLMediaElement: addTextTrack() method

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2015.

The addTextTrack() method of the HTMLMediaElement interface creates a new TextTrack object and adds it to the media element. It fires an addtrack event on this media element's textTracks. This method can't be used on a TextTrackList interface, only an HTMLMediaElement.

Syntax

js
addTextTrack(kind)
addTextTrack(kind, label)
addTextTrack(kind, label, language)

Parameters

kind

A string representing the TextTrack.kind property (subtitles, captions, descriptions, chapters, or metadata).

label

A string representing the TextTrack.label property.

language

A string representing the TextTrack.language property.

Return value

The newly created TextTrack object.

Exceptions

None.

Examples

This example adds a new TextTrack with the kind set to "subtitles", and adds a new VTTCue to that.

js
const video = document.querySelector("video");
const newTrack = video.addTextTrack("subtitles");
newTrack.addCue(new VTTCue(3, 6, "Hello world!"));
console.log(newTrack.cues[0].text);
// "Hello world!"