Media browser service overview
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You create a media browser service by extending the supported
MediaBrowserServiceCompat or MediaLibraryService classes. Android
Auto and Android Automotive OS (AAOS) can then use your service to:
You can also use your media browser service to let other clients access media
content from your app. These media clients might be other apps on a user's
phone, or they can be other remote clients.
Contents
These pages detail how to work with the media browser:
Design guidelines
To learn more about design guidelines, see:
Content and code samples on this page are subject to the licenses described in the Content License. Java and OpenJDK are trademarks or registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
Last updated 2025-08-12 UTC.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-12 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Media browser service overview\n\nYou create a media browser service by extending the supported\n[`MediaBrowserServiceCompat`](/reference/androidx/media/MediaBrowserServiceCompat) or [`MediaLibraryService`](/media/media3/session/serve-content) classes. Android\nAuto and Android Automotive OS (AAOS) can then use your service to:\n\n- Browse your app's content hierarchy to present a menu to the user.\n\n- Get the token for your app's [`MediaSessionCompat`](/reference/android/support/v4/media/session/MediaSessionCompat) object to control\n audio playback.\n\nYou can also use your media browser service to let other clients access media\ncontent from your app. These media clients might be other apps on a user's\nphone, or they can be other remote clients.\n\nContents\n--------\n\nThese pages detail how to work with the media browser:\n\n- [Media browser lifecycle](/training/cars/media/create-media-browsers/workflow)\n- [Build content hierarchy](/training/cars/media/create-media-browser/content-hierarchy)\n- [Apply content styles](/training/cars/media/create-media-browser/content-styles)\n- [Display media artwork](/training/cars/media/create-media-browser/media-artwork)\n- [Display browsable search results](/training/cars/media/create-media-browser/browsable-search)\n- [Implement custom browse actions](/training/cars/media/create-media-browser/custom-browse-actions)\n\nDesign guidelines\n-----------------\n\nTo learn more about design guidelines, see:\n\n- [Plan navigation tabs](https://developers.google.com/cars/design/create-apps/media-apps/navigation-tabs)\n- [Plan browsing views](https://developers.google.com/cars/design/create-apps/media-apps/browsing-views)"]]
