Dynamic Waveform Visualizations with wavesurfer.js

By  on  

Waveform images are an awesome addition to boring audio widgets.  They can be functional as well as aesthetically pleasing, allowing users to navigate audio visually.  I recently found wavesurfer.js, an amazing waveform image utility that uses to Web Audio API to create super customizable waveform visualizations that take only a minute to implement.

Start by including wavesurfer.js in your page:

<script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/wavesurfer.js/1.4.0/wavesurfer.min.js"></script>

Create an instance of WaveSurfer, passing the element's selector and other configuration options:

var wavesurfer = WaveSurfer.create({
 // Use the id or class-name of the element you created, as a selector
 container: '#waveform',
 // The color can be either a simple CSS color or a Canvas gradient
 waveColor: 'grey',
 progressColor: 'hsla(200, 100%, 30%, 0.5)',
 cursorColor: '#fff',
 // This parameter makes the waveform look like SoundCloud's player
 barWidth: 3
});

Lastly, direct wavesurfer.js to load the the audio file:

wavesurfer.load('RodStewartMaggieMay.mp3');

Adding buttons to play pause, skip, and mute/unmute is easy with wavesurfer.js as well:

<button onclick="wavesurfer.skipBackward()">
  Backward
</button>

<button onclick="wavesurfer.playPause()">
  Play | Pause
</button>

<button onclick="wavesurfer.skipForward()">
  Forward
</button>

<button onclick="wavesurfer.toggleMute()">
  Toggle Mute
</button>

wavesurfer.js highlights each bar as the song moves on, even allowing you to skip throughout the song as you click on points in the waveform visualization!

wavesurfer.js takes only a moment to implement but with its massive configuration list you can spend as much time as you'd like making the waveform visualization fit your branding.

Recent Features

  • By
    9 More Mind-Blowing WebGL Demos

    With Firefox OS, asm.js, and the push for browser performance improvements, canvas and WebGL technologies are opening a world of possibilities.  I featured 9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos and then took it up a level with 9 Mind-Blowing WebGL Demos, but I want to outdo...

  • By
    9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos

    The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks.  Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead.  Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Implementing Basic and Fancy Show/Hide in MooTools 1.2

    One of the great parts of MooTools is that the library itself allows for maximum flexibility within its provided classes. You can see evidence of this in the "Class" class' implement method. Using the implement method, you can add your own methods to...

  • By
    CSS Fixed Position Background Image

    Backgrounds have become an integral part of creating a web 2.0-esque website since gradients have become all the rage. If you think gradient backgrounds are too cliche, maybe a fixed position background would work for you? It does provide a neat inherent effect by...

Discussion

  1. Thanks for this guideline but player not working in IOS (Chrome & Safari)

  2. Thank you for the article! We are having difficulty showing multiple waveforms on the same page. Do you have any advice for us?

  3. ahsan

    wave surfer doesn’t load any live link .work good with local file which not helpful any longer

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!