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RxPlayer API

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RxPlayer API

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Overview

The RxPlayer has a complete API allowing you to:

  • load and stop contents containing video and/or audio media data
  • control playback (play, pause, seek, etc.) when a content is loaded.
  • get multiple information on the current content and on the player’s state.
  • choose a specific audio language, subtitles track video track
  • force a given bitrate
  • update the wanted buffer length to reach
  • and more

The following pages define the entire API.

⚠️ Only variables and methods defined here are considered as part of the API. Any other property or method you might find in any other way are not considered as part of the API and can thus change without notice.

Note: As some terms used here might be too foreign or slightly different than the one you’re used to, we also wrote a list of terms and definitions used by the RxPlayer here.

Instantiation

Instantiating a new RxPlayer is necessary before being able to load a content. Doing so is straightforward:

import RxPlayer from "rx-player";
const player = new RxPlayer(options);

The options are all… optional. They are all defined in the Player Options page.

Basic methods

In this chapter, we will go through the basic methods you will need to use when playing a content through the RxPlayer.

loadVideo

–

syntax: player.loadVideo(options)

arguments:

  • options (Object): Content you want to load and associated options.

–

Loads the content described in the argument.

This is the central method to use when you want to play a new content. The options possible as arguments are all defined in this page.

Despite its name, this method can also load audio-only content.

Example

player.loadVideo({
  url: "http://vm2.dashif.org/livesim-dev/segtimeline_1/testpic_6s/Manifest.mpd",
  transport: "dash",
  autoPlay: true,
});

reload

–

syntax: player.reload() / player.reload(options)

arguments:

  • options (Object | undefined): Optional requirements, e.g. at which position the player should reload.

–

Re-load the last loaded content as fast as possible.

This API can be called at any time after a content has been loaded (the LOADED state has been reached), even if the player has been stopped since and even if it was due to a fatal error.

The user may need to call this API in several cases. For example, it may be used in case of an error that will not reproduce or inversely when the error is consistent at a certain playback time (e.g. due to a specific chunk defect).

The options argument is an object containing :

  • reloadAt (Object | undefined): The object contain directives about the starting playback position :
    • relative (string | undefined) : start playback relatively from the last playback position (last played position before entering into STOPPED or ENDED state).
    • position (string|undefined) : absolute position at which we should start playback

If no reload position is defined, start playback at the last playback position.

Note that despite this method’s name, the player will not go through the RELOADING state while reloading the content but through the regular LOADING state - as if loadVideo was called on that same content again.

Example

player.addEventListener("error", (error) => {
  if (error.code === "BUFFER_APPEND_ERROR") {
    // Try to reload after the last playback position, in case of defectuous
    // media content at current time.
    player.reload({ reloadAt: { relative: +5 }});
  } else {
    // Try to reload at the last playback position
    player.reload();
  }
});

getPlayerState

–

syntax: const state = player.getPlayerState()

return value: string

–

Returns the “state” the player is currently in. Can be either one of those strings:

  • "STOPPED": The player is idle. No content is loading nor is loaded.

  • "LOADING": The player is loading a new content. Most APIs related to the current content are not yet available while the content is loading.

  • "LOADED": The player has loaded the new content, it is now ready to play. From this point onward you can use APIs interacting with the current content such as seekTo or setAudioTrack.

  • "PLAYING": The player is currently playing the content.

  • "PAUSED": The player has paused.

  • "ENDED": The player has reached the end of the current content.

  • "BUFFERING": the player has reached the end of the buffer and is waiting for data to be appended.

  • "SEEKING": The player has reached the end of the buffer because a seek has been performed, new segments are being loaded.

  • "RELOADING": The player needs to reload its current (for example, when switching the current video track). While this state is active, most API related to the currently playing content are not available. This state should be treated like the LOADING state.

As it is a central part of our API and can be difficult concept to understand, we have a special page of documentation on player states.

