flutter_vlc_player

Follow these steps to configure Android permissions and build settings:

Permissions

In <project root>/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml:

Internet Access (for remote media/subtitles):

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />

Note: This is often included by default in Flutter projects.

Local Storage (for internal device media/subtitles):

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

Network Security

If you encounter "Cleartext HTTP traffic to * is not permitted", add android:usesCleartextTraffic="true" to the <application> tag in AndroidManifest.xml.

To avoid access denied errors on Android 10, add android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true" to the <application> tag. When using this, access files via paths like /storage/emulated/0/{FilePath} or /sdcard/{FilePath}.

Build Configuration

1. In android/app/build.gradle, add packagingOptions to resolve duplicate C++ library issues:

android {
    packagingOptions {
        pickFirst 'lib/**/libc++_shared.so'
    }
    // ...
}

2. Create android/app/proguard-rules.pro and add the following to prevent VLC classes from being stripped during minification:

-keep class org.videolan.libvlc.** { *; }

The VlcPlayerValue class represents the complete current state of a VlcPlayerController. You can use this object to inspect playback progress, media properties, buffering status, and error states.

Key properties include:

• Playback State: playingState, isPlaying, isBuffering, isEnded, and isLooping.
• Time & Progress: duration (total length), position (current playback point), and playbackSpeed.
• Media Properties: size (video dimensions), aspectRatio (calculated width/height), audioTracksCount, spuTracksCount (subtitles), and videoTracksCount.
• Audio/Subtitle Selection: activeAudioTrack, activeSpuTrack, and activeVideoTrack along with their respective delays.
• Recording: isRecording and recordPath (the path of the recorded file).
• Error Handling: errorDescription and the hasError getter.

If the player is not yet initialized, duration and size will be Duration.zero and Size.zero respectively.

To implement a basic video player, use the VlcPlayerController to initialize the media and the VlcPlayer widget to display it.

Example of playing a network stream with hardware acceleration enabled:

import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:flutter_vlc_player/flutter_vlc_player.dart';

// ... (MyApp and MyHomePage boilerplate)

class _MyHomePageState extends State<MyHomePage> {
  VlcPlayerController _videoPlayerController;

  @override
  void initState() {
    super.initState();

    _videoPlayerController = VlcPlayerController.network(
      'https://media.w3.org/2010/05/sintel/trailer.mp4',
      hwAcc: HwAcc.full,
      autoPlay: false,
      options: VlcPlayerOptions(),
    );
  }

  @override
  void dispose() async {
    super.dispose();
    await _videoPlayerController.stopRendererScanning();
    await _videoPlayerController.dispose();
  }

  @override
  Widget build(BuildContext context) {
    return Scaffold(
      appBar: AppBar(
        title: Text("VLC Player"),
      ),
      body: Center(
        child: VlcPlayer(
          controller: _videoPlayerController,
          aspectRatio: 16 / 9,
          placeholder: Center(child: CircularProgressIndicator()),
        ),
      ),
    );
  }
}

Instead of using deprecated constructor parameters, use the following listener methods to react to player lifecycle and hardware events:

Initialization Listener

Register a callback to be executed once the platform view has been initialized:

• addOnInitListener(VoidCallback listener)
• removeOnInitListener(VoidCallback listener)

Renderer (Cast) Listener

Register a callback to be executed when a cast renderer device (like Chromecast) is attached or detached. The callback signature is void Function(VlcRendererEventType, String, String) where the arguments are (type, uniqueId, name):

• addOnRendererEventListener(RendererCallback listener)
• removeOnRendererEventListener(RendererCallback listener)

controller.addOnInitListener(() {
  print('Player is ready!');
});

controller.addOnRendererEventListener((type, id, name) {
  print('Renderer $name ($id) is now $type');
});

The VlcPlayer widget is the primary UI component used to render video content. It requires a VlcPlayerController to manage the playback state and an aspectRatio to define the video's dimensions.

Parameters

• controller: The VlcPlayerController instance responsible for the video being rendered.
• aspectRatio: The aspect ratio used to display the video. This is mandatory. A common way to calculate this is parentWidth / parentHeight (e.g., using a LayoutBuilder).
• placeholder: An optional widget (such as a CircularProgressIndicator) to display while the platform view is initializing.
• virtualDisplay: A boolean determining whether Virtual displays or Hybrid composition is used on Android. Note that iOS only uses Hybrid composition. Defaults to true.

VlcPlayer(
  controller: myVlcPlayerController,
  aspectRatio: 16 / 9,
  placeholder: CircularProgressIndicator(),
  virtualDisplay: true,
);