Login
December 15, 2022Voiced by Amazon Polly |
Introduction
ExoPlayer is an open-source media playback library for android by Google, written in Java. It is an application-level media player which is used to play audio and video both locally and over the internet in android applications. Over 140000 android applications in the Google play store are using ExoPlayer including YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, and WhatsApp. It is designed in a way that is highly customizable, flexible, and easy to use. As it is a library, we can use any of its versions as per our application requirement and we can update it by updating this library.
ExoPlayer Vs MediaPlayer
Helping organizations transform their IT infrastructure with top-notch Cloud Computing services
- Cloud Migration
- Devops
- AIML & IoT
Steps to Implement
We are creating a simple player using the ExoPlayer library using Java as a programming language. We will fetch the video from the URL and play the video inside our ExoPlayer.
Step-1
- Create a new project in the android studio with “No Activity”, give any name to your project, and choose Java as a programming language.
Step-2
- Add the dependency of ExoPlayer in the build.gradle(Module:app)
- There are different dependencies for core support, DASH support, HLS support, and UI support.
- Add the dependency of UI and Core with the latest version for the basic Implementation of ExoPlayer.
1 2 | implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-ui:2.18.1' implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer-core:2.18.1' |
Then enable the view binding by adding the following code in the same file.
1 2 3 4 | viewBinding { enabled=true; } |
- After adding the dependency sync the project.
Step-3
- Add permission for internet access to our application.
- Navigate to AndroidManifest.xml inside the manifest folder of our app and add the following permissions.
1 2 | <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/> <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE"/> |
- Add the following parameter in the application tag of this file to allow the HTTP & Cleartext Traffic on our application.
1 | android:usesCleartextTraffic="true" |
Step-4
- Implementation of ExoPlayer in XML file.
- Navigate to app > res > layout > activity.xml and add the following code inside that XML file.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android" xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto" xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools" android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" tools:context=".MainActivity"> // PlayerView of ExoPlayer <com.google.android.exoplayer2.ui.StyledPlayerView android:layout_width="match_parent" android:layout_height="match_parent" android:id="@+id/player_view" android:keepScreenOn="true" app:use_controller="true" /> </androidx.coordinatorlayout.widget.CoordinatorLayout> |
- We are using the StyledPlayerView for a player view of our ExoPlayer which is the latest provided by the ExoPlayer library. Here we are using the default playback controls of our ExoPlayer but can also use our customized playback controls. For customized controls, create a new XML file in the layout folder and write the XML code as our requirement and replace the parameter app:use_controller=”true” with app:controller_layout_id=”@layout/ (XML filename)”.
Step-5
- Implementation of ExoPlayer in MainActivity.java.
- Navigate to app > java > com.example.(app_name) > MainActivity and add the following code in that file.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 | //com.example.blog is my package name, change it with your package name package com.example.blog; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity; import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ExoPlayer; import android.net.Uri; import android.os.Bundle; import com.example.blog.databinding.ActivityMainBinding; import com.google.android.exoplayer2.MediaItem; public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity { private ActivityMainBinding binding; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); binding=ActivityMainBinding.inflate(getLayoutInflater()); setContentView(binding.getRoot()); //Creating the object of Exoplayer ExoPlayer player = new ExoPlayer.Builder(this).build(); //Binding the playerview with the Exoplayer object binding.playerView.setPlayer(player); //It is a Demo Video URL that is used as a media item in Exoplayer String videoURL = "http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/ElephantsDream.mp4"; //Parsing the Video URL to VideoURI Uri videouri = Uri.parse(videoURL); //Creating an object of MediaItem and adding the videoURI MediaItem mediaItem = MediaItem.fromUri(videouri); //Setting the MediaItem to our Player player.setMediaItem(mediaItem); //Preparing the player player.prepare(); //Playing the Video player.play(); } } |
Output-
Conclusion
We implemented the ExoPlayer Application with default playback controls and with basic functionality. The important feature of the ExoPlayer is that it is highly customizable. Its library has lots of classes and predefined functions which we can use to customize our application as per our needs. There is an ExoPlayer official website available where we can read the official documentation of this library and it also provides a JavaDoc Overview (ExoPlayer library) where we can find the explanation of all the packages, classes, and functions of this library.
Get your new hires billable within 1-60 days. Experience our Capability Development Framework today.
- Cloud Training
- Customized Training
- Experiential Learning
About CloudThat
CloudThat is also the official AWS (Amazon Web Services) Advanced Consulting Partner and Training partner and Microsoft gold partner, helping people develop knowledge of the cloud and help their businesses aim for higher goals using best in industry cloud computing practices and expertise. We are on a mission to build a robust cloud computing ecosystem by disseminating knowledge on technological intricacies within the cloud space. Our blogs, webinars, case studies, and white papers enable all the stakeholders in the cloud computing sphere.
Drop a query if you have any questions regarding ExoPlayer and I will get back to you quickly.
To get started, go through our Consultancy page and Managed Services Package that is CloudThat’s offerings.
FAQs
1. Is it supported on all android devices?
ANS: – No, Exoplayer is supported in android devices having an android version of more than 4.1 and an android API level of more than 16.
2. Can I use ExoPlayer to directly play YouTube videos?
ANS: – ExoPlayer cannot play YouTube videos, i.e., those with URLs like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=.
WRITTEN BY Rohit Lovanshi
Rohit Lovanshi works as a Research Associate (War and Media Services) at CloudThat. He is AWS Developer Associate certified. He has a positive attitude and works effectively in a team. He loves learning about new technology and trying out different approaches to problem-solving.
PREV
Comments