Media player stopped playing

The Media player stopped playing trigger fires when playback stops on a media player. Use it when you want Home Assistant to react after listening or watching ends.

Use Media player stopped playing to turn off lights, return a room to its normal state, or start another routine only when playback is fully finished.

Using this trigger from the user interface

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

To use Media player stopped playing in an automation:

1. Go to Settings > Automations & scenes.
2. Open an existing automation, or select Create automation > Create new automation.
3. In the When section, select Add trigger.
4. Select what you want to monitor. Under By target (see Targets), pick the media player you want to watch. You can also select an area, a floor, a device, or a label.
5. From the triggers shown for that target, select Media player stopped playing.
6. Under Trigger when (see Behavior), choose how multiple targeted media players should behave. The default is Each.
7. Under For at least, enter how long playback must stay stopped before the trigger fires. The default is 0.
8. Select Save.

Options in the UI

Using this trigger 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, this trigger is referred to as media_player.stopped_playing. A basic example looks like this:

trigger: media_player.stopped_playing
target:
  entity_id: media_player.living_room_tv

This fires when playback stops on the living room TV.

To wait until all targeted media players have stayed stopped for 5 minutes:

trigger: media_player.stopped_playing
target:
  area_id: media_room
options:
  behavior: last
  for: "00:05:00"

Options in YAML

Targets of the trigger

This trigger requires a target. The target is the object that Home Assistant will watch. You can select 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 as a target, and Home Assistant will watch 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 trigger. For example, you can add a specific entity and an area as targets in the same trigger to monitor 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 Trigger when option controls how the trigger responds:

• Each (any in YAML, default): the trigger fires every time any one of the targeted entities transitions. For example, if you monitor three motion sensors in the living room and someone walks past sensor 1, the automation fires. When they walk past sensor 2 a moment later, it fires again. Every individual event counts.
• First (first in YAML): the trigger fires only on the first transition in the targeted group, then waits until all targeted entities have reset before it fires again. For example, if you monitor the same three motion sensors, the automation fires when the first one picks up movement (someone entered the room). The other two firing afterward are ignored, so you get one notification per “someone walked in” event instead of three.
• All (last in YAML): the trigger fires only after the last targeted entity in the group has fired, meaning all of them are now in the expected state. For example, if you monitor the lights in the living room, bedroom, and hallway, the automation fires only once all three have turned off. This is useful for scenarios like “start the robot vacuum only after every light on the floor is off,” so you know the room is truly empty.

Good to know

• This trigger is for playback stopping. If playback is only paused, use Media player paused playing instead.
• Media players that are unavailable or unknown do not count as stopped until they report a supported playback state again.
• If you want to react as soon as playback begins, use Media player started playing.

Try it yourself

Ready to test this? Go to Settings > Automations & scenes, create a new automation, and add this trigger. Save the automation, then change the state of the targeted entity to watch the trigger fire 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].

More examples

Real scenarios where this trigger fires in automations and scripts. Copy any example and adapt it to your setup.

Automation: turn off a bias light when the TV stops

When the living room TV stops playing, turn off the bias light behind it.

• Trigger: Media player stopped playing
  • Target: Living room TV
• Action: Turn off light
  • Target: TV bias light

alias: "Turn off the bias light when the TV stops"
triggers:
  - trigger: media_player.stopped_playing
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.living_room_tv
actions:
  - action: light.turn_off
    target:
      entity_id: light.tv_bias_light

Automation: restore the thermostat after music ends

When the patio speakers stop playing, set the patio climate back to a more comfortable temperature.

• Trigger: Media player stopped playing
  • Target: Patio speakers
• Action: Set temperature
  • Target: Patio thermostat

alias: "Restore the patio temperature when music ends"
triggers:
  - trigger: media_player.stopped_playing
    target:
      entity_id: media_player.patio_speakers
actions:
  - action: climate.set_temperature
    target:
      entity_id: climate.patio
    data:
      temperature: 22

Still stuck?

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

Related triggers

These triggers work well alongside this one:

• Media player paused playing: Triggers after one or more media players pause playing.

• Media player started playing: Triggers after one or more media players start playing.