Example

switch (player.getPlayerState()) {
  case "STOPPED":
    console.log("No content is/will be playing");
    break;
  case "LOADING":
    console.log("A new content is currently loading");
    break;
  case "LOADED":
    console.log("The new content is loaded and ready to be played");
    break;
  case "PLAYING":
    console.log("The content is currently playing");
    break;
  case "PAUSED":
    console.log("The content is currently paused");
    break;
  case "BUFFERING":
    console.log("The content is buffering new data");
    break;
  case "SEEKING":
    console.log("The content is still seeking, waiting for new data");
    break;
  case "ENDED":
    console.log("The content has reached the end.");
    break;
  case "RELOADING":
    console.log("The content is currently reloading");
    break;
  default:
    console.log("This is impossible (issue material!).")
    break;
}

addEventListener

–

syntax: player.addEventListener(event, callback)

arguments:

  • event (string): The event name.

  • callback (Function): The callback for the event. The same callback may be used again when calling removeEventListener.

–

Add an event listener to trigger a callback as it happens. The callback will have the event payload as a single argument.

The RxPlayer API is heavily event-based. As an example: to know when a content is loaded, the most straightforward way is to add an event listener for the "playerStateChange" event. This can be done only through this method.

To have the complete list of player events, consult the Player events page.

Example

player.addEventListener("error", function(err) {
  console.log(`The player crashed: ${err.message}`);
});

removeEventListener

–

syntax: player.removeEventListener(event) / player.removeEventListener(event, callback)

arguments:

  • event (string): The event name.

  • callback (optional) (Function): The callback given when calling the corresponding addEventListener API.

–

Remove an event listener. That is, remove a callback previously registered with addEventListener from being triggered on the corresponding event. This also free-up the corresponding ressources.

The callback given is optional: if not given, every registered callback to that event will be removed.

Example

player.removeEventListener("playerStateChange", listenerCallback);

play

–

syntax: player.play()

return value: Promise.<void>

–

Play/resume the current loaded video. Equivalent to a video element’s play method.

You might want to call that method either to start playing (when the content is in the "LOADED" state and auto-play has not been enabled in the last loadVideo call) or to resume when the content has been paused.

The returned Promise informs you on the result:

  • if playback succeeds, the Promise is fulfilled

  • if playback fails, the Promise is rejected along with an error message explaining the failure - coming directly from the browser.

    Such failure can for example be due to your browser’s policy, which may forbid to call play on a media element without any user interaction. Please note that in that case, you will also receive a warning event containing a MEDIA_ERROR with the code: MEDIA_ERR_PLAY_NOT_ALLOWED.

Note: On browsers which do not support Promises natively (such as Internet Explorer 11), a JavaScript implementation is provided instead. This implementation has the exact same implementation than ES2015 Promises.

You might want for a content to be loaded before being able to play (the current state has to be different than LOADING, RELOADING or STOPPED).

Example

const resumeContent = () => {
  player.play();
};

pause

–

syntax: player.pause()

–

Pause the current loaded video. Equivalent to a video element’s pause method.

Note that a content can be paused even if its current state is BUFFERING or SEEKING.

You might want for a content to be loaded before being able to pause (the current state has to be different than LOADING, RELOADING or STOPPED).

Example

const pauseContent = () => {
  player.pause();
};

stop

–

syntax: player.stop()

–

Stop playback of the current content if one.

This will totaly un-load the current content. To re-start playing the same content, you can either call the reload method or just call loadVideo again.

Example

const stopVideo = () => {
  player.stop();
};

getPosition

–

syntax: const position = player.getPosition()

return value: Number

–

Returns the current media element’s playing position, in seconds.

For live contents, the returned position will not be re-scaled to correspond to a live timestamp. If you want that behavior, you can call getWallClockTime instead.

This is the only difference between the two. Generally, you can follow the following rule:

  • if you want to use that current position to use it with the other APIs (like seekTo, getMinimumPosition, getMaximumPosition etc.) use getPosition - as this is the real position in the media.

  • if you want to display the current position to the viewer/listener, use getWallClockTime instead - as it will be set in the proper scale for live contents to display the right live time.

Example

const pos = player.getPosition();
console.log(`The video element's current position is: ${pos} second(s)`);

getWallClockTime

–

syntax: const wallClockTime = player.getWallClockTime()

return value: Number

–

Returns the current “wall-clock” playing position in seconds.

