Audio not working for HTML5 output in Chrome using Storyline 360

Nov 22, 2017

Hi all,

Very recently switched over to Storyline 360 and I am having issues with audio playback in Chrome. For some slides, audio does not play and I need to move the seekbar back to the start of the slide to get it to work.

Publishing the exact same project using Storyline 3 causes no issues and audio plays perfectly.

Anyone else experiencing this issue?

Cheers, Lloyd

 

 

93 Replies
Brigid Naglich

I have the same problem. Working in Mac / Parallels - I'm saving as html5 in Storyline, adding seamless audio in Notepad, then I'm able to hear the audio with no problem. I upload to AWS, and the audio is fine. Once I add to Canvas, I can no longer hear the audio.

Not sure if it's a Mac / Parallels issue, or a Chrome issue? I've posted on a couple of these threads, but haven't found a solution.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Parameswari,

Do you know what version of Chrome you're using? Also, when you mention the audio is not working do you just not hear it playing back at all? Depending on your version of Chrome in each environment it could be the changes they implemented (and have slightly rolled back) detailed here. You'll want to update to the latest Storyline 2 Update and republish your Storyline content. 

Let me know if you need anything else!  

Megan Creegan

I'm wondering if anyone has had experience with courses that have been published that were once working, but are not working now. I'm just concerned that I have 100's of courses out there before this Chrome change was rolled out. I don't have time to test them all. Just looking for some confirmation that it won't affect the old courses created in Storyline 1, Storyline 2, or even SL360 that were published a while ago.

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Megan,

It'll depend on the version of Chrome your learners are viewing the course in, and if they're viewing the HTML5 output or Flash...but I'd say to be safe, you'd want to publish your courses with the latest update to take advantage of that and ensure your learners have audio. 

You can read a bit more about the changes Chrome has implemented (including the rollback of some of the audio changes) in our article here and you'll also find links to update your courses created in Storyline 2, Storyline 3 and Storyline 360 by installing the latest version of each and republishing. 

Let me know if you need anything else! 

Sameer khan

Hi Team,

I am also facing the same issue. Basically chrome is not playing the audio for the first time. It need to click trigger. For example if i click anywhere on screen audio starts playing. But when i load the screen for the first time it does not. 

In order to play the audio I have to click anywhere on the screen.

Lisa Anderson

Hi Team,

I recently was having the same issue and after much research I found out that Chrome made changes to their browser and it effects audio. I fixed this issue yesterday by downloading and running the Articulate Updater for this issue. You can update all your files in one swoop if you want, or just the one you are working on now.

Here's the link.

I hope this helps you. It totally helped me.

Lisa

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Doug,

Sorry, we missed this last week! The fastest way to get help is to connect with our Support Team for one on one assistance. 

Are you still having trouble today with content you publish to Review 360? Can you check what update of Storyline 360 you're using? (The latest is Storyline 360, build 3.29.19305.0) Also, let me know what browser(s) you've tested the course in.

The original issue this discussion dealt with on Chrome not playing audio is fixed as noted here. 

Tim Neill

When will this long-standing bug of 'not playing audio on the first screen' of web-published files be fixed?

It seems incredible that an expensive, commercially available authoring system still has this problem - we put up with it in SL2, lengthening the delay on the timeline before the first audio started, to work around it on most occasions. Now we have upgraded to latest SL3 and the problem is still there.

It happens with different browsers, accessed locally or on-line, on PC or Mac.

I have been authoring corporate eLearning courses since 1986 (Authorware, Flash, Storyline since 2012) and I am dismayed that in 2019 such a fundamental flaw is apparently tolerated in this way. For goodness sake, please just fix it.

Leslie McKerchie

Hi Tim,

I wanted to share our current documentation on the way audio is handled.

Are you running into a different behavior than what is outlined there?

If you're on the latest update, your learners should see a play button if there is audio on the first slide.

If you're experiencing something different, then with your permission, I'd like you to share your project file with our support engineers to investigate what's happening. You can share it privately by uploading it here. It will be deleted when troubleshooting is complete.

Tim Neill

Hi Leslie,

Many thanks for your quick response.

We are running Storyline 3: Update 6: 3.6.18134.0.

Your document does explain why audio is sometimes not playing on the first screen. A browser 'Play' button appears when running under Firefox or Google Chrome.

No 'Play' button appears under Safarai or IE and for both these browser and 'first screen' audio starts playing automarically.

I haven't yet experienced Chrome 'learning' not to display a 'Play' button after repeat visits. This does all look promising but we need to do some more testing. We are also trying to assess why SL3 courses are running less responsively than their exact SL2 versions.

Regards,

Tim

 

 

Ashley Terwilliger-Pollard

Hi Tim,

Thanks for those details and clarification. Internet Explorer hasn't implemented a similar audio play issue yet, but we'll keep folks posted if they do. Safari has implemented the autoplay changes but has a similar "learning" option as Chrome does. It's hard to predict when and where that'll happen but when Chrome/Safari detects the media and doesn't autoplay it, we'll present the play button. 

Hope that helps offer some more insight and we'll keep folks posted if we hear of any other changes! 

Lisa Anderson

When I was having this issue, and reached out to the forum, I was led to this article to help with the issue until it's fixed: 

https://articulate.com/support/article/articulate-updater-release-notes-and-instructions

It's truly bothersome to have t run this update after each publish and before uploading to a web server, but it seem to help with both Chrome and IE, from my experience. 

Half dozen to the other...however that saying goes...it's either run the updater, or insert your starting slide with a play button. Not ideal, I know, but either is what I've had to do, until it's fixed.

Cheers,

Lisa

Lauren Connelly

Hello Nadeem!

Oh no! I'm so sorry you're running into this issue with importing audio. Do you have the audio saved to your local drive before importing? If not, I'd recommend saving the audio to either your Documents folder or desktop and then importing it.

If this doesn't do the trick, I'd like our Support Engineers to step in! You can use this link to connect with a Support Engineer.

Wendy Matkin

I am encountering this problem currently. Four modules created the same, all play fine online (web export) outside a LMS except for those using Chrome. Audio does not start and the play button does not appear. We are using updated, current  Storyline 360. Any suggestions would be helpful and greatly appreciated!!