---
title: MediaRecorder.pause()
slug: Web/API/MediaRecorder/pause
translation_of: Web/API/MediaRecorder/pause
---
<div>{{APIRef("MediaStream Recording")}}</div>

<p><span class="seoSummary">The <strong><code>Media.pause()</code></strong> method (part of the <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaRecorder_API">MediaRecorder API</a>) is used to pause recording of media streams.</span></p>

<p>When a <code>MediaRecorder</code> object’s <code>pause()</code>method is called, the browser queues a task that runs the below steps:</p>

<ol>
 <li>If {{domxref("MediaRecorder.state")}} is "inactive", raise a DOM <code>InvalidState</code> error and terminate these steps. If not, continue to the next step.</li>
 <li>Set {{domxref("MediaRecorder.state")}} to "paused".</li>
 <li>Stop gathering data into the current {{domxref("Blob")}}, but keep it available so that recording can be resumed later on.</li>
 <li>Raise a {{event("pause")}} event.</li>
</ol>

<h2 id="Syntax">Syntax</h2>

<pre class="syntaxbox"><em>MediaRecorder</em>.pause()</pre>

<h3 id="Return_value">Return value</h3>

<p><code>undefined</code>.</p>

<h3 id="Exceptions">Exceptions</h3>

<dl>
 <dt><code>InvalidStateError</code></dt>
 <dd>The <code>MediaRecorder</code> is currently <code>"inactive"</code>; you can't pause recording if it's not active. If you call <code>pause()</code> while already paused, it silently does nothing.</dd>
</dl>

<h2 id="Example">Example</h2>

<pre class="brush: js">...

 pause.onclick = function() {
     mediaRecorder.pause();
     console.log("recording paused");
 }

...</pre>

<h2 id="Specifications">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName("MediaStream Recording", "#widl-MediaRecorder-pause-void", "MediaRecorder.pause()")}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2("MediaStream Recording")}}</td>
   <td>Initial definition</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>



<p>{{Compat("api.MediaRecorder.pause")}}</p>

<h2 id="See_also">See also</h2>

<ul>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/API/MediaRecorder_API/Using_the_MediaRecorder_API">Using the MediaRecorder API</a></li>
 <li><a href="http://mdn.github.io/web-dictaphone/">Web Dictaphone</a>: MediaRecorder + getUserMedia + Web Audio API visualization demo, by <a href="https://twitter.com/chrisdavidmills">Chris Mills</a> (<a href="https://github.com/mdn/web-dictaphone/">source on Github</a>.)</li>
 <li><a href="http://simpl.info/mediarecorder/">simpl.info MediaStream Recording demo</a>, by <a href="https://twitter.com/sw12">Sam Dutton</a>.</li>
 <li>{{domxref("Navigator.getUserMedia")}}</li>
</ul>