***

id: 5e1fcf1c-0b94-4053-8bea-0ffba9ae8ef3
title: play
slug: /node/reference/video/room-session/play
description: play method for the RoomSession class.
max-toc-depth: 3
----------------

[roomsession-41]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/video/room-session

[roomsessionplayback-12]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/video/room-session-playback

[roomsessionplayback-4]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/video/room-session-playback

[video-roomsessionplayback]: /docs/server-sdk/v4/node/reference/video/room-session-playback#events

### play

* **play**(`params`): `Promise`\<[`RoomSessionPlayback`][roomsessionplayback-12]>

Start a playback in the room. You can use the returned [RoomSessionPlayback][roomsessionplayback-4]
object to control the playback (e.g., pause, resume, setVolume and stop).

#### Parameters

<ParamField path="params" type="object" required>
  Object containing the parameters of the method.
</ParamField>

<Indent>
  <ParamField path="url" type="string" required>
    The url (http, https, rtmp, rtmps) of the stream to reproduce.
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="seekPosition" type="number" default="0">
    The starting timecode in milliseconds for playback.
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="volume" type="number" default="0">
    The playback volume from -50 to 50.
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="positions" type="VideoPositions">
    Positions to assign as soon as the playback starts. You can use the special keyword `self` to refer to the id of the playback.
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="layout" type="string">
    Layout to change to when the playback starts.
  </ParamField>

  <ParamField path="listen" type="object">
    Object of event listeners. See [RoomSessionPlayback Events][video-roomsessionplayback] for a list of valid events. Example event: `onStarted`.
  </ParamField>
</Indent>

#### Returns

`Promise`\<[`RoomSessionPlayback`][roomsessionplayback-12]>

A promise that resolves to a [`RoomSessionPlayback`][roomsessionplayback-12] object.

#### Example

In this example, we wait for a room to start and then play a video in that room.
When a second member joins the roomSession, we stop the playback.
This example assumes that there is a [`RoomSession`][roomsession-41]
already active and that members are joining the room.

```js
import { SignalWire } from "@signalwire/realtime-api";

// Initialize the SignalWire client
const client = await SignalWire({ project: "ProjectID Here", token: "Token Here" })

// Access the video client from the main client
const videoClient = client.video;

// Setup listener for when a room starts
await videoClient.listen({
  onRoomStarted: async (roomSession) => {
    console.log("Room started", roomSession.displayName);

    // play wait music
    let roomPlayback = roomSession.play({
      url: "https://cdn.signalwire.com/default-music/welcome.mp3",
      listen: {
        onStarted: () => console.log("Playback started"),
        onUpdated: (playback) => console.log("Playback updated", playback.state),
        onEnded: () => console.log("Playback ended")
      }
    });
    await roomSession.listen({
      onMemberJoined: (member) => {
        console.log("Member joined", member.name);
        roomPlayback.stop();
      },
      onMemberLeft: (member) => {
        console.log("Member left", member.name);
      },
    });
  },
  onRoomEnded: async (roomSession) => {
    console.log("Room ended", roomSession.displayName);
  }
});
```