That is:

  • for live contents, this is the current position scaled to correspond to a live timestamp, in seconds.

  • for non-live contents, returns the position from the absolute beginning time of the content, also in seconds. In the absolute majority of cases this will be equal to the value returned by getPosition.

Use this method to display the current position to the user.

Example

const wallClockTime = player.getWallClockTime();
const nowInSeconds = Date.now() / 1000;
const delta = nowInSeconds - wallClockTime;

if (delta < 5) { // (5 seconds of margin)
  console.log("You're playing live");
} else {
  console.log(`You're playing ${delta} seconds behind the live content`);
}

seekTo

–

syntax: player.seekTo(position)

arguments:

  • position (Object|Number): The position you want to seek to.

__

Seek in the current content (i.e. change the current position).

The argument can be an object with a single Number property, either:

  • relative: seek relatively to the current position

  • position: seek to the given absolute position (equivalent to player.getVideoElement().currentTime = newPosition)

  • wallClockTime: seek to the given wallClock position, as returned by getWallClockTime.

The argument can also just be a Number property, which will have the same effect than the position property (absolute position).

Seeking should only be done when a content is loaded (i.e. the player isn’t in the STOPPED, LOADING or RELOADING state).

The seek operation will start as soon as possible, in almost every cases directly after this method is called.

You will know when the seek is being performed and has been performed respectively by listening to the seeking and seeked player events (see the player events page). While seeking, the RxPlayer might also switch to the SEEKING state.

Examples

// seeking to 54 seconds from the start of the content
player.seekTo({ position: 54 });

// equivalent to just:
player.seekTo(54);

// seeking 5 seconds after the current position
player.seekTo({ relative: 5 });

// seeking 5 seconds before the current position
player.seekTo({ relative: -5 });

// seeking to live content
player.seekTo({ wallClockTime: Date.now() / 1000 });

getMinimumPosition

–

syntax: const minimumPosition = player.getMinimumPosition()

return value: Number|null

–

Returns the minimum seekable player position. Returns null if no content is loaded.

This is useful for live contents, where the earliest time at which it is possible to seek usually evolves over time. This method allows to know the earliest possible time a seek can be performed at any point in time.

As the given position is the absolute minimum position, you might add a security margin (like a few seconds) when seeking to this position in a live content. Not doing so could led to the player being behind the minimum position after some time (e.g. because of buffering or decoding issues), and thus unable to continue playing.

You will be alerted if the player’s position fell behind the minimum possible position by receiving a warning event (see the player events page) with an error having a MEDIA_TIME_BEFORE_MANIFEST code property (see the player errors page). Note that you can also have those warnings without any seek operation, e.g. due to buffering for too long.

For VoD contents, as the minimum position normally doesn’t change, seeking at the minimum position should not cause any issue.

Example

// Seeking close to the minimum position (with a 5 seconds security margin)
player.seekTo({ position: player.getMinimumPosition() + 5 });

getMaximumPosition

–

syntax: const maximumPosition = player.getMaximumPosition()

return value: Number|null

–

Returns the maximum seekable player position. Returns null if no content is loaded.

This is useful for live contents, where this position might be updated continously as new content is generated. This method allows thus to seek directly at the live edge of the content.

Please bear in mind that seeking exactly at the maximum position is rarely a good idea:

  • for VoD contents, the playback will end
  • for live contents, the player will then need to wait until it can build enough buffer.

As such, we advise to remove a few seconds from that position when seeking.

Example

// seeking 5 seconds before the end (or the live edge for live contents)
player.seekTo({
  position: player.getMaximumPosition() - 5
});

getVideoDuration

–

syntax: const duration = player.getVideoDuration()

return value: Number

–

Returns the duration of the current content as taken from the media element.

⚠️ This duration is in fact the maximum position possible for the content. As such, for contents not starting at 0, this value will not be equal to the difference between the maximum and minimum possible position, as would normally be expected from a property named “duration”.

Example

const pos = player.getPosition();
const dur = player.getVideoDuration();

console.log(`current position: ${pos} / ${dur}`);

getError

–

syntax: const currentError = player.getError()

return value: Error|null

–

Returns the current “fatal error” if one happenned for the last loaded content. Returns null otherwise.

