Home > Abakada: Back to Basics > Language References > HTML Elements > TRACK Element

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Defines text tracks for media elements.

HTML 5

HTML Syntax

<track
   default
   kind = captions | chapters | descriptions | metadata | subtitles
   label = text
   src = url
   srclang = language code
>

Only the <track> start tag must be present. The element has no end tag.

The <track> element is used to specify supplementary text tracks for <audio> and <video> elements.

The src attribute is required and gives the URL of the text track data. The value must be a valid non-empty URL.

The kind attribute is an enumerated attribute with the following keywords and description:

Keyword	Description
subtitles	Transcription or translation of the dialogue, suitable for when the sound is available but not understood (e.g. because the user does not understand the language of the media resource’s audio track). Overlaid on the video.
captions	Transcription or translation of the dialogue, sound effects, relevant musical cues, and other relevant audio information, suitable for when sound is unavailable or not clearly audible (e.g. because it is muted, drowned-out by ambient noise, or because the user is deaf). Overlaid on the video; labeled as appropriate for the hard-of-hearing.
descriptions	Textual descriptions of the video component of the media resource, intended for audio synthesis when the visual component is obscured, unavailable, or not usable (e.g. because the user is interacting with the application without a screen while driving, or because the user is blind). Synthesized as audio.
chapters	Tracks intended for use from script. Not displayed by the user agent.
metadata

The <track> element supports the following attributes, in addition to global attributes common to all HTML elements.

Attribute	Value	Description
default		Specifies that the track is to be enabled if the user's preferences do not indicate that another track would be more appropriate
kind	captions, chapters, descriptions, metadata, subtitles	Specifies the kind of text track
label	text	Specifies the title of the text track
src	URL	Required. Specifies the URL of the track file
srclang	language_code	Specifies the language of the track text data (required if kind="subtitles")

The following is a basic example of using the <track> element.

<video src="brave.webm">
   <track kind=subtitles src=brave.en.vtt srclang=en label="English">
   <track kind=subtitles src=brave.fr.vtt srclang=fr lang=fr label="Français">
   <track kind=subtitles src=brave.de.vtt srclang=de lang=de label="Deutsch">
   <track kind=captions src=brave.en.hoh.vtt srclang=en label="English for the Hard of Hearing">
</video>

• 4.8.10 The track element

AUDIO   VIDEO