Play and pause a video
Playing videos is a common task in app development,
and Flutter apps are no exception. To play videos,
the Flutter team provides the video_player
plugin.
You can use the video_player
plugin to play videos
stored on the file system, as an asset, or from the internet.
On iOS, the video_player
plugin makes use of
AVPlayer
to handle playback. On Android,
it uses ExoPlayer
.
This recipe demonstrates how to use the video_player
package to stream a
video from the internet with basic play and pause controls using
the following steps:
- Add the
video_player
dependency. - Add permissions to your app.
- Create and initialize a
VideoPlayerController
. - Display the video player.
- Play and pause the video.
video_player
dependency
1. Add the This recipe depends on one Flutter plugin: video_player
. First, add this
dependency to your pubspec.yaml
.
dependencies:
flutter:
sdk: flutter
video_player:
2. Add permissions to your app
Next, update your android
and ios
configurations to ensure
that your app has the correct permissions to stream videos
from the internet.
Android
Add the following permission to the AndroidManifest.xml
file just after the
<application>
definition. The AndroidManifest.xml
file is found at
<project root>/android/app/src/main/AndroidManifest.xml
.
<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<application ...>
</application>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET"/>
</manifest>
iOS
For iOS, add the following to the Info.plist
file found at
<project root>/ios/Runner/Info.plist
.
<key>NSAppTransportSecurity</key>
<dict>
<key>NSAllowsArbitraryLoads</key>
<true/>
</dict>
VideoPlayerController
3. Create and initialize a Now that you have the video_player
plugin installed with the correct
permissions, create a VideoPlayerController
. The
VideoPlayerController
class allows you to connect to different types of
videos and control playback.
Before you can play videos, you must also initialize
the controller.
This establishes the connection to the video and prepare the
controller for playback.
To create and initialize the VideoPlayerController
do the following:
- Create a
StatefulWidget
with a companionState
class - Add a variable to the
State
class to store theVideoPlayerController
- Add a variable to the
State
class to store theFuture
returned fromVideoPlayerController.initialize
- Create and initialize the controller in the
initState
method - Dispose of the controller in the
dispose
method
class VideoPlayerScreen extends StatefulWidget {
const VideoPlayerScreen({super.key});
@override
State<VideoPlayerScreen> createState() => _VideoPlayerScreenState();
}
class _VideoPlayerScreenState extends State<VideoPlayerScreen> {
late VideoPlayerController _controller;
late Future<void> _initializeVideoPlayerFuture;
@override
void initState() {
super.initState();
// Create and store the VideoPlayerController. The VideoPlayerController
// offers several different constructors to play videos from assets, files,
// or the internet.
_controller = VideoPlayerController.network(
'https://flutter.github.io/assets-for-api-docs/assets/videos/butterfly.mp4',
);
_initializeVideoPlayerFuture = _controller.initialize();
}
@override
void dispose() {
// Ensure disposing of the VideoPlayerController to free up resources.
_controller.dispose();
super.dispose();
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
// Complete the code in the next step.
return Container();
}
}
4. Display the video player
Now, display the video. The video_player
plugin provides the
VideoPlayer
widget to display the video initialized by
the VideoPlayerController
.
By default, the VideoPlayer
widget takes up as much space as possible.
This often isn’t ideal for videos because they are meant
to be displayed in a specific aspect ratio, such as 16x9 or 4x3.
Therefore, wrap the VideoPlayer
widget in an AspectRatio
widget to ensure that the video has the correct proportions.
Furthermore, you must display the VideoPlayer
widget after the
_initializeVideoPlayerFuture()
completes. Use FutureBuilder
to
display a loading spinner until the controller finishes initializing.
Note: initializing the controller does not begin playback.
// Use a FutureBuilder to display a loading spinner while waiting for the
// VideoPlayerController to finish initializing.