A “fatal error” is an error which led the current loading/loaded content to completely stop. Such errors are usually also sent through the "error" event when they happen.

See the Player Error documentation for more information.

Example

const error = player.getError();

if (!error) {
  console.log("The player did not crash");
} else if (error.code === "PIPELINE_LOAD_ERROR") {
  console.error("The player crashed due to a failing request");
} else {
  console.error(`The player crashed: ${error.code}`);
}

getVideoElement

–

syntax: const elt = player.getVideoElement()

return value: HTMLMediaElement

–

Returns the media element used by the RxPlayer.

You’re not encouraged to use its APIs as they can enter in conflict with the RxPlayer’s API.

Despite its name, this method can also return an audio element if the RxPlayer was instantiated with one.

Example

const videoElement = player.getVideoElement();
videoElement.className = "my-video-element";

dispose

–

syntax: player.dispose()

–

Free the ressources used by the player.

You can call this method if you know you won’t need the RxPlayer anymore.

⚠️ The player won’t work correctly after calling this method.

Speed control

The following methods allows to update the current speed of playback (also called the “playback rate”).

setPlaybackRate

–

syntax: player.setPlaybackRate(speed) / player.setPlaybackRate(speed, { preferTrickModeTracks })

arguments:

  • speed (Number): The speed / playback rate you want to set.
  • options (Object|undefined): Options related to the speed update.

–

Updates the current playback rate, i.e. the speed at which contents are played.

As its name hints at, the value indicates the rate at which contents play:

  • Setting it to 2 allows to play at a speed multiplied by 2 relatively to regular playback.

  • Setting that value to 1 reset the playback rate to its “normal” rythm.

  • Setting it to 0.5 allows to play at half the speed relatively to regular playback.

  • etc.

This method’s effect is persisted from content to content, and can be called even when no content is playing (it will still have an effect for the next contents).

If you want to reverse effects provoked by setPlaybackRate before playing another content, you will have to call setPlaybackRate first with the default settings you want to set.

As an example, to reset the speed to “normal” (x1) speed and to disable trickMode video tracks (which may have been enabled by a previous setPlaybackRate call), you can call:

player.setPlaybackRate(1, { preferTrickModeTracks: false });

–

This method can be used to switch to or exit from “trickMode” video tracks, which are tracks specifically defined to mimic the visual aspect of a VCR’s fast forward/rewind feature, by only displaying a few video frames during playback.

This behavior is configurable through the second argument, by adding a property named preferTrickModeTracks to that object.

You can set that value to true to switch to trickMode video tracks when available, and set it to false when you want to disable that logic. Note that like any configuration given to setPlaybackRate, this setting is persisted through all future contents played by the player.

If you want to stop enabling trickMode tracks, you will have to call setPlaybackRate again with preferTrickModeTracks set to false.

You can know at any moment whether this behavior is enabled by calling the areTrickModeTracksEnabled method. This will only means that the RxPlayer will select in priority trickmode video tracks, not that the currently chosen video tracks is a trickmode track (for example, some contents may have no trickmode tracks available).

If you want to know about the latter instead, you can call getVideoTrack and/or listen to videoTrackChange events. The track returned may have an isTrickModeTrack property set to true, indicating that it is a trickmode track.

Note that switching to or getting out of a trickmode video track may lead to the player being a brief instant in a "RELOADING" state (notified through playerStateChange events and the getPlayerState method). When in that state, a black screen may be displayed and multiple RxPlayer APIs will not be usable.

This method can be called at any time, even when no content is loaded and is persisted from content to content.

You can set it to 1 to reset its value to the “regular” default.

It is possible to try to enable the trick mode track by setting the second argument to true (and disable it when setting false). If available, the RxPlayer will switch the current video track to the trick mode one. The trick mode track proposes video content that is often encoded with a very low framerate because the content is not intended to be played at regular framerate and because the chunks must be faster to load for the client.

