diff --git a/docs/requirements.md b/docs/requirements.md
index d7ef42a3..8cfd5063 100644
--- a/docs/requirements.md
+++ b/docs/requirements.md
@@ -248,6 +248,7 @@ Internal architecture, components, and application logic.
 | DR-091 | Search result groups split TV into separate Shows and Episodes groups and add a People group (default order: Shows → Episodes → Movies → Songs → Albums → Artists → People); a stored `tvShows` order from before the split expands in place to shows+episodes so an upgrading user keeps their arrangement | UI | UR-060 | Done |
 | DR-092 | Video tap gestures resolve in `tapGestures.ts` (pure, unit-tested) rather than inline in `VideoPlayer.svelte`: `registerTap` returns `pending` for a first tap — the component defers `togglePlayPause` behind a `DOUBLE_TAP_WINDOW_MS` (300 ms) timer that a second tap cancels — or `seek` (+30 s right / −10 s left) for a second tap inside the window; a consumed second tap resets the state so a third tap starts fresh, and a swipe cancels the pending tap. The compatibility `click` the browser synthesizes after a touch tap is filtered in `handleVideoClick` so it cannot bypass the deferral. `resolveSeekTarget` converts the delta to the absolute position the facade requires, clamped per DR-095 and chained off a still-in-flight `pendingSeekTarget` so back-to-back skips accumulate instead of all resolving against a not-yet-updated position | UI | UR-061 | Done |
 | DR-094 | Frontend boundary tripwire (`scripts/check-frontend-boundary.sh`) detects Jellyfin item-type array literals **anywhere** in `src/` rather than only inline at an `includeItemTypes:` query site, so a category→type mapping cannot evade the check by being assigned to a named const (the evasion that let the `scoped-search` leak pass CI); requires two adjacent type literals so single-type presentation and `item.type ===` inspection stay legal, and caps the allowlist to force taxonomy into Rust instead of accumulating exceptions | Tooling | - | Done |
+| DR-096 | `Html5PlayerAdapter.play()` is resilient to stall recovery: an in-flight attempt is memoised so concurrent callers (UI plus hls.js gap-controller recovery) share one `element.play()` instead of stacking calls, and an `AbortError` ("play() request was interrupted by a call to pause()") is logged at debug rather than pushed to `host.onError`. The browser raises it whenever a pending play promise is superseded by a pause/seek/source change, which hls.js does routinely while nudging past a stall — reporting it surfaced a player error roughly once per second for the whole stall and left the UI stuck showing paused | Player | UR-005 | Done |
 | DR-095 | Seek targets clamp strictly *inside* the media (`clampSeekTarget`, `END_SEEK_MARGIN_SECONDS` = 6 s ≈ one HLS segment) instead of to the exact `duration`. Landing on the duration makes hls.js request the segment whose start time lies past the end of the media (e.g. a 6330.324 s item → segment 1055 starting at 6336.33 s), which Jellyfin never produces; the fetch times out and hls.js' gap-controller stalls at the last buffered position, presenting as "unpausing or skipping bounces straight back to paused". Applied on both seek paths — the relative-skip `resolveSeekTarget` and the seek-bar drag, whose range input `max` is the duration itself — and floored at 0 so media shorter than the margin still seeks to the start | UI | UR-061 | Done |
 | DR-093 | Traceability coverage gate derives its requirement denominators from `requirements.md` at run time rather than hardcoded literals: `countDefinedRequirements` counts an ID only where it leads a markdown table row (ignoring the "Traces To" column and prose) and deduplicates IDs listed both in the definition tables and in the §3 traceability matrix; `computeCoverage` reports the *intersection* of traced and defined IDs so an ID traced in code but absent from `requirements.md` is surfaced as `orphaned` instead of inflating the ratio past 100%. UT/IT test identifiers are excluded as a separate taxonomy. CI and `bun run traces:coverage` share this computation and fail on both a sub-threshold and an impossible >100% result | Tooling | - | Done |
 
diff --git a/scripts/extract-traces.test.ts b/scripts/extract-traces.test.ts
index 4f730485..f65f7bf0 100644
--- a/scripts/extract-traces.test.ts
+++ b/scripts/extract-traces.test.ts
@@ -175,8 +175,8 @@ describe("live requirements.md", () => {
 
     expect(defined.UR).toBe(61);
     expect(defined.IR).toBe(29);
-    expect(defined.DR).toBe(92);
+    expect(defined.DR).toBe(93);
     expect(defined.JA).toBe(32);
-    expect(defined.total).toBe(214);
+    expect(defined.total).toBe(215);
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.test.ts b/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.test.ts
index 8ce933a7..423b507b 100644
--- a/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.test.ts
@@ -95,6 +95,63 @@ describe("Html5PlayerAdapter", () => {
     expect(video.play).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
 
