HTML attribute: capture

The capture attribute specifies that, optionally, a new file should be captured, and which device should be used to capture that new media of a type defined by the accept attribute.

Values include user and environment. The capture attribute is supported on the file input type.

The capture attribute takes as its value a string that specifies which camera to use for capture of image or video data, if the accept attribute indicates that the input should be of one of those types.

Value Description
user The user-facing camera and/or microphone should be used.
environment The outward-facing camera and/or microphone should be used

Note: Capture was previously a Boolean attribute which, if present, requested that the device's media capture device(s) such as camera or microphone be used instead of requesting a file input.

Try it

Examples

When set on a file input type, operating systems with microphones and cameras will display a user interface allowing the selection from an existing file or the creating of a new one.

html

<p>
  <label for="soundFile">What does your voice sound like?:</label>
  <input type="file" id="soundFile" capture="user" accept="audio/*" />
</p>
<p>
  <label for="videoFile">Upload a video:</label>
  <input type="file" id="videoFile" capture="environment" accept="video/*" />
</p>
<p>
  <label for="imageFile">Upload a photo of yourself:</label>
  <input type="file" id="imageFile" capture="user" accept="image/*" />
</p>

Note these work better on mobile devices; if your device is a desktop computer, you'll likely get a typical file picker.

Specifications

Specification
HTML Media Capture
# dfn-capture

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also