How to Stream YouTube Videos in Android App?

Other Questions YouTube
1

I’m trying to make an Android app that can play YouTube videos through streaming. I’ve tried two ways but I’m having issues with both.

First, I used the GData API to get the RTSP URL and tried to play it with VideoView:

VideoView videoPlayer = new VideoView(this);
setContentView(videoPlayer);
videoPlayer.setVideoURI(Uri.parse("rtsp://example.youtube.com/video123.3gp"));
videoPlayer.start();

But this gives me an error on both my phone and the emulator:

ERROR/PlayerDriver(35): Command PLAYER_INIT completed with an error or info PVMFFailure

Then I tried getting the 3gp file path directly from YouTube’s website. This works, but it feels like a hack.

I even looked at the official YouTube app and it seems to use a similar hack method.

Is there a better way to do this? I want to stream YouTube videos properly in my app. Any ideas or tips would be really helpful. Thanks!

2

I’ve dealt with this challenge in a recent project. The YouTube Android Player API is indeed a solid option, but it comes with limitations, especially for background playback. An alternative approach I found effective is using ExoPlayer combined with youtube-dl library. This combo allows for more flexibility in video playback and customization. You’ll need to handle the video extraction process carefully to comply with YouTube’s terms of service. Remember to implement proper error handling and consider caching mechanisms to improve performance. It’s a bit more complex to set up initially, but offers greater control over the streaming process in the long run.

3

hey jackw, i’ve run into similar issues. have u tried using the YouTube Android Player API? it’s more reliable for streaming vids in ur app. u can embed a YouTubePlayerView and control playback. might be worth checking out. good luck with ur project!