The main advantage of the element is that it provides support for playing audio media without requiring external plug-ins. Until now, there has not been a standard for playing audio files on web pages. What you commonly find on websites is that audio files are played through external plug-ins such as flash or other third party audio components. HTML5 defines this new element which now provides a standard way to embed audio within a web document. Internet Explorer 9, Firefox, Opera, Chrome, and Safari support the element. However, Internet Explorer 8 and previous versions, do not support the element and would require a fall back mechanism to play audio on a web page. Audio Format and Browser Support Example The element contains child elements so that the source files and fallback options can be configured. Multiple source files can be specified using the element in order to provide the audio encoded in different formats for different browsers. The controls attribute adds audio controls, such as play, pause, and volume. DOM Methods, Properties and Events HTML5 has DOM methods, properties, and events for the element. These methods, properties, and events allow you to manipulate element using JavaScript. You can use methods for playing, pausing, and loading the videos. There are also DOM events that can notify you when the audio begins to play, is paused, and/or has ended, for example.
