HLS

ExoPlayer supports HLS with multiple container formats. The contained audio and video sample formats must also be supported (see the sample formats section for details). We strongly encourage HLS content producers to generate high quality HLS streams, as described here.

Using MediaItem

To play an HLS stream, you need to depend on the HLS module.

implementation("androidx.media3:media3-exoplayer-hls:1.4.1")

implementation "androidx.media3:media3-exoplayer-hls:1.4.1"

You can then create a MediaItem for an HLS playlist URI and pass it to the player.

// Create a player instance.
val player = ExoPlayer.Builder(context).build()
// Set the media item to be played.
player.setMediaItem(MediaItem.fromUri(hlsUri))
// Prepare the player.
player.prepare()

// Create a player instance.
ExoPlayer player = new ExoPlayer.Builder(context).build();
// Set the media item to be played.
player.setMediaItem(MediaItem.fromUri(hlsUri));
// Prepare the player.
player.prepare();

If your URI doesn't end with .m3u8, you can pass MimeTypes.APPLICATION_M3U8 to setMimeType of MediaItem.Builder to explicitly indicate the type of the content.

The URI of the media item may point to either a media playlist or a multivariant playlist. If the URI points to a multivariant playlist that declares multiple #EXT-X-STREAM-INF tags, then ExoPlayer will automatically adapt between variants, taking into account both available bandwidth and device capabilities.

Using HlsMediaSource

For more customization options, you can create a HlsMediaSource and pass it directly to the player instead of a MediaItem.

// Create a data source factory.
val dataSourceFactory: DataSource.Factory = DefaultHttpDataSource.Factory()
// Create a HLS media source pointing to a playlist uri.
val hlsMediaSource =
  HlsMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory).createMediaSource(MediaItem.fromUri(hlsUri))
// Create a player instance.
val player = ExoPlayer.Builder(context).build()
// Set the HLS media source as the playlist with a single media item.
player.setMediaSource(hlsMediaSource)
// Prepare the player.
player.prepare()

// Create a data source factory.
DataSource.Factory dataSourceFactory = new DefaultHttpDataSource.Factory();
// Create a HLS media source pointing to a playlist uri.
HlsMediaSource hlsMediaSource =
    new HlsMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory).createMediaSource(MediaItem.fromUri(hlsUri));
// Create a player instance.
ExoPlayer player = new ExoPlayer.Builder(context).build();
// Set the HLS media source as the playlist with a single media item.
player.setMediaSource(hlsMediaSource);
// Prepare the player.
player.prepare();

Accessing the manifest

You can retrieve the current manifest by calling Player.getCurrentManifest. For HLS, you should cast the returned object to HlsManifest. The onTimelineChanged callback of Player.Listener is also called whenever the manifest is loaded. This will happen once for on-demand content and possibly many times for live content. The following code snippet shows how an app can do something whenever the manifest is loaded.

player.addListener(
  object : Player.Listener {
    override fun onTimelineChanged(timeline: Timeline, @TimelineChangeReason reason: Int) {
      val manifest = player.currentManifest
      if (manifest is HlsManifest) {
        // Do something with the manifest.
      }
    }
  }
)

player.addListener(
    new Player.Listener() {
      @Override
      public void onTimelineChanged(
          Timeline timeline, @Player.TimelineChangeReason int reason) {
        Object manifest = player.getCurrentManifest();
        if (manifest != null) {
          HlsManifest hlsManifest = (HlsManifest) manifest;
          // Do something with the manifest.
        }
      }
    });

Customizing playback

ExoPlayer provides multiple ways for you to tailor playback experience to your app's needs. See the Customization page for examples.

Disabling chunkless preparation

By default, ExoPlayer will use chunkless preparation. This means that ExoPlayer will only use the information in the multivariant playlist to prepare the stream, which works if the #EXT-X-STREAM-INF tags contain the CODECS attribute.

You may need to disable this feature if your media segments contain muxed closed-caption tracks that are not declared in the multivariant playlist with a #EXT-X-MEDIA:TYPE=CLOSED-CAPTIONS tag. Otherwise, these closed-caption tracks won't be detected and played. You can disable chunkless preparation in the HlsMediaSource.Factory as shown in the following snippet. Note that this will increase start up time as ExoPlayer needs to download a media segment to discover these additional tracks and it is preferable to declare the closed-caption tracks in the multivariant playlist instead.

val hlsMediaSource =
  HlsMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory)
    .setAllowChunklessPreparation(false)
    .createMediaSource(MediaItem.fromUri(hlsUri))

HlsMediaSource hlsMediaSource =
    new HlsMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory)
        .setAllowChunklessPreparation(false)
        .createMediaSource(MediaItem.fromUri(hlsUri));

Creating high quality HLS content

In order to get the most out of ExoPlayer, there are certain guidelines you can follow to improve your HLS content. Read our Medium post about HLS playback in ExoPlayer for a full explanation. The main points are:

• Use precise segment durations.
• Use a continuous media stream; avoid changes in the media structure across segments.
• Use the #EXT-X-INDEPENDENT-SEGMENTS tag.
• Prefer demuxed streams, as opposed to files that include both video and audio.
• Include all information you can in the Multivariant Playlist.

The following guidelines apply specifically for live streams:

• Use the #EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME tag.
• Use the #EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY-SEQUENCE tag.
• Provide a long live window. One minute or more is great.