HTML Guides for param
Learn how to identify and fix common HTML validation errors flagged by the W3C Validator — so your pages are standards-compliant and render correctly across every browser. Also check our Accessibility Guides.
The <param> element is obsolete in HTML5 and should no longer be used inside <object> elements.
The <param> element was originally used to pass named parameters to plugins embedded via <object>, such as Flash, Java applets, or Windows Media Player. Since modern browsers have dropped support for these plugins, the <param> element lost its purpose and was removed from the HTML living standard.
If the <object> element references an external resource like a video, PDF, or image, the resource URL belongs in the data attribute of the <object> element itself. The type attribute should specify the MIME type of the resource.
For media playback, the <video> and <audio> elements are the standard replacements. For other embedded content, <iframe> or <embed> may be more appropriate depending on the use case.
HTML examples
Before: obsolete param element
<object>
<paramname="movie"value="video.mp4">
<paramname="autoplay"value="true">
</object>
After: using the data attribute on object
<objectdata="video.mp4"type="video/mp4">
<p>Your browser does not support this content.</p>
</object>
After: using video for media playback
<videosrc="video.mp4"controls>
<p>Your browser does not support this video.</p>
</video>
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