Best practices for implementing Video playback?

When it comes to implementing video playback in Android applications, there are several best practices to ensure smooth playback, good performance, and excellent user experience. Below are some key recommendations along with a sample implementation:

Best Practices for Video Playback on Android

  • Use the ExoPlayer library for a more flexible and powerful media playback compared to the standard MediaPlayer.
  • Always release resources properly to ensure there's no memory leak.
  • Implement playback controls to allow users to pause, resume, and seek through the video.
  • Consider using background playback to allow users to continue listening to audio even when they switch apps.
  • Test for different network conditions to handle streaming properly.
  • Implement proper error handling to inform users about playback issues.

Example Implementation

<![CDATA[ // Add ExoPlayer dependency to your build.gradle file implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer:2.x.x' // Example activity to play video public class VideoPlayerActivity extends AppCompatActivity { private SimpleExoPlayer player; private PlayerView playerView; @Override protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) { super.onCreate(savedInstanceState); setContentView(R.layout.activity_video_player); playerView = findViewById(R.id.player_view); initializePlayer(); } private void initializePlayer() { player = new SimpleExoPlayer.Builder(this).build(); playerView.setPlayer(player); MediaItem mediaItem = MediaItem.fromUri("http://path/to/video.mp4"); player.setMediaItem(mediaItem); player.prepare(); player.play(); } @Override protected void onStop() { super.onStop(); releasePlayer(); } private void releasePlayer() { if (player != null) { player.release(); player = null; } } } ]]>

Android video playback ExoPlayer video streaming MediaPlayer alternatives Android media best practices