how can I use html5 <audio> tag to play aac file?

Question

I can get it to work in safari but doesn\'t work in chrom

Answer 1

<audio controls="controls"> <source src="xxx.aac" type="audio/mp4" /> </audio>

+---------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| Browser             | Ogg | MP3 | AAC | Wav |
+---------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| Internet Explorer 9 | No  | Yes | Yes | No  |
| Firefox 5           | Yes | No  | No  | Yes |
| Chrome 12           | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Safari 5            | No  | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Opera 11.5          | Yes | No  | No  | Yes |
+---------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+

Answer 2

The AAC audio format seems to be widely supported by HTML5 in most browsers as long as it is in the MP4 container. For example, an apple .m4a file is an MP4 containing only an audio file, usually an AAC file.

The .aac file itself would not be widely supported.

Thus:

<audio controls="controls">
    <source src="xxx.m4a" type="audio/mpeg" />
</audio>

Source: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Supported_media_formats

See the browser compatibility chart - line "AAC in MP4" and footnotes.

Answer 3

Only Safari and IE support .aac. Here is what each browser supports:

• Internet Explorer 9.0+: .mp3, .aac
• Chrome: .ogg, .mp3, .wav, .aac*
• Firefox: .ogg, .wav
• Safari: .mp3, .aac, .wav
• Opera: .ogg, .wav

* Chrome seems to support .aac but it isn't included in the list of officially supported file extensions.

I suggest using both .ogg and .mp3 or .ogg and .aac to cover all bases.

References

• HTML 5 Doctor - HTML5 audio, the state of play
• Chromium - Audio/Video