goldfire/howler.js

Health v2 · maintenance only

Adoption not part of the score

25337 stars · 2275 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

howler.js is a JavaScript audio library that provides a single, consistent API for audio playback on the web, defaulting to the Web Audio API with an HTML5 Audio fallback. It supports all codecs, audio sprites, spatial/3D sound, and works across all major browsers with zero dependencies.

Use cases

• play sound effects in a browser game
• build a music player in javascript
• play audio sprites with precise control
• add 3D spatial audio or stereo panning to a web app
• handle cross-browser audio playback quirks
• fade, loop, and seek audio in the browser
• play multiple sounds simultaneously in javascript

When to choose

• you need reliable cross-browser audio playback including older browsers like IE9
• you want a tiny, dependency-free audio library (~7kb gzipped)
• you need audio sprites, spatial audio, or fine-grained playback control
• you're building a web game or interactive experience with sound

When to avoid

• you need audio synthesis or generative music rather than playback of audio files
• you're working in Node.js or another non-browser environment
• you need advanced DSP effects chains beyond what Web Audio basics offer
• you're building a native mobile app without a web view

Facets

library · maturity stable

audio-processing ui-components web-development frontend browser cross-platform web-audio html5-audio audio-sprites spatial-audio sound-playback zero-dependencies audio game-development javascript

Member repositories

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="goldfire/howler.js")