HTML ended DOM Event: Reference and Examples

When someone interacts with a webpage, the browser sends events to the relevant JavaScript code. The ended event happens when audio or video reaches the end of playback.

When ended happens

Audio or video reaches the end of playback.

You can listen for it using addEventListener(). That keeps event handling separate from HTML attributes such as onclick and works well with modern code organization.

A small working example

<video id="demo-target" controls preload="metadata" width="320">
    <source src="sample-video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>
<p id="event-status" role="status">Waiting for ended...</p>
<script>
    const eventTarget = document.getElementById("demo-target");
    const eventStatus = document.getElementById("event-status");

    if (eventTarget) {
        eventTarget.addEventListener("ended", (eventDetails) => {
            eventStatus.textContent = "ended event received";
            console.log(eventDetails.type, eventDetails.target);
        });
    }
</script>

Reading the code

The browser listens for ended on the relevant target. When the event occurs, the callback receives eventDetails, updates the status message and logs the event name and target in Developer Tools.

Play a short file all the way to the end without loop enabled.

To test this example, put a real supported media file at the shown path. Events tied to buffering or download behavior may not fire in the same order on every connection. An unavailable sample file is not proof that your event listener is broken.

Try it in your browser

Open the page, show the Console panel, and follow this test: Play a short file all the way to the end without loop enabled. Then change one thing in the example and observe whether the event still fires.

Common Beginner Mistakes

• Expecting ended to fire without its required user action or browser condition.
• Play a short file all the way to the end without loop enabled.
• Adding repeated event listeners without considering cleanup or unwanted side effects.

Key Takeaways

• ended reports audio or video reaches the end of playback.
• addEventListener("ended", ...) listens for the event on the appropriate target.
• Play a short file all the way to the end without loop enabled.