+  // A stalling HLS stream makes hls.js' gap-controller nudge the element, which
+  // aborts an in-flight play(). That AbortError is transient — the element is
+  // still trying to play — so it must not be surfaced as a player error, or the
+  // UI reports failure ~once a second for the whole stall.
+  it("play() does not report an interrupted-by-pause AbortError as an error", async () => {
+    const abort = new DOMException(
+      "The play() request was interrupted by a call to pause().",
+      "AbortError"
+    );
+    video.play = vi.fn(async () => {
+      throw abort;
+    });
+
+    await adapter.play();
+
+    expect(host.onError).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
+  });
+
+  it("play() still reports a genuine failure", async () => {
+    video.play = vi.fn(async () => {
+      throw new DOMException("no supported source", "NotSupportedError");
+    });
+
+    await adapter.play();
+
+    expect(host.onError).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+    expect(String((host.onError as any).mock.calls[0][0])).toContain("play() failed");
+  });
+
+  it("play() coalesces concurrent attempts into one element.play() call", async () => {
+    // During a stall the UI and recovery paths can both ask to play. Stacking
+    // element.play() calls is what generates the AbortError storm.
+    let resolvePlay: () => void = () => {};
+    video.play = vi.fn(
+      () =>
+        new Promise<void>((r) => {
+          resolvePlay = () => {
+            video.paused = false;
+            r();
+          };
+        })
+    );
+
+    const first = adapter.play();
+    const second = adapter.play();
+    resolvePlay();
+    await Promise.all([first, second]);
+
+    expect(video.play).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
+  });
+
+  it("play() works again after a previous attempt settled", async () => {
+    await adapter.play();
+    await adapter.play();
+    expect(video.play).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(2);
+  });
+
   it("pause() calls element.pause()", async () => {
     video.paused = false;
     await adapter.pause();
diff --git a/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.ts b/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.ts
index 590cf93a..3965ba78 100644
--- a/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.ts
+++ b/src/lib/player/adapters/html5Adapter.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
  * intents flowing through the PlayerAdapter interface while preserving the
  * hard-won element behavior verbatim.
  *
- * TRACES: UR-003, UR-005, UR-020, UR-021 | DR-001, DR-023, DR-024, DR-028
+ * TRACES: UR-003, UR-005, UR-020, UR-021 | DR-001, DR-023, DR-024, DR-028, DR-096
  */
 
 import type { AdapterHost, PlayerAdapter, PlayerLoadOptions } from "./types";
@@ -41,10 +41,24 @@ export interface Html5ElementBridge {
   getMediaSourceId(): string | null;
 }
 
+/**
+ * True for the `AbortError` the browser raises when a pending `play()` promise is
+ * cancelled by a `pause()` (or a source/seek change). It signals "that specific
+ * play attempt was superseded", not "playback failed" — hls.js' stall recovery
+ * produces it routinely, so it must not reach the player's error channel.
+ */
+function isPlayInterruptedError(err: unknown): boolean {
+  if (!err || typeof err !== "object") return false;
+  const { name, message } = err as { name?: string; message?: string };
+  return name === "AbortError" || (message ?? "").includes("interrupted");
+}
+
 export class Html5PlayerAdapter implements PlayerAdapter {
   readonly kind = "html5" as const;
 
   private attachedElement: HTMLVideoElement | null = null;
+  /** In-flight play() attempt, so concurrent callers share one element.play(). */
+  private pendingPlay: Promise<void> | null = null;
   private host: AdapterHost;
   private bridge: Html5ElementBridge;
 
@@ -81,12 +95,31 @@ export class Html5PlayerAdapter implements PlayerAdapter {
   async play(): Promise<void> {
     const el = this.element;
     if (!el) return;
-    try {
-      await el.play();
-      // handlePlay on the element reports "playing"; no double-report here.
-    } catch (err) {
-      this.host.onError(`play() failed: ${err}`);
-    }
+    // Coalesce concurrent attempts. While an HLS stream stalls, the UI and the
+    // gap-controller recovery path can both ask to play; stacking element.play()
+    // calls is what turns one stall into an AbortError storm.
+    if (this.pendingPlay) return this.pendingPlay;
+
+    this.pendingPlay = (async () => {
+      try {
+        await el.play();
+        // handlePlay on the element reports "playing"; no double-report here.
+      } catch (err) {
+        // A play() aborted by a pause() is transient, not a failure: hls.js
+        // nudges the element to recover from a stall, which cancels the pending
+        // play promise while the element keeps trying. Surfacing it would report
+        // an error roughly once a second for the duration of the stall.
+        if (isPlayInterruptedError(err)) {
+          console.debug("[Html5PlayerAdapter] play() interrupted by pause (stall recovery)");
+        } else {
+          this.host.onError(`play() failed: ${err}`);
+        }
+      } finally {
+        this.pendingPlay = null;
+      }
+    })();
+
+    return this.pendingPlay;
   }
 
   async pause(): Promise<void> {