Play media

Use this action to play specific media on a media player, such as a song, a playlist, or a video.

Using this action from the user interface

If you prefer building automations and scripts visually, Home Assistant walks you through this action step by step. You pick what to target, tweak a few options, and save. No YAML knowledge required.

To play media from an automation or a script:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation or script, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. If you’re setting up a new automation, add a trigger in the When section. Scripts don’t need a trigger. They run when something else calls them.
4. In the Then do section, select Add action.
5. Select what you want to control. Under By target (see Targets), select the media player you want to control.
6. From the actions shown for that target, select Play media.
7. Select the Media you want to play, and set the other options if you need them.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this action in YAML

If you work directly in YAML, or you want to know exactly what Home Assistant does under the hood, this section has the technical reference. It lists the field names you use in YAML, their types, and which ones are required.

In YAML, refer to this action as media_player.play_media. A basic example looks like this:

action: media_player.play_media
target:
  entity_id: media_player.living_room
data:
  media_content_id: "https://example.com/stream/aac"
  media_content_type: music

This plays the given stream on media_player.living_room.

Options in YAML

Extra dictionary data

The extra option accepts the following values. Support depends on the media player, and most of these apply to Cast devices.

For more details on the Cast values, see the Google Cast MediaData and MediaInformation documentation.

Targets of the action

This action requires a target. The target is the object of the action. You can point the action at a single entityAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more], a device, an area, a floor, or a label, and Home Assistant will run the action on every matching media_player entity behind that target.

• Entity: one specific media_player entity, such as media_player.living_room.
• Device: every media_player entity that belongs to a device.
• Area: every media_player entity in a room or area.
• Floor: every media_player entity on a floor.
• Label: every media_player entity that shares a label.

You can also select different target types in one action. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same action to run the action on both of them at once.

Good to know

• The format of media_content_id and the supported extra values depend on the media player.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Open Developer tools > Actions, search for this action, fill in the fields, and select Perform action. You see what happens on your actual entitiesAn entity represents a sensor, actor, or function in Home Assistant. Entities are used to monitor physical properties or to control other entities. An entity is usually part of a device or a service. [Learn more] without writing a line of YAML.

More examples

Real scenarios where this action shows up in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Example: play a stream with a title and thumbnail

This example plays an audio stream on a Cast device and sets a title and thumbnail image:

action: media_player.play_media
target:
  entity_id: media_player.chromecast
data:
  media_content_type: music
  media_content_id: "https://example.com/stream/aac"
  extra:
    thumb: "https://brands.home-assistant.io/_/homeassistant/logo.png"
    title: Home Assistant Radio

Still stuck?

The Home Assistant community is quick to help: join Discord for real-time chat, post on the community forum with the action you’re calling and what you expected to happen, or share on our subreddit /r/homeassistant.

Related actions

These actions work well alongside this one:

• Browse media: Browses the media available on a media player.

• Search media: Searches the media available on a media player.

• Select media player source: Changes the input source of a media player.