MobileFFmpeg

FFmpeg for Android, iOS and tvOS

1. Features

• Use binaries available at Github/JCenter/CocoaPods or build your own version with external libraries you need

• Supports

  • Android, iOS and tvOS

  • FFmpeg v3.4.x, v4.0.x, v4.1 and v4.2-dev releases

  • 28 external libraries

    chromaprint, fontconfig, freetype, fribidi, gmp, gnutls, kvazaar, lame, libaom, libass, libiconv, libilbc, libtheora, libvorbis, libvpx, libwebp, libxml2, opencore-amr, openh264, opus, sdl, shine, snappy, soxr, speex, tesseract, twolame, wavpack

  • 4 external libraries with GPL license

    vid.stab, x264, x265, xvidcore

• Exposes both FFmpeg library and MobileFFmpeg wrapper library capabilities

• Includes cross-compile instructions for 44 open-source libraries

  chromaprint, expat, ffmpeg, fontconfig, freetype, fribidi, giflib, gmp, gnutls, kvazaar, lame, leptonica, libaom, libass, libiconv, libilbc, libjpeg, libjpeg-turbo, libogg, libpng, libsndfile, libtheora, libuuid, libvorbis, libvpx, libwebp, libxml2, nettle, opencore-amr, openh264, opus, sdl, shine, snappy, soxr, speex, tesseract, tiff, twolame, vid.stab, wavpack, x264, x265, xvidcore

• Licensed under LGPL 3.0, can be customized to support GPL v3.0

1.1 Android

• Builds arm-v7a, arm-v7a-neon, arm64-v8a, x86 and x86_64 architectures
• Supports zlib and MediaCodec system libraries
• Camera access on supported devices
• Builds shared native libraries (.so)
• Creates Android archive with .aar extension
• Supports API Level 16+

1.2 iOS

• Builds armv7, armv7s, arm64, arm64e, i386 and x86_64 architectures
• Supports bzip2, zlib system libraries and AudioToolbox, CoreImage, VideoToolbox, AVFoundation system frameworks
• Objective-C API
• Camera access
• ARC enabled library
• Built with -fembed-bitcode flag
• Creates static framework and static universal (fat) library (.a)
• Supports iOS SDK 8.0.x or later

1.3 tvOS

• Builds arm64 and x86_64 architectures
• Supports bzip2, zlib system libraries and AudioToolbox, CoreImage, VideoToolbox system frameworks
• Objective-C API
• ARC enabled library
• Built with -fembed-bitcode flag
• Creates static framework and static universal (fat) library (.a)
• Supports tvOS SDK 9.2 or later

2. Using

Published binaries are available at Github, JCenter and CocoaPods.

Unpublished development builds can be found under the development-snapshot directory.

There are eight different mobile-ffmpeg packages. Below you can see which system libraries and external libraries are enabled in each of them.

Please remember that some parts of FFmpeg are licensed under the GPL and only GPL licensed mobile-ffmpeg packages include them.

	min	min-gpl	https	https-gpl	audio	video	full	full-gpl
external libraries	-	vid.stab x264 x265 xvidcore	gmp gnutls	gmp gnutls vid.stab x264 x265 xvidcore	lame libilbc libvorbis opencore-amr opus shine soxr speex twolame wavpack	fontconfig freetype fribidi kvazaar libaom libass libiconv libtheora libvpx libwebp snappy	fontconfig freetype fribidi gmp gnutls kvazaar lame libaom libass libiconv libilbc libtheora libvorbis libvpx libwebp libxml2 opencore-amr opus shine snappy soxr speex twolame wavpack	fontconfig freetype fribidi gmp gnutls kvazaar lame libaom libass libiconv libilbc libtheora libvorbis libvpx libwebp libxml2 opencore-amr opus shine snappy soxr speex twolame vid.stab wavpack x264 x265 xvidcore
android system libraries	zlib MediaCodec
ios system libraries	zlib AudioToolbox AVFoundation CoreImage VideoToolbox bzip2
tvos system libraries	zlib AudioToolbox CoreImage VideoToolbox bzip2

• libilbc, opus, snappy, x264 and xvidcore are supported since v1.1

• libaom and soxr are supported since v2.0

• chromaprint, vid.stab and x265 are supported since v2.1

• sdl, tesseract, twolame external libraries; zlib, MediaCodec Android system libraries; bzip2, zlib iOS system libraries and AudioToolbox, CoreImage, VideoToolbox, AVFoundation iOS system frameworks are supported since v3.0

• Since v4.2, chromaprint, sdl and tesseract libraries are not included in binary releases. You can still build them and include in your releases

• AVFoundation is not available on tvOS, VideoToolbox is not available on tvOS LTS releases

2.1 Android

1. Add MobileFFmpeg dependency to your build.gradle in mobile-ffmpeg-<package name> format

   dependencies {
       implementation 'com.arthenica:mobile-ffmpeg-min:4.2.2'
   }
   

2. Execute commands.

   import com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.FFmpeg;
   
   FFmpeg.execute("-i file1.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 file2.mp4");
   

3. Check execution output.

   int rc = FFmpeg.getLastReturnCode();
   String output = FFmpeg.getLastCommandOutput();
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, "Command execution completed successfully.");
   } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, "Command execution cancelled by user.");
   } else {
       Log.i(Config.TAG, String.format("Command execution failed with rc=%d and output=%s.", rc, output));
   }
   

4. Stop an ongoing operation.

   FFmpeg.cancel();
   

5. Get media information for a file.

   MediaInformation info = FFmpeg.getMediaInformation("<file path or uri>");
   

6. Record video and audio using Android camera.

   FFmpeg.execute("-f android_camera -i 0:0 -r 30 -pixel_format bgr0 -t 00:00:05 <record file path>");
   

7. List enabled external libraries.

   List<String> externalLibraries = Config.getExternalLibraries();
   

8. Enable log callback.

   Config.enableLogCallback(new LogCallback() {
       public void apply(LogMessage message) {
           Log.d(Config.TAG, message.getText());
       }
   });
   

9. Enable statistics callback.

   Config.enableStatisticsCallback(new StatisticsCallback() {
       public void apply(Statistics newStatistics) {
           Log.d(Config.TAG, String.format("frame: %d, time: %d", newStatistics.getVideoFrameNumber(), newStatistics.getTime()));
       }
   });
   

10. Set log level.

    Config.setLogLevel(Level.AV_LOG_FATAL);
    

11. Register custom fonts directory.

    Config.setFontDirectory(this, "<folder with fonts>", Collections.EMPTY_MAP);
    

2.2 iOS / tvOS

1. Add MobileFFmpeg dependency to your Podfile in mobile-ffmpeg-<package name> format

   • iOS

   pod 'mobile-ffmpeg-min', '~> 4.2.2'
   

   • tvOS

   pod 'mobile-ffmpeg-tv-min', '~> 4.2.2'
   

2. Execute commands.

   #import <mobileffmpeg/MobileFFmpeg.h>
   
   [MobileFFmpeg execute: @"-i file1.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 file2.mp4"];
   

3. Check execution output.

   int rc = [MobileFFmpeg getLastReturnCode];
   NSString *output = [MobileFFmpeg getLastCommandOutput];
   
   if (rc == RETURN_CODE_SUCCESS) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution completed successfully.\n");
   } else if (rc == RETURN_CODE_CANCEL) {
       NSLog(@"Command execution cancelled by user.\n");
   } else {
       NSLog(@"Command execution failed with rc=%d and output=%@.\n", rc, output);
   }
   

4. Stop an ongoing operation.

   [MobileFFmpeg cancel];
   

5. Get media information for a file.

   MediaInformation *mediaInformation = [MobileFFmpeg getMediaInformation:@"<file path or uri>"];
   

6. Record video and audio using iOS camera. This operation is not supported on tvOS since AVFoundation is not available on tvOS.

   [MobileFFmpeg execute: @"-f avfoundation -r 30 -video_size 1280x720 -pixel_format bgr0 -i 0:0 -vcodec h264_videotoolbox -vsync 2 -f h264 -t 00:00:05 %@", recordFilePath];
   

7. List enabled external libraries.

   NSArray *externalLibraries = [MobileFFmpegConfig getExternalLibraries];
   

8. Enable log callback.

   [MobileFFmpegConfig setLogDelegate:self];
   
   - (void)logCallback: (int)level :(NSString*)message {
       dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
           NSLog(@"%@", message);
       });
   }
   

9. Enable statistics callback.

   [MobileFFmpegConfig setStatisticsDelegate:self];
   
   - (void)statisticsCallback:(Statistics *)newStatistics {
       dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue(), ^{
           NSLog(@"frame: %d, time: %d\n", newStatistics.getVideoFrameNumber, newStatistics.getTime);
       });
   }
   

10. Set log level.

    [MobileFFmpegConfig setLogLevel:AV_LOG_FATAL];
    

11. Register custom fonts directory.

    [MobileFFmpegConfig setFontDirectory:@"<folder with fonts>" with:nil];
    

2.3 Manual Installation

2.3.1 Android

You can import MobileFFmpeg aar packages in Android Studio using the File -> New -> New Module -> Import .JAR/.AAR Package menu.

2.3.2 iOS / tvOS

iOS and tvOS frameworks can be installed manually using the Importing Frameworks guide. If you want to use universal binaries please refer to Using Universal Binaries guide.

2.4 Test Application

You can see how MobileFFmpeg is used inside an application by running test applications provided. There is an Android test application under the android/test-app folder, an iOS test application under the ios/test-app folder and a tvOS test application under the tvos/test-app folder.

All applications are identical and supports command execution, video encoding, accessing https, encoding audio, burning subtitles, video stabilization and pipe operations.

3. Versions

MobileFFmpeg version number is aligned with FFmpeg since version 4.2.

In previous versions, MobileFFmpeg version of a release and FFmpeg version included in that release was different. The following table lists FFmpeg versions used in MobileFFmpeg releases.

• dev part in FFmpeg version number indicates that FFmpeg source is pulled from the FFmpeg master branch. Exact version number is obtained using git describe --tags.

MobileFFmpeg Version	FFmpeg Version	Release Date
4.2.2	4.2-dev-1824	July 3, 2019
4.2.2.LTS	4.2-dev-1824	July 3, 2019
4.2.1	4.2-dev-1156	Apr 2, 2019
4.2	4.2-dev-480	Jan 3, 2019
4.2.LTS	4.2-dev-480	Jan 3, 2019
3.1	4.1-10	Dec 11, 2018
3.0	4.1-dev-1517	Oct 25, 2018
2.2	4.0.3	Nov 10, 2018
2.1.1	4.0.2	Sep 19, 2018
2.1	4.0.2	Sep 5, 2018
2.0	4.0.1	Jun 30, 2018
1.2	3.4.4	Aug 30, 2018
1.1	3.4.2	Jun 18, 2018
1.0	3.4.2	Jun 6, 2018

4. LTS Releases

Starting from v4.2, MobileFFmpeg binaries are published in two different variants: Main Release and LTS Release.

• Main releases include complete functionality of the library and support the latest SDK/API features.

• LTS releases are customized to support a wider range of devices. They are built using older API/SDK versions, so some features are not available on them.

This table shows the differences between two variants.

	Main Release	LTS Release
Android API Level	24	16
Android Camera Access	Yes	-
Android Architectures	arm-v7a-neon arm64-v8a x86 x86-64	arm-v7a arm-v7a-neon arm64-v8a x86 x86-64
Xcode Support	10.1	7.3.1
iOS SDK	12.1	9.3
iOS Architectures	arm64 arm64e x86-64	armv7 arm64 i386 x86-64
tvOS SDK	10.2	9.2
tvOS Architectures	arm64 x86-64	arm64 x86-64

5. Development Builds

Unreleased binaries built from development branch can be found under the development-snapshot directory.

Please remember that these builds are provided for testing and development purposes only since they are not % 100 tested and may include minor issues.

6. Building

Build scripts from master and development branches are tested periodically. See the latest status from the table below.

branch	status
master
development

6.1 Prerequisites

1. Use your package manager (apt, yum, dnf, brew, etc.) to install the following packages.

   autoconf automake libtool pkg-config curl cmake gcc gperf texinfo yasm nasm bison autogen patch git
   

Some of these packages are not mandatory for the default build. Please visit Android Prerequisites, iOS Prerequisites and tvOS Prerequisites for the details.

2. Android builds require these additional packages.

   • Android SDK 4.1 Jelly Bean (API Level 16) or later
   • Android NDK r20 or later with LLDB and CMake

3. iOS builds need these extra packages and tools.

   • Xcode 7.3.1 or later
   • iOS SDK 9.3 or later
   • Command Line Tools

4. tvOS builds need these extra packages and tools.

   • Xcode 7.3.1 or later
   • tvOS SDK 9.2 or later
   • Command Line Tools

6.2 Build Scripts

Use android.sh, ios.sh and tvos.sh to build MobileFFmpeg for each platform.

All three scripts support additional options and can be customized to enable/disable specific external libraries and/or architectures. Please refer to wiki pages of android.sh, ios.sh and tvos.sh to see all available build options.

6.2.1 Android

export ANDROID_HOME=<Android SDK Path>
export ANDROID_NDK_ROOT=<Android NDK Path>
./android.sh

6.2.2 iOS

./ios.sh

6.2.3 tvOS

./tvos.sh

6.2.4 Building LTS Binaries

Use --lts option to build lts binaries for each platform.

6.3 Build Output

All libraries created by the top level build scripts (android.sh, ios.sh and tvos.sh) can be found under the prebuilt directory.

• Android archive (.aar file) is located under the android-aar folder
• iOS frameworks are located under the ios-frameworkfolder
• iOS universal binaries are located under the ios-universalfolder
• tvOS frameworks are located under the tvos-frameworkfolder
• tvOS universal binaries are located under the tvos-universalfolder

6.4 GPL Support

It is possible to enable GPL licensed libraries x264, xvidcore since v1.1 and vid.stab, x265 since v2.1 from the top level build scripts. Their source code is not included in the repository and downloaded when enabled.

6.5 External Libraries

build directory includes build scripts of all external libraries. Two scripts exist for each external library, one for Android and one for iOS / tvOS. Each of these two scripts contains options/flags used to cross-compile the library on the specified mobile platform.

CPU optimizations (ASM) are enabled for most of the external libraries. Details and exceptions can be found under the ASM Support wiki page.

7. Documentation

A more detailed documentation is available at Wiki.

8. License

This project is licensed under the LGPL v3.0. However, if source code is built using optional --enable-gpl flag or prebuilt binaries with -gpl postfix are used then MobileFFmpeg is subject to the GPL v3.0 license.

Source code of FFmpeg and external libraries is included in compliance with their individual licenses.

openh264 source code included in this repository is licensed under the 2-clause BSD License but this license does not cover the MPEG LA licensing fees. If you build mobile-ffmpeg with openh264 and distribute that library, then you are subject to pay MPEG LA licensing fees. Refer to OpenH264 FAQ page for the details. Please note that mobile-ffmpeg does not publish a binary with openh264 inside.

strip-frameworks.sh script included and distributed (until v4.x) is published under the Apache License version 2.0.

In test applications; embedded fonts are licensed under the SIL Open Font License, other digital assets are published in the public domain.

Please visit License page for the details.

9. Contributing

If you have any recommendations or ideas to improve it, please feel free to submit issues or pull requests. Any help is appreciated.

10. See Also

• libav gas-preprocessor
• FFmpeg API Documentation
• FFmpeg Wiki
• FFmpeg License and Legal Considerations
• FFmpeg External Library Licenses