ReferenceButtons

media-captions-button

Accessible captions toggle button with availability detection and state reflection

Import

import '@videojs/html/ui/captions-button';

Anatomy

<media-captions-button></media-captions-button>

Behavior

Toggles captions and subtitles on and off. The button checks the media’s text track list for tracks with kind="captions" or kind="subtitles".

When none are present, the element receives the native hidden attribute. The raw state remains available as data-availability.

An explicitly disabled button with caption tracks stays visible and focusable with aria-disabled="true" and data-disabled, but does not toggle captions.

When menu-for is set to a menu’s id and multiple caption or subtitle tracks are available, activation opens the linked captions menu instead of toggling captions directly.

Styling

Style the button based on active state:

media-captions-button[data-active] .icon-on { display: inline; }
media-captions-button:not([data-active]) .icon-off { display: inline; }

Style an explicitly disabled, available button:

media-captions-button[data-disabled] {
  cursor: not-allowed;
  opacity: 0.5;
}

The button hides automatically when no caption tracks are available. No availability selector or extra hiding CSS is required.

Accessibility

Renders a <button> with an automatic aria-label: “Disable captions” when active, “Enable captions” when inactive. Override with the label prop. Keyboard activation: Enter / Space.

In menu-trigger mode, the button behaves as a menu trigger and reflects menu state through the trigger attributes.

Examples

Basic Usage

Captions Off Captions On

<video-player class="video-player">
  <media-container>
    <video src="https://stream.mux.com/BV3YZtogl89mg9VcNBhhnHm02Y34zI1nlMuMQfAbl3dM/highest.mp4" autoplay muted playsinline loop>
      <track kind="captions" src="/docs/demos/captions-button/captions.vtt" srclang="en" label="English" />
    </video>
    <media-captions-button class="media-captions-button">
      <span class="active">Captions Off</span>
      <span class="inactive">Captions On</span>
    </media-captions-button>
  </media-container>
</video-player>

.video-player media-container {
  position: relative;
}

.video-player media-container video {
  width: 100%;
}

.media-captions-button {
  position: absolute;
  bottom: 10px;
  left: 10px;
  padding-block: 8px;
  padding-inline: 20px;
  color: black;
  cursor: pointer;
  background: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);
  border: 1px solid rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.3);
  border-radius: 9999px;
  backdrop-filter: blur(10px);
}

.media-captions-button .active {
  display: none;
}
.media-captions-button .inactive {
  display: none;
}
.media-captions-button[data-active] .active {
  display: inline;
}
.media-captions-button:not([data-active]) .inactive {
  display: inline;
}

import '@videojs/html/video/player';
import '@videojs/html/ui/container';
import '@videojs/html/ui/captions-button';

API Reference

Props

Prop	Type	Default
`disabled`	`boolean`	`false`
Description Whether the button is disabled.
`label`	`object`	`''`
Description Custom label for the button. Type `{ key: string; text: string } \| string \| ((state: CaptionsButtonState) => Text \| string)`

State

State is reflected as data attributes for CSS styling.

Property	Type	Details
`subtitlesShowing`	`boolean`
Description Whether captions/subtitles are currently enabled.
`label`	`{ key: string; text: string } \| string`
`availability`	`'available' \| 'unavailable'`
Description Whether caption/subtitle tracks are present.
`disabled`	`boolean`
Description Non-interactive but still focusable (mirrors `aria-disabled`).
`hidden`	`boolean`
Description Whether the button is hidden because no caption tracks are present.

Data attributes

Attribute	Type	Details
`data-active`	—
Description Present when captions are enabled.
`data-availability`	`'available' \| 'unavailable'`
Description Indicates captions availability (`available` or `unavailable`).
`data-disabled`	—
Description Present when the button is non-interactive (mirrors `aria-disabled`).
`data-hidden`	—
Description Present when the button is hidden because no caption tracks are present.