FutureBuilder(
future: _initializeVideoPlayerFuture,
builder: (context, snapshot) {
if (snapshot.connectionState == ConnectionState.done) {
// If the VideoPlayerController has finished initialization, use
// the data it provides to limit the aspect ratio of the video.
return AspectRatio(
aspectRatio: _controller.value.aspectRatio,
// Use the VideoPlayer widget to display the video.
child: VideoPlayer(_controller),
);
} else {
// If the VideoPlayerController is still initializing, show a
// loading spinner.
return const Center(
child: CircularProgressIndicator(),
);
}
},
)
5. Play and pause the video
By default, the video starts in a paused state. To begin playback,
call the play()
method provided by the VideoPlayerController
.
To pause playback, call the pause()
method.
For this example,
add a FloatingActionButton
to your app that displays a play
or pause icon depending on the situation.
When the user taps the button,
play the video if it’s currently paused,
or pause the video if it’s playing.
FloatingActionButton(
onPressed: () {
// Wrap the play or pause in a call to `setState`. This ensures the
// correct icon is shown.
setState(() {
// If the video is playing, pause it.
if (_controller.value.isPlaying) {
_controller.pause();
} else {
// If the video is paused, play it.
_controller.play();
}
});
},
// Display the correct icon depending on the state of the player.
child: Icon(
_controller.value.isPlaying ? Icons.pause : Icons.play_arrow,
),
)
Complete example
import 'dart:async';
import 'package:flutter/material.dart';
import 'package:video_player/video_player.dart';
void main() => runApp(const VideoPlayerApp());
class VideoPlayerApp extends StatelessWidget {
const VideoPlayerApp({super.key});
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return const MaterialApp(
title: 'Video Player Demo',
home: VideoPlayerScreen(),
);
}
}
class VideoPlayerScreen extends StatefulWidget {
const VideoPlayerScreen({super.key});
@override
State<VideoPlayerScreen> createState() => _VideoPlayerScreenState();
}
class _VideoPlayerScreenState extends State<VideoPlayerScreen> {
late VideoPlayerController _controller;
late Future<void> _initializeVideoPlayerFuture;
@override
void initState() {
super.initState();
// Create and store the VideoPlayerController. The VideoPlayerController
// offers several different constructors to play videos from assets, files,
// or the internet.
_controller = VideoPlayerController.network(
'https://flutter.github.io/assets-for-api-docs/assets/videos/butterfly.mp4',
);
// Initialize the controller and store the Future for later use.
_initializeVideoPlayerFuture = _controller.initialize();
// Use the controller to loop the video.
_controller.setLooping(true);
}
@override
void dispose() {
// Ensure disposing of the VideoPlayerController to free up resources.
_controller.dispose();
super.dispose();
}
@override
Widget build(BuildContext context) {
return Scaffold(
appBar: AppBar(
title: const Text('Butterfly Video'),
),
// Use a FutureBuilder to display a loading spinner while waiting for the
// VideoPlayerController to finish initializing.
body: FutureBuilder(
future: _initializeVideoPlayerFuture,
builder: (context, snapshot) {
if (snapshot.connectionState == ConnectionState.done) {
// If the VideoPlayerController has finished initialization, use
// the data it provides to limit the aspect ratio of the video.
return AspectRatio(
aspectRatio: _controller.value.aspectRatio,
// Use the VideoPlayer widget to display the video.
child: VideoPlayer(_controller),
);
} else {
// If the VideoPlayerController is still initializing, show a
// loading spinner.
return const Center(
child: CircularProgressIndicator(),
);
}
},
),
floatingActionButton: FloatingActionButton(
onPressed: () {
// Wrap the play or pause in a call to `setState`. This ensures the
// correct icon is shown.
setState(() {
// If the video is playing, pause it.
if (_controller.value.isPlaying) {
_controller.pause();
} else {
// If the video is paused, play it.
_controller.play();
}
});
},
// Display the correct icon depending on the state of the player.
child: Icon(
_controller.value.isPlaying ? Icons.pause : Icons.play_arrow,
),
),
);
}
}