Examples

// plays three times faster than normal
player.setPlaybackRate(3);

// plays five times faster than normal, and enable trickmode tracks if they exist
player.setPlaybackRate(5, { preferTrickModeTracks: true });

// reset the speed to "normal" (x1) speed and to disable trickMode video tracks
player.setPlaybackRate(1, { preferTrickModeTracks: false });

getPlaybackRate

–

syntax: const rate = player.getPlaybackRate()

return value: Number

–

Returns the current playback rate, that may have been updated through a previous setPlaybackRate call.

1 for normal playback, 2 when playing at double the speed, etc.

Example

const currentPlaybackRate = player.getPlaybackRate();
console.log(`Playing at a x${currentPlaybackRate}} speed`);

areTrickModeTracksEnabled

–

syntax: const areEnabled = player.areTrickModeTracksEnabled()

return value: boolean

–

Returns true if trickmode playback is active (it is usually enabled through the setPlaybackRate method), which means that the RxPlayer selects “trickmode” video tracks in priority.

Returns false in other cases.

Note that this doesn’t mean that the player is currently playing a trickmode track nor that it is even playing a content, only that it selects trickmode tracks in priority.

To switch on or off this mode, you can use the setPlaybackRate method.

Volume control

Those methods allows to have control over the current audio volume of playing contents.

setVolume

–

syntax: player.setVolume(volume)

arguments:

  • volume (Number): Volume from 0 to 1.

–

Set the current volume, from 0 (no sound) to 1 (the maximum sound level).

Note that the volume set here is persisted even when loading another content. As such, this method can also be called when no content is currently playing.

Example

// set the full volume
player.setVolume(1);

getVolume

–

syntax: const volume = player.getVolume()

return value: Number

–

Current volume of the player, from 0 (no sound) to 1 (maximum sound). 0 if muted through the mute API.

As the volume is not dependent on a single content (it is persistent), this method can also be called when no content is playing.

Example

const volume = player.getVolume();

if (volume === 1) {
  console.log("You're playing at maximum volume");
} else if (volume === 0) {
  console.log("You're playing at no volume");
} else if (volume > 0.5) {
  console.log("You're playing at a high volume");
} else {
  console.log("You're playing at a low volume");
}

mute

–

syntax: player.mute()

–

Mute the volume.

Basically set the volume to 0 while keeping in memory the previous volume to reset it at the next unMute call.

As the volume is not dependent on a single content (it is persistent), this method can also be called when no content is playing.

Example

// mute the current volume
player.mute();

unMute

–

syntax: player.unMute()

–

When muted, restore the volume to the one previous to the last mute call.

When the volume is already superior to 0, this call won’t do anything.

As the volume is not dependent on a single content (it is persistent), this method can also be called when no content is playing.

Example

// mute the current volume
player.mute();

// unmute and restore the previous volume
player.unMute();

isMute

–

syntax: const isMute = player.isMute()

return value: Boolean

–

Returns true if the volume is set to 0.

Example

if (player.isMute()) {
  console.log("The content plays with no sound.");
}

Track selection

The following methods allows to choose the right video audio or text track and to obtain information about the currently playing tracks.

getAudioTrack

–

syntax: const audioTrack = player.getAudioTrack()

return value: Object|null|undefined

–

Get information about the audio track currently set. null if no audio track is enabled right now.

If an audio track is set and information about it is known, this method will return an object with the following properties:

  • id (Number|string): The id used to identify this track. No other audio track for the same Period will have the same id.

    This can be useful when setting the track through the setAudioTrack method.

  • language (string): The language the audio track is in, as set in the Manifest.

  • normalized (string): An attempt to translate the language property into an ISO 639-3 language code (for now only support translations from ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-3 language codes). If the translation attempt fails (no corresponding ISO 639-3 language code is found), it will equal the value of language

  • audioDescription (Boolean): Whether the track is an audio description of what is happening at the screen.

  • dub (Boolean|undefined): If set to true, this audio track is a “dub”, meaning it was recorded in another language than the original. If set to false, we know that this audio track is in an original language. This property is undefined if we do not known whether it is in an original language.

  • representations (Array.<Object>): Representations of this video track, with attributes:

    • id (string): The id used to identify this Representation. No other Representation from this track will have the same id.

