Media player is on

The Media player is on condition passes when the selected media player is turned on. Use it when an automation should continue only if the device is powered and ready.

Use Media player is on to send follow-up commands only to active devices, to decide whether a room is in use, or to guard actions that only make sense when a TV, speaker, or receiver is already on.

Using this condition from the user interface

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

To use Media player is on in an automation:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. In the And if section, select Add condition.
4. Select what you want to check. Under By target (see Targets), pick the media player you want to evaluate. You can also select an area, a floor, a device, or a label.
5. From the conditions shown for that target, select Media player is on.
6. Under Condition passes if (see Behavior), choose how multiple targeted media players should behave. The default is Any.
7. Under For at least, enter how long the media player must stay on before the condition passes. The default is 0.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this condition 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 condition as media_player.is_on. A basic example looks like this:

condition: media_player.is_on
target:
  entity_id: media_player.receiver

This passes when the receiver is on.

To require all targeted media players to stay on for 1 minute:

condition: media_player.is_on
target:
  area_id: downstairs
options:
  behavior: all
  for: "00:01:00"

Options in YAML

Targets of the condition

This condition requires a target. The target is the object that Home Assistant will check. You can point the condition 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 evaluate 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 condition. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same condition to check both of them at once.

Behavior with multiple targets

When you target more than one entity (or select an area, floor, or label that contains several), the Condition passes if option controls how the results combine:

• Any (default): the condition passes if at least one of the targeted entities matches. For example, if you check three smoke sensors and only one of them detects smoke, the condition still passes. This is useful for questions like “is there smoke anywhere in the house?”
• All: the condition passes only when every targeted entity matches. For example, if you check the same three smoke sensors, the condition passes only once all three report cleared. This is useful for “is the entire house safe now?” checks, so your automation does not send an all-clear while one room still has a reading.

Good to know

• This condition checks whether the device is on, even if nothing is playing yet.
• Media players that are unavailable or unknown are skipped for Any and fail for All.
• If you need to make sure playback has actually started, use Media player is playing instead.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, open an automation, and add this condition. Trigger the automation with and without the condition met, and watch whether it continues or stops.

More examples

Real scenarios where this condition gates an automation. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: only set the source when the receiver is already on

When you press a dashboard button, change the receiver source only if it is already on.

• Trigger: Button pressed
• Condition: Media player is on
  • Target: Receiver
• Action: Select media player source
  • Target: Receiver

alias: "Set the receiver source only when it is on"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: input_button.receiver_source_button
conditions:
  - condition: media_player.is_on
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.receiver
actions:
  - action: media_player.select_source
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.receiver
    data:
      source: "TV"

Automation: start a movie scene only when all room devices are on

When the movie scene button is pressed, close the blinds only if every targeted media player in the room is already on.

• Trigger: Button pressed
• Condition: Media player is on
  • Target: Media room
  • Condition passes if: All
• Action: Close cover
  • Target: Media room blinds

alias: "Close the blinds only when all room devices are on"
triggers:
  - trigger: state
    entity_id: input_button.movie_scene
conditions:
  - condition: media_player.is_on
    target:
      area_id: media_room
    options:
      behavior: all
actions:
  - action: cover.close_cover
    target:
      entity_id: cover.media_room_blinds

Still stuck?

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

Related conditions

These conditions work well alongside this one:

• Media player is off: Tests if one or more media players are off.

• Media player is playing: Tests if one or more media players are playing.