Until now, there has never been a standard for playing audio on a web page. Most audio is played through a browser plugin like flash or Quicktime. However, not all browsers have the same plugins.

HTML5 specifies a standard way to include audio, with the audio element.The audio element can play sound files, or an audio stream.

Audio Formats

Currently, there are 3 supported formats for the audio element:

Format IE 8 Firefox 3.5 Opera 10.5 Chrome 3.0 Safari 3.0
Ogg Vorbis No Yes Yes Yes No
MP3 No No No Yes Yes
Wav No Yes Yes No Yes

The html5 code looks like this:

<audio controls=”controls”>
<source src=”http://andyrutter.com/wp-content/uploads/media/swept_away.ogg” type=”audio/ogg” />
<source src=”http://andyrutter.com/wp-content/uploads/media/swept_away.mp3″ type=”audio/mpeg” />
Your browser does not support the audio element.
</audio>

Check it in Safari browser:

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