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In the description of the media ready states for HAVE_ENOUGH_DATA
[1], the spec says:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">If the <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#autoplaying-flag">autoplaying
flag</a> is true, and the <code title="dom-media-paused"><a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#dom-media-paused">paused</a></code>
attribute is true, and the <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#media-element">media
element</a> has an <code title="attr-media-autoplay"><a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#attr-media-autoplay">autoplay</a></code>
attribute specified, and the <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#media-element">media
element</a> is in a <code><a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/infrastructure.html#document">Document</a></code>
whose <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/browsers.html#browsing-context">browsing
context</a> did not have the <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/the-iframe-element.html#sandboxed-automatic-features-browsing-context-flag">sandboxed
automatic features browsing context flag</a> set when the <code><a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/infrastructure.html#document">Document</a></code>
was created, then the user agent may also set the <code
title="dom-media-paused"><a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#dom-media-paused">paused</a></code>
attribute to false, <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/webappapis.html#queue-a-task">queue
a task</a> to <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/webappapis.html#fire-a-simple-event">fire
a simple event</a> named <code title="event-media-play"><a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#event-media-play">play</a></code>,
and <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/webappapis.html#queue-a-task">queue
a task</a> to <a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/webappapis.html#fire-a-simple-event">fire
a simple event</a> named <code title="event-media-playing"><a
href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#event-media-playing">playing</a></code>.</blockquote>
<br>
This means that we'll will only autoplay if a media element is in a
document. Why do we prevent media elements not in a document from
autoplaying? We allow audio from a media element not in a document
to play, why not allow autoplay to work while not in a document too?<br>
<br>
I note that Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera all autoplay when a
media element is not in a document. It looks like IE9 Beta never
autoplays unless the media element is hard coded in the HTML file
with an autoplay attribute; IE9 doesn't seem to honour autoplay set
from script.<br>
<br>
Unless there's a good reason not to, and since most browsers have
implemented autoplay when not in a document anyway, perhaps we
should update the spec to match the implemented behaviour?<br>
<br>
<br>
Regards,<br>
Chris Pearce.<br>
<br>
[1]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#dom-media-have_enough_data">http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#dom-media-have_enough_data</a><br>
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