Pause All Sounds Simultaneously in Howler.js

When managing complex audio environments in web applications, there are times when you need to halt all audio playback at once, such as when a user pauses a game or navigates away from a tab. While Howler.js provides a global Howler object to control master volume and muting, it does not feature a single native Howler.pause() method. This article explains how to quickly pause and resume all currently playing sounds simultaneously by accessing Howler’s internal registry.

The Solution: Iterating Over Active Howls

To pause every active sound at the same time, you must iterate through the global array of active Howl instances maintained by the library. This array is stored in the internal Howler._howls property.

Here is the JavaScript code to pause all playing sounds:

// Pause all active Howler.js sounds simultaneously
Howler._howls.forEach(howl => {
    howl.pause();
});

How It Works

  1. Howler._howls: This is an internal array containing every instantiated Howl object currently active in your application.
  2. forEach Loop: The code loops through each individual audio instance.
  3. howl.pause(): Calling the .pause() method on each instance pauses playback and preserves the current playback position (seek time), allowing the audio to be resumed from the exact same spot later.

How to Resume All Sounds

To resume playback for all paused sounds from where they left off, use the exact same logic but call the .play() method instead:

// Resume all paused Howler.js sounds simultaneously
Howler._howls.forEach(howl => {
    howl.play();
});

Alternative: Pause vs. Mute vs. Stop

Depending on your use case, pausing might not be the only global control you need: