Feature Detect Autoplay HTML5 Audio - Audio on Mobile Browsers

Question

So I have a site where users would want to demo audio output produced by a server side script. They select some options and hit a create button. I then AJAX in a HTML5 audio ele

Answer 1

Yes, there are indeed ways to do so.

The following is a short tried-and-tested example of detecting browser support of the autoplay attribute which you could use for both desktop and mobile browsers featured on GitHub.

The example is as follows, with comments from myself explaining how it works:

var AUTOPLAY = false; // A flag to be used in the anonymous function

(function() {

    // Audio file data URIs; MP3 + OGG
    var mp3 = 'data:audio/mpeg;base64,/+MYxAAAAANIAUAAAASEEB/jwOFM/0MM/90b/+RhST//w4NFwOjf///PZu////9lns5GFDv//l9GlUIEEIAAAgIg8Ir/JGq3/+MYxDsLIj5QMYcoAP0dv9HIjUcH//yYSg+CIbkGP//8w0bLVjUP///3Z0x5QCAv/yLjwtGKTEFNRTMuOTeqqqqqqqqqqqqq/+MYxEkNmdJkUYc4AKqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq';
    var ogg = 'data:audio/ogg;base64,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';

    try {
        var audio = new Audio(); // Construct new Audio object
        var src = audio.canPlayType('audio/ogg') ? ogg : mp3; // Ternary statement determining the value of the src variable, which will be either ogg or mp3.
        audio.autoplay = true; // Set autoplay to true

        // This event will only be triggered if setting the autoplay attribute to true works.             
        $(audio).on('play', function() {
            AUTOPLAY = true; // Set the global flag to true, indicating we have support.
        });

        audio.src = src; // Set the audio objects src to the value of the src variable.
    } catch(e) {
        console.log('[AUTOPLAY-ERROR]', e);
        // This means we were unsuccessful - this browser doesn't support the autoplay attribute.
    }
})(); // Invoke anonymous function.

There is an example of this snippet in-use over at PicDinner.com

For the slightly modified version the OP used for his particular use-case, check his answer.