A button used for pausing audio or video content. Emoji

Symbols

Two bold, vertical parallel bars set against a square or rounded square background. This icon acts as a universal visual cue for stopping playback on media players.

Usage Context

Used globally to tell someone to wait, hold a thought, or stop a recording. It is the go-to icon for digital media controls, often found right next to ▶️ or ⏹️ on remote controls and app interfaces.

History

The double-bar symbol emerged in the mid-20th century on analog tape recorders to denote the pause function, distinguishing it from the stop button. It was standardized in early digital software interfaces to ensure users could immediately recognize playback controls without reading text labels.

Details

Glyph

⏸

Unicode

U+23F8

Shortcode

:emoji_u23f8:

HTML Entity

⏸

Specifications

Vendor Twitter/X

Category Symbols

Subcategory av-symbol

Unicode Version 6.0

Emoji Version 1.0

License CC-BY 4.0

Twemoji Attribution

Emoji graphics by Twitter/X, licensed under CC-BY 4.0

Twemoji graphics are licensed under CC-BY 4.0. You must provide appropriate credit when redistributing or modifying these assets.

CC-BY 4.0 License Twemoji Repository