    • bitrate (Number): The bitrate of this Representation, in bits per seconds.

    • codec (string|undefined): The audio codec the Representation is in, as announced in the corresponding Manifest.

undefined if no audio content has been loaded yet or if its information is unknown.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the chosen audio track for the Period that is currently playing.

__

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), if there is no audio tracks API in the browser, this method will return undefined.

getTextTrack

–

syntax: const textTrack = player.getTextTrack()

return value: Object|null|undefined

–

Get information about the text track currently set. null if no audio track is enabled right now.

If a text track is set and information about it is known, this method will return an object with the following properties:

  • id (Number|string): The id used to identify this track. No other text track for the same Period will have the same id.

    This can be useful when setting the track through the setTextTrack method.

  • language (string): The language the text track is in, as set in the Manifest.

  • normalized (string): An attempt to translate the language property into an ISO 639-3 language code (for now only support translations from ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-3 language codes). If the translation attempt fails (no corresponding ISO 639-3 language code is found), it will equal the value of language

  • closedCaption (Boolean): Whether the track is specially adapted for the hard of hearing or not.

undefined if no text content has been loaded yet or if its information is unknown.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the chosen text track for the Period that is currently playing.

__

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), if there is no text tracks API in the browser, this method will return undefined.

getVideoTrack

–

syntax: const videoTrack = player.getVideoTrack()

return value: Object|null|undefined

–

Get information about the video track currently set.

null if no video track is enabled right now. undefined if no video content has been loaded yet or if its information is unknown.

If a video track is set and information about it is known, this method will return an object with the following properties:

  • id (Number|string): The id used to identify this track. No other video track for the same Period will have the same id.

    This can be useful when setting the track through the setVideoTrack method.

  • representations (Array.<Object>): Representations of this video track, with attributes:

    • id (string): The id used to identify this Representation. No other Representation from this track will have the same id.

    • bitrate (Number): The bitrate of this Representation, in bits per seconds.

    • width (Number|undefined): The width of video, in pixels.

    • height (Number|undefined): The height of video, in pixels.

    • codec (string|undefined): The video codec the Representation is in, as announced in the corresponding Manifest.

    • frameRate (string|undefined): The video frame rate.

    • hdrInfo (Object|undefined) Information about the hdr characteristics of the track. (see HDR support documentation)

  • signInterpreted (Boolean|undefined): If set to true, this track is known to contain an interpretation in sign language. If set to false, the track is known to not contain that type of content. If not set or set to undefined we don’t know whether that video track contains an interpretation in sign language.

  • isTrickModeTrack (Boolean|undefined): If set to true, this track is a trick mode track. This type of tracks proposes video content that is often encoded with a very low framerate with the purpose to be played more efficiently at a much higher speed.

    To enter or exit a mode where trickmode tracks are used instead of regular non-trickmode ones, you can use the setPlaybackRate function.

  • trickModeTracks (Object | undefined): Trick mode video tracks attached to this video track.

    Each of those objects contain the same properties that a regular video track (same properties than what is documented here).

    It this property is either undefined or not set, then this track has no linked trickmode video track.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the chosen video track for the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), if there is no video tracks API in the browser, this method will return undefined.

getAvailableAudioTracks

–

syntax: const audioTracks = player.getAvailableAudioTracks()

return value: Array.<Object>

–

Returns the list of available audio tracks for the current content.

Each of the objects in the returned array have the following properties:

  • active (Boolean): Whether the track is the one currently active or not. Only maximum one audio track can be active at a time.

  • id (string): The id used to identify the track. Use it for setting the track via setAudioTrack.

  • language (string): The language the audio track is in, as set in the Manifest.

  • normalized (string): An attempt to translate the language property into an ISO 639-3 language code (for now only support translations from ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2 language codes). If the translation attempt fails (no corresponding ISO 639-3 language code is found), it will equal the value of language

  • audioDescription (Boolean): Whether the track is an audio description of what is happening at the screen.

  • dub (Boolean|undefined): If set to true, this audio track is a “dub”, meaning it was recorded in another language than the original. If set to false, we know that this audio track is in an original language. This property is undefined if we do not known whether it is in an original language.

