Android ExoPlayer Example in Kotlin

This post is based on implementing Exoplayer Library to play media files on Android.

ExoPlayer 

• ExoPlayer is an open source library maintained by Google.
• It  supports a wide range of media files including DASH and HLS streaming which is not supported by the MediaPlayer.
• It provides you the ability to customize your media player according to your requirements.
• ExoPlayer provides the support for the playlist and also provides smooth encryption and streaming of video and audio files.

Let’s create a simple video player app in which we will be fetching a video from a URL and play that video inside our ExoPlayer. 

Creating new Project

1 . Create a new project by going to File ⇒ New Android Project, select Empty Activity, provide app name, select language to kotlin and then finally click on finish.

2 . Open app-level build.gradle file, add the dependency of ExoPlayer in the dependencies section, and sync the project.

build.gradle

dependencies {
    //ExoPlayer dependency
    implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer:2.15.0'
}

3. Go to AndroidManifest.xml and add the internet permission above <application> tag as shown below:

AndroidManifest.xml

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

4. Open the layout file activity_main.xml and add the PlayerView as shown below:

activity_main.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout 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">

    <com.google.android.exoplayer2.ui.PlayerView
        android:id="@+id/playerView"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent" />

</androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

5. Open MainActivity.kt and add the below code:

MainActivity.kt

package com.c1ctech.exoplayerdemo

import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity
import android.os.Bundle
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.*
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.source.MediaSource
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ui.PlayerView
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.util.Util
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.source.ProgressiveMediaSource
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.*
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.DefaultHttpDataSource

class MainActivity : AppCompatActivity(), Player.Listener {

    private var mPlayer: SimpleExoPlayer? = null
    private lateinit var playerView: PlayerView

    private val videoURL =
        "https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckBunny.mp4"

    override fun onCreate(savedInstanceState: Bundle?) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState)
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main)

        //get PlayerView by its id
        playerView = findViewById(R.id.playerView)

    }

    private fun initPlayer() {

        // Create a player instance.
        mPlayer = SimpleExoPlayer.Builder(this).build()

        // Bind the player to the view.
        playerView.player = mPlayer

        //setting exoplayer when it is ready.
        mPlayer!!.playWhenReady = true

        // Set the media source to be played.
        mPlayer!!.setMediaSource(buildMediaSource())

        // Prepare the player.
        mPlayer!!.prepare()

    }

    override fun onStart() {
        super.onStart()
        if (Util.SDK_INT >= 24) {
            initPlayer()
        }
    }

    override fun onResume() {
        super.onResume()
        if (Util.SDK_INT < 24 || mPlayer == null) {
            initPlayer()
        }
    }

    override fun onPause() {
        super.onPause()
        if (Util.SDK_INT < 24) {
            releasePlayer()
        }
    }

    override fun onStop() {
        super.onStop()
        if (Util.SDK_INT >= 24) {
            releasePlayer()
        }
    }


    private fun releasePlayer() {
        if (mPlayer == null) {
            return
        }
        //release player when done
        mPlayer!!.release()
        mPlayer = null
    }

    //creating mediaSource
    private fun buildMediaSource(): MediaSource {
        // Create a data source factory.
        val dataSourceFactory: DataSource.Factory = DefaultHttpDataSource.Factory()

        // Create a progressive media source pointing to a stream uri.
        val mediaSource: MediaSource = ProgressiveMediaSource.Factory(dataSourceFactory)
            .createMediaSource(MediaItem.fromUri(videoURL))

        return mediaSource
    }
}

In the above code, getting started with ExoPlayer consists of implementing the following steps:

1. Create a SimpleExoPlayer instance.
2. Attach the player to a PlayerView.
3. Set player with MediaSource and then prepare the player.
4. Release the player when done.

6. When you run the app it will look like this as shown below: