flutter_ffmpeg

FFmpeg plugin for Flutter. Supports iOS and Android.

Not maintained anymore, superseded by FFmpegKit. See FlutterFFmpeg to FFmpegKit Migration Guide.

1. Features

• Based on MobileFFmpeg

• Includes both FFmpeg and FFprobe

• Supports

  • Both Android and iOS

  • Both Android (API Level 16+) and iOS (SDK 9.3+)

  • FFmpeg v4.1, v4.2, v4.3 and v4.4-dev releases

  • arm-v7a, arm-v7a-neon, arm64-v8a, x86 and x86_64 architectures on Android

  • armv7, armv7s, arm64, arm64e, i386 and x86_64 architectures on iOS

  • 25 external libraries

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

  • 4 external libraries with GPL license

    vid.stab, x264, x265, xvidcore

  • Concurrent execution

  • zlib and MediaCodec Android system libraries

  • bzip2, iconv, libuuid, zlib system libraries and AudioToolbox, VideoToolbox, AVFoundation system frameworks

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

2. Installation

Add flutter_ffmpeg as a dependency in your pubspec.yaml file.

dependencies:
  flutter_ffmpeg: ^0.4.2

2.1 Packages

ffmpeg includes built-in encoders for some popular formats. However, there are certain external libraries that needs to be enabled in order to encode specific formats/codecs. For example, to encode an mp3 file you need lame or shine library enabled. You have to install a flutter_ffmpeg package that has at least one of them inside. To encode an h264 video, you need to install a package with x264 inside. To encode vp8 or vp9 videos, you need a flutter_ffmpeg package with libvpx inside.

flutter_ffmpeg provides eight packages that include different sets of external libraries. These packages are named according to the external libraries included in them. Below you can see which libraries are enabled in each package.

Installation of FlutterFFmpeg using pub enables the default package, which is based on https package. It is possible to enable other flutter_ffmpeg packages using the following steps.

2.1.1 Android

• Edit android/build.gradle file and specify the package name in ext.flutterFFmpegPackage variable.

  ext {
      flutterFFmpegPackage  = "<flutter ffmpeg package name listed in section 2.1>"
  }
  
  

2.1.2 iOS (Flutter >= 2.x)

• Edit ios/Podfile, add the following block before target 'Runner do and specify the package name in <package name> section :

  # "fork" of method flutter_install_plugin_pods (in fluttertools podhelpers.rb) to get lts version of ffmpeg
  def flutter_install_plugin_pods(application_path = nil, relative_symlink_dir, platform)
    # defined_in_file is set by CocoaPods and is a Pathname to the Podfile.
    application_path ||= File.dirname(defined_in_file.realpath) if self.respond_to?(:defined_in_file)
    raise 'Could not find application path' unless application_path
  
    # Prepare symlinks folder. We use symlinks to avoid having Podfile.lock
    # referring to absolute paths on developers' machines.
  
    symlink_dir = File.expand_path(relative_symlink_dir, application_path)
    system('rm', '-rf', symlink_dir) # Avoid the complication of dependencies like FileUtils.
  
    symlink_plugins_dir = File.expand_path('plugins', symlink_dir)
    system('mkdir', '-p', symlink_plugins_dir)
  
    plugins_file = File.join(application_path, '..', '.flutter-plugins-dependencies')
    plugin_pods = flutter_parse_plugins_file(plugins_file, platform)
    plugin_pods.each do |plugin_hash|
      plugin_name = plugin_hash['name']
      plugin_path = plugin_hash['path']
      if (plugin_name && plugin_path)
        symlink = File.join(symlink_plugins_dir, plugin_name)
        File.symlink(plugin_path, symlink)
  
        if plugin_name == 'flutter_ffmpeg'
          pod 'flutter_ffmpeg/<package name>', :path => File.join(relative_symlink_dir, 'plugins', plugin_name, platform)
        else
          pod plugin_name, :path => File.join(relative_symlink_dir, 'plugins', plugin_name, platform)
        end
      end
    end
  end
  

2.1.3 iOS (Flutter >= 1.20.x) && (Flutter < 2.x)

• Edit ios/Podfile, add the following block before target 'Runner do and specify the package name in <package name> section :

  # "fork" of method flutter_install_ios_plugin_pods (in fluttertools podhelpers.rb) to get lts version of ffmpeg
  def flutter_install_ios_plugin_pods(ios_application_path = nil)
    # defined_in_file is set by CocoaPods and is a Pathname to the Podfile.
    ios_application_path ||= File.dirname(defined_in_file.realpath) if self.respond_to?(:defined_in_file)
    raise 'Could not find iOS application path' unless ios_application_path
  
    # Prepare symlinks folder. We use symlinks to avoid having Podfile.lock
    # referring to absolute paths on developers' machines.
  
    symlink_dir = File.expand_path('.symlinks', ios_application_path)
    system('rm', '-rf', symlink_dir) # Avoid the complication of dependencies like FileUtils.
  
    symlink_plugins_dir = File.expand_path('plugins', symlink_dir)
    system('mkdir', '-p', symlink_plugins_dir)
  
    plugins_file = File.join(ios_application_path, '..', '.flutter-plugins-dependencies')
    plugin_pods = flutter_parse_plugins_file(plugins_file)
    plugin_pods.each do |plugin_hash|
      plugin_name = plugin_hash['name']
      plugin_path = plugin_hash['path']
  
      if (plugin_name && plugin_path)
        symlink = File.join(symlink_plugins_dir, plugin_name)
        File.symlink(plugin_path, symlink)
  
        if plugin_name == 'flutter_ffmpeg'
          pod plugin_name+'/<package name>', :path => File.join('.symlinks', 'plugins', plugin_name, 'ios')
        else
          pod plugin_name, :path => File.join('.symlinks', 'plugins', plugin_name, 'ios')
        end
      end
    end
  end
  

• Ensure that flutter_install_all_ios_pods File.dirname(File.realpath(__FILE__)) function is called within target 'Runner' do block. In that case, it is mandatory that the added function is named flutter_install_ios_plugin_pods and that you do not make an explicit call within that block.

2.1.4 iOS (Flutter < 1.20.x)

• Edit ios/Podfile file and modify the default # Plugin Pods block as follows. Do not forget to specify the package name in <package name> section.

  # Prepare symlinks folder. We use symlinks to avoid having Podfile.lock
  # referring to absolute paths on developers' machines.
  system('rm -rf .symlinks')
  system('mkdir -p .symlinks/plugins')
  plugin_pods = parse_KV_file('../.flutter-plugins')
  plugin_pods.each do |name, path|
    symlink = File.join('.symlinks', 'plugins', name)
    File.symlink(path, symlink)
    if name == 'flutter_ffmpeg'
      pod name+'/<package name>', :path => File.join(symlink, 'ios')
    else
      pod name, :path => File.join(symlink, 'ios')
    end
  end
  

2.1.5 Package Names

The following table shows all package names defined for flutter_ffmpeg.

2.2 Existing Applications

It is possible to add flutter_ffmpeg to existing applications using Add-to-App guide.

Please execute the following additional steps if you are integrating into an iOS application.

1. Go to Build Phases of Pods -> FlutterPluginRegistrant target and add all frameworks under the Pods/mobile-ffmpeg-<package name> directory to the Link Binary With Libraries section

2. Go to Build Phases of Pods -> FlutterPluginRegistrant target and add all system libraries/frameworks listed in Step 4 of Importing-Frameworks guide to the Link Binary With Libraries section

3. Go to Build Phases of Pods -> FlutterPluginRegistrant target and add AVFoundation system framework to the Link Binary With Libraries section

2.3 LTS Releases

flutter_ffmpeg is published in two different variants: Main Release and LTS Release. Both releases share the same source code but is built with different settings. Below you can see the differences between the two.

In order to install the LTS variant, install the https-lts package using instructions in 2.1 or append -lts to the package name you are using.

3. Using

1. Execute synchronous FFmpeg commands.

   • Use execute() method with a single command line

   import 'package:flutter_ffmpeg/flutter_ffmpeg.dart';
   
   final FlutterFFmpeg _flutterFFmpeg = new FlutterFFmpeg();
   
   _flutterFFmpeg.execute("-i file1.mp4 -c:v mpeg4 file2.mp4").then((rc) => print("FFmpeg process exited with rc $rc"));
   

   • Use executeWithArguments() method with an array of arguments

   import 'package:flutter_ffmpeg/flutter_ffmpeg.dart';
   
   final FlutterFFmpeg _flutterFFmpeg = new FlutterFFmpeg();
   
   var arguments = ["-i", "file1.mp4", "-c:v", "mpeg4", "file2.mp4"];
   _flutterFFmpeg.executeWithArguments(arguments).then((rc) => print("FFmpeg process exited with rc $rc"));
   

2. Execute asynchronous FFmpeg commands.

   _flutterFFmpeg.executeAsync(ffmpegCommand, (CompletedFFmpegExecution execution) {
     print("FFmpeg process for executionId ${execution.executionId} exited with rc ${execution.returnCode}");
   }).then((executionId) => print("Async FFmpeg process started with executionId $executionId."));
   

3. Execute FFprobe commands.

   • Use execute() method with a single command line

   import 'package:flutter_ffmpeg/flutter_ffmpeg.dart';
   
   final FlutterFFprobe _flutterFFprobe = new FlutterFFprobe();
   
   _flutterFFprobe.execute("-i file1.mp4").then((rc) => print("FFprobe process exited with rc $rc"));
   

   • Use executeWithArguments() method with an array of arguments

   import 'package:flutter_ffmpeg/flutter_ffmpeg.dart';
   
   final FlutterFFprobe _flutterFFprobe = new FlutterFFprobe();
   
   var arguments = ["-i", "file1.mp4"];
   _flutterFFprobe.executeWithArguments(arguments).then((rc) => print("FFprobe process exited with rc $rc"));
   

4. Check execution output. Zero represents successful execution, 255 means user cancel and non-zero values represent failure.

   
   final FlutterFFmpegConfig _flutterFFmpegConfig = new FlutterFFmpegConfig();
   
   _flutterFFmpegConfig.getLastReturnCode().then((rc) => print("Last rc: $rc"));
   
   _flutterFFmpegConfig.getLastCommandOutput().then((output) => print("Last command output: $output"));
   

5. Stop ongoing FFmpeg operations. Note that these two functions do not wait for termination to complete and return immediately.

   • Stop all executions

     _flutterFFmpeg.cancel();
     

   • Stop a specific execution

     _flutterFFmpeg.cancelExecution(executionId);
     

6. Get media information for a file.

   • Print all fields

   final FlutterFFprobe _flutterFFprobe = new FlutterFFprobe();
   
   _flutterFFprobe.getMediaInformation("<file path or uri>").then((info) => print(info));
   

   • Print selected fields

   final FlutterFFprobe _flutterFFprobe = new FlutterFFprobe();
   
   _flutterFFprobe.getMediaInformation("<file path or uri>").then((info) {
       print("Media Information");
   
       print("Path: ${info.getMediaProperties()['filename']}");
       print("Format: ${info.getMediaProperties()['format_name']}");
       print("Duration: ${info.getMediaProperties()['duration']}");
       print("Start time: ${info.getMediaProperties()['start_time']}");
       print("Bitrate: ${info.getMediaProperties()['bit_rate']}");
       Map<dynamic, dynamic> tags = info.getMediaProperties()['tags'];
       if (tags != null) {
           tags.forEach((key, value) {
               print("Tag: " + key + ":" + value + "\n");
           });
       }
   
       if (info.getStreams() != null) {
           List<StreamInformation> streams = info.getStreams();
   
           if (streams.length > 0) {
               for (var stream in streams) {
                   print("Stream id: ${stream.getAllProperties()['index']}");
                   print("Stream type: ${stream.getAllProperties()['codec_type']}");
                   print("Stream codec: ${stream.getAllProperties()['codec_name']}");
                   print("Stream full codec: ${stream.getAllProperties()['codec_long_name']}");
                   print("Stream format: ${stream.getAllProperties()['pix_fmt']}");
                   print("Stream width: ${stream.getAllProperties()['width']}");
                   print("Stream height: ${stream.getAllProperties()['height']}");
                   print("Stream bitrate: ${stream.getAllProperties()['bit_rate']}");
                   print("Stream sample rate: ${stream.getAllProperties()['sample_rate']}");
                   print("Stream sample format: ${stream.getAllProperties()['sample_fmt']}");
                   print("Stream channel layout: ${stream.getAllProperties()['channel_layout']}");
                   print("Stream sar: ${stream.getAllProperties()['sample_aspect_ratio']}");
                   print("Stream dar: ${stream.getAllProperties()['display_aspect_ratio']}");
                   print("Stream average frame rate: ${stream.getAllProperties()['avg_frame_rate']}");
                   print("Stream real frame rate: ${stream.getAllProperties()['r_frame_rate']}");
                   print("Stream time base: ${stream.getAllProperties()['time_base']}");
                   print("Stream codec time base: ${stream.getAllProperties()['codec_time_base']}");
   
                   Map<dynamic, dynamic> tags = stream.getAllProperties()['tags'];
                   if (tags != null) {
                     tags.forEach((key, value) {
                       print("Stream tag: " + key + ":" + value + "\n");
                     });
                   }
               }
           }
       }
   });
   

7. Enable log callback and redirect all FFmpeg/FFprobe logs to a console/file/widget.

   void logCallback(Log log) {
       print("${log.executionId}:${log.message}");
   }
   ...
   _flutterFFmpegConfig.enableLogCallback(this.logCallback);
   

8. Enable statistics callback and follow the progress of an ongoing FFmpeg operation.

   void statisticsCallback(Statistics statistics) {
       print("Statistics: executionId: ${statistics.executionId}, time: ${statistics.time}, size: ${statistics.size}, bitrate: ${statistics.bitrate}, speed: ${statistics.speed}, videoFrameNumber: ${statistics.videoFrameNumber}, videoQuality: ${statistics.videoQuality}, videoFps: ${statistics.videoFps}");
   }
   ...
   _flutterFFmpegConfig.enableStatisticsCallback(this.statisticsCallback);
   

9. Poll statistics without implementing statistics callback.

   _flutterFFmpegConfig.getLastReceivedStatistics().then((stats) => print(stats));
   

10. List ongoing executions.

    _flutterFFmpeg.listExecutions().then((ffmpegExecutions) {
      ffmpegExecutions.forEach((execution) {
        ffprint(
            "Execution id:${execution.executionId}, startTime:${execution.command}, command:${execution.startTime}.");
      });
    });
    

11. Set log level.

    _flutterFFmpegConfig.setLogLevel(LogLevel.AV_LOG_WARNING);
    

12. Register your own fonts by specifying a custom fonts directory, so they are available to use in FFmpeg filters. Please note that this function can not work on relative paths, you need to provide full file system path.

    _flutterFFmpegConfig.setFontDirectory("<folder with fonts>");
    

13. Use your own fontconfig configuration.

    _flutterFFmpegConfig.setFontconfigConfigurationPath("<fontconfig configuration directory>");
    

14. Disable log functionality of the library. Logs will not be printed to console and log callback will be disabled.

    _flutterFFmpegConfig.disableLogs();
    

15. Disable statistics functionality of the library. Statistics callback will be disabled but the last received statistics data will be still available.

    _flutterFFmpegConfig.disableStatistics();
    

16. Create new FFmpeg pipe.

    _flutterFFmpegConfig.registerNewFFmpegPipe().then((path) {
         then((stats) => print("New ffmpeg pipe at $path"));
    });
    

4. Example Application

You can see how FlutterFFmpeg is used inside an application by running example application provided under the example folder. It supports command execution, video encoding, accessing https, encoding audio, burning subtitles, video stabilisation, pipe operations and concurrent command execution.

5. Tips

• flutter_ffmpeg uses file system paths, it does not know what an assets folder or a project folder is. So you can't use resources on those folders directly, you need to provide full paths of those resources.

• flutter_ffmpeg requires ios deployment target to be at least 11.0 for Main releases and 9.3 for LTS releases. If you don't specify a deployment target or set a value smaller than the required one then your build may fail with the following error.

   Resolving dependencies of `Podfile`
   [!] CocoaPods could not find compatible versions for pod "flutter_ffmpeg":
     In Podfile:
       flutter_ffmpeg (from `.symlinks/plugins/flutter_ffmpeg/ios`)
   
   Specs satisfying the `flutter_ffmpeg (from `.symlinks/plugins/flutter_ffmpeg/ios`)` dependency were found, but they required a higher minimum
   deployment target.
  

  You can fix this issue by adding the following definition to your ios/Podfile file.

  • Main releases

  platform :ios, '11.0'
  

  • LTS releases

  platform :ios, '9.3'
  

• If flutter_ffmpeg release builds on Android fail with the following exception, make sure that mavenCentral() is defined as a repository in your build.gradle and it is listed before jcenter().

  E/flutter (14793): [ERROR:flutter/shell/platform/android/platform_view_android_jni_impl.cc(43)] java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: Bad JNI version returned from JNI_OnLoad in "/data/app/com.arthenica.flutter.ffmpeg.FlutterFFmpegExample-DV2qVHHlZArnXoQYMowxVQ==/base.apk!/lib/arm64-v8a/libmobileffmpeg.so": 0
  E/flutter (14793): 	at java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Runtime.java:1071)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at java.lang.Runtime.loadLibrary0(Runtime.java:1007)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at java.lang.System.loadLibrary(System.java:1668)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.Config.<clinit>(Unknown Source:148)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.Config.c(Unknown Source:0)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at b.a.a.a.d.onMethodCall(Unknown Source:323)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at io.flutter.plugin.common.MethodChannel$IncomingMethodCallHandler.onMessage(Unknown Source:17)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at io.flutter.embedding.engine.dart.DartMessenger.handleMessageFromDart(Unknown Source:57)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at io.flutter.embedding.engine.FlutterJNI.handlePlatformMessage(Unknown Source:4)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at android.os.MessageQueue.nativePollOnce(Native Method)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at android.os.MessageQueue.next(MessageQueue.java:363)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:173)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:8178)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at com.android.internal.os.RuntimeInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(RuntimeInit.java:513)
  E/flutter (14793): 	at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:1101)
  E/flutter (14793):
  F/flutter (14793): [FATAL:flutter/shell/platform/android/platform_view_android_jni_impl.cc(942)] Check failed: CheckException(env).
  

• flutter_ffmpeg includes native libraries that require ios deployment target to be at least 9.3. If a deployment target is not set or a value smaller than 9.3 is used then your build will fail with the following error.

  ld: targeted OS version does not support use of thread local variables in __gnutls_rnd_deinit for architecture x86_64
  clang: error: linker command failed with exit code 1 (use -v to see invocation)
  

  Some versions of Flutter and Cocoapods have issues about setting ios deployment target from Podfile. On those versions, having platform :ios, '9.3' in your Podfile is not enough. Runner project still uses the default value 8.0. You need to open Runner.xcworkspace in Xcode and set iOS Deployment Target of Runner project to 9.3 manually or create a new project.

  

• Enabling ProGuard on releases older than v0.2.4 causes linking errors. Please add the following rule inside your proguard-rules.pro file to preserve necessary method names and prevent linking errors.

  -keep class com.arthenica.mobileffmpeg.Config {
      native <methods>;
      void log(int, byte[]);
      void statistics(int, float, float, long , int, double, double);
  }
  

• ffmpeg requires a valid fontconfig configuration to render subtitles. Unfortunately, Android does not include a default fontconfig configuration. So, if you do not register a font or specify a fontconfig configuration under Android, then the burning process will not produce any errors but subtitles won't be burned in your file. You can overcome this behaviour by registering a font using setFontDirectory method or specifying your own fontconfig configuration using setFontconfigConfigurationPath method.

• By default, Xcode compresses PNG files during packaging. If you use .png files in your commands make sure you set the following two settings to NO. If one of them is set to YES, your operations may fail with Error while decoding stream #0:0: Generic error in an external library error.

  

• Some flutter_ffmpeg packages include libc++_shared.so native library. If a second library which also includes libc++_shared.so is added as a dependency, gradle fails with More than one file was found with OS independent path 'lib/x86/libc++_shared.so' error message.

  You can fix this error by adding the following block into your build.gradle.

  android {
      packagingOptions {
          pickFirst 'lib/x86/libc++_shared.so'
          pickFirst 'lib/x86_64/libc++_shared.so'
          pickFirst 'lib/armeabi-v7a/libc++_shared.so'
          pickFirst 'lib/arm64-v8a/libc++_shared.so'
      }
  }
  

6. Updates

Refer to Changelog for updates.

7. License

This project is licensed under the LGPL v3.0. However, if installation is customized to use a package with -gpl postfix (min-gpl, https-gpl, full-gpl) then FlutterFFmpeg is subject to the GPL v3.0 license.

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

8. Patents

It is not clearly explained in their documentation but it is believed that FFmpeg, kvazaar, x264 and x265 include algorithms which are subject to software patents. If you live in a country where software algorithms are patentable then you'll probably need to pay royalty fees to patent holders. We are not lawyers though, so we recommend that you seek legal advice first. See FFmpeg Patent Mini-FAQ.

9. Contributing

Feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Please note that master branch includes only the latest released source code. Changes planned for the next release are implemented under the development branch. Therefore, if you want to create a pull request, please open it against the development.

10. See Also

• FFmpeg
• Mobile FFmpeg Wiki
• FFmpeg License and Legal Considerations