  • representations (Array.<Object>): Representations of this video track, with attributes:

    • id (string): The id used to identify this Representation.

    • bitrate (Number): The bitrate of this Representation, in bits per seconds.

    • codec (string|undefined): The audio codec the Representation is in, as announced in the corresponding Manifest.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the available tracks of the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), if there are no supported tracks in the file or no track management API this method will return an empty Array.

getAvailableTextTracks

–

syntax: const textTracks = player.getAvailableTextTracks()

return value: Array.<Object>

–

Returns the list of available text tracks (subtitles) for the current content.

Each of the objects in the returned array have the following properties:

  • id (string): The id used to identify the track. Use it for setting the track via setTextTrack.

  • language (string): The language the text track is in, as set in the Manifest.

  • normalized (string): An attempt to translate the language property into an ISO 639-3 language code (for now only support translations from ISO 639-1 and ISO 639-2 language codes). If the translation attempt fails (no corresponding ISO 639-3 language code is found), it will equal the value of language

  • closedCaption (Boolean): Whether the track is specially adapted for the hard of hearing or not.

  • active (Boolean): Whether the track is the one currently active or not.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the available tracks of the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), if there are no supported tracks in the file or no track management API this method will return an empty Array.

getAvailableVideoTracks

–

syntax: const videoTracks = player.getAvailableVideoTracks()

return value: Array.<Object>

–

Returns the list of available video tracks for the current content.

Each of the objects in the returned array have the following properties:

  • id (string): The id used to identify the track. Use it for setting the track via setVideoTrack.

  • active (Boolean): Whether this track is the one currently active or not.

  • representations (Array.<Object>): Representations of this video track, with attributes:

    • id (string): The id used to identify this Representation.

    • bitrate (Number): The bitrate of this Representation, in bits per seconds.

    • width (Number|undefined): The width of video, in pixels.

    • height (Number|undefined): The height of video, in pixels.

    • codec (string|undefined): The video codec the Representation is in, as announced in the corresponding Manifest.

    • frameRate (string|undefined): The video framerate.

    • hdrInfo (Object|undefined) Information about the hdr characteristics of the track. (see HDR support documentation)

  • signInterpreted (Boolean|undefined): If set to true, the track is known to contain an interpretation in sign language. If set to false, the track is known to not contain that type of content. If not set or set to undefined we don’t know whether that video track contains an interpretation in sign language.

  • trickModeTracks (Object | undefined): Trick mode video tracks attached to this video track.

    Each of those objects contain the same properties that a regular video track (same properties than what is documented here).

    It this property is either undefined or not set, then this track has no linked trickmode video track.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the available tracks of the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), if there are no supported tracks in the file or no track management API this method will return an empty Array.

setAudioTrack

–

syntax: player.setAudioTrack(audioTrackId)

arguments:

  • audioTrackId (string|Number): The id of the track you want to set

–

Change the current audio track.

The argument to this method is the wanted track’s id property. This id can for example be obtained on the corresponding track object returned by the getAvailableAudioTracks method.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only have an effect on the Period that is currently playing. If you want to update the track for other Periods as well, you might want to either:

  • update the current audio track once a "periodChange" event has been received.
  • update first the preferred audio tracks through the setPreferredAudioTracks method.

–

⚠️ If used on Safari, in DirectFile mode, the track change may change the track on other track type (e.g. changing video track may change subtitle track too). This has two potential reasons :

  • The HLS defines variants, groups of tracks that may be read together
  • Safari may decide to enable a track for accessibility or user language convenience (e.g. Safari may switch subtitle to your OS language if you pick another audio language) You can know if another track has changed by listening to the corresponding events that the tracks have changed.

setTextTrack

–

syntax: player.setTextTrack(textTrackId)

arguments:

  • textTrackId (string|Number): The id of the track you want to set

–

Change the current text (subtitles) track.

The argument to this method is the wanted track’s id property. This id can for example be obtained on the corresponding track object returned by the getAvailableTextTracks method.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only have an effect on the Period that is currently playing. If you want to update the track for other Periods as well, you might want to either:

  • update the current text track once a "periodChange" event has been received.
  • update first the preferred text tracks through the setPreferredTextTracks method.

–

⚠️ If used on Safari, in DirectFile mode, the track change may change the track on other track type (e.g. changing video track may change subtitle track too). This has two potential reasons :

  • The HLS defines variants, groups of tracks that may be read together
  • Safari may decide to enable a track for accessibility or user language convenience (e.g. Safari may switch subtitle to your OS language if you pick another audio language) You can know if another track has changed by listening to the corresponding events that the tracks have changed.

disableTextTrack

–

syntax: player.disableTextTrack()

–

Disable the current text track, if one.

After calling that method, no subtitles track will be displayed until setTextTrack is called.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only have an effect on the Period that is currently playing.

If you want to disable the text track for other Periods as well, you might want to call setPreferredVideoTracks instead. With this method, you can globally apply a null text track preference - which means that you would prefer having no text track - by setting its second argument to true.

More information can be found on that API’s documentation.

setVideoTrack

–

syntax: player.setVideoTrack(videoTrackId)

arguments:

  • videoTrackId (string|Number): The id of the track you want to set

–

Change the current video track.

The argument to this method is the wanted track’s id property. This id can for example be obtained on the corresponding track object returned by the getAvailableVideoTracks method.

If trickmode tracks are enabled (usually through the corresponding setPlaybackRate method option) and if that new video track is linked to trickmode tracks, one of the trickmode tracks will be loaded instead.

Note that trickmode tracks cannot be forced through the setVideoTrack method by giving directly the trickmode tracks’ id.

If you want to enable or disable trickmode tracks, you should use setPlaybackRate instead.

–

Setting a new video track when a previous one was already playing can lead the rx-player to “reload” this content.

During this period of time:

  • the player will have the state RELOADING
  • Multiple APIs linked to the current content might not work. Most notably:
    • play will not work
    • pause will not work
    • seekTo will not work
    • getPosition will return 0
    • getWallClockTime will return 0
    • getVideoDuration will return NaN
    • getAvailableAudioTracks will return an empty array
    • getAvailableTextTracks will return an empty array
    • getAvailableVideoTracks will return an empty array
    • getTextTrack will return null
    • getAudioTrack will return null
    • setAudioTrack will throw
    • setTextTrack will throw

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only have an effect on the Period that is currently playing. If you want to update the track for other Periods as well, you might want to either:

  • update the current video track once a "periodChange" event has been received.
  • update first the preferred video tracks through the setPreferredVideoTracks method.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options) when either :

  • No video track API is supported on the current browser
  • The media file tracks are not supported on the browser

disableVideoTrack

–

syntax: player.disableVideoTrack()

–

Disable the current video track, if one.

Might enter in RELOADING state for a short period after calling this API.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only have an effect on the Period that is currently playing.

If you want to disable the video track for other Periods as well, you might want to call setPreferredVideoTracks instead. With this method, you can globally apply a null video track preference - which means that you would prefer having no video track - by setting its second argument to true.

More information can be found on that API’s documentation.

–

⚠️ This option may have no effect in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options). The directfile mode is a special case here because when in it, the RxPlayer depends for track selection on the corresponding HTML standard as implemented by the different browsers. Though this standard says nothing about not being able to disable the video track (or to stay more in line with their terms: to not select any video track), no browser implementation actually seem to be able to do it, even when the corresponding browser APIs show that no video track is currently selected. This might be a bug on their parts.

Due to this fact, we do not recommend using this API in directfile mode for now. You might even receive a reassuring videoTrackChange event (with a null payload) while the video track is still actually active.

setPreferredAudioTracks

–

syntax: player.setPreferredAudioTracks(preferences) / player.setPreferredAudioTracks(preferences, shouldApply)

arguments:

  • preferences (Array.<Object>): wanted audio track configurations by order of preference.

  • shouldApply (Boolean | undefined): Whether this should be applied to the content being played.

–

Allows the RxPlayer to choose an initial audio track, based on language preferences, codec preferences or both.

This method can be called at any time - even when no content is loaded, and will apply to every future loaded