wavesurfer.js

Interactive navigable audio visualization using Web Audio and Canvas.

See a tutorial and examples on wavesurfer-js.org.

Browser support

wavesurfer.js works only in modern browsers supporting Web Audio.

It will fallback to Audio Element without graphics in other browsers (IE 11 and lower). You can also try wavesurfer.swf which is a Flash-based fallback.

FAQ

Can the audio start playing before the waveform is drawn?

Yes, if you use the backend: 'MediaElement' option. See here: https://wavesurfer-js.org/example/audio-element/. The audio will start playing as you press play. A thin line will be displayed until the whole audio file is downloaded and decoded to draw the waveform.

Can drawing be done as file loads?

No. Web Audio needs the whole file to decode it in the browser. You can however load pre-decoded waveform data to draw the waveform immediately. See here: https://wavesurfer-js.org/example/audio-element/ (the "Pre-recoded Peaks" section).

API in examples

Choose a container:

<div id="waveform"></div>

Create an instance, passing the container selector and options:

var wavesurfer = WaveSurfer.create({
    container: '#waveform',
    waveColor: 'violet',
    progressColor: 'purple'
});

Subscribe to some events:

wavesurfer.on('ready', function () {
    wavesurfer.play();
});

Load an audio file from a URL:

wavesurfer.load('example/media/demo.wav');

Documentation

See the documentation on all available methods, options and events on the homepage.

Upgrade

See the upgrade document if you're upgrading from a previous version of wavesurfer.js.

Using with a module bundler

Install Wavesurfer:

npm install wavesurfer.js --save
# or
yarn add wavesurfer.js

Use it with a module system like this:

// import
import WaveSurfer from 'wavesurfer.js';

// commonjs/requirejs
var WaveSurfer = require('wavesurfer.js');

// amd
define(['WaveSurfer'], function(WaveSurfer) {
  // ... code
});

Related projects

For a list of projects using wavesurfer.js, check out the projects page.

Development

Install development dependencies:

npm install

Development tasks automatically rebuild certain parts of the library when files are changed (start – wavesurfer, start:plugins – plugins). Start a dev task and go to localhost:8080/example/ to test the current build.

Start development server for core library:

npm run start

Start development server for plugins:

npm run start:plugins

Build all the files. (generated files are placed in the dist directory.)

npm run build

Running tests only:

npm run test

Build documentation with esdoc (generated files are placed in the doc directory.)

npm run doc

If you want to use the VS Code - Debugger for Chrome, there is already a launch.json with a properly configured sourceMapPathOverrides for you.

Editing documentation

The homepage and documentation files are maintained in the gh-pages branch. Contributions to the documentation are especially welcome.

Updating the NPM package

When preparing a new release, update the version in the package.json and have it merged to master. The new version of the package will be published to NPM automatically via GitHub Actions.

Credits

The main maintainer: Thijs Triemstra

Many thanks to all the awesome contributors!

License

This work is licensed under a BSD 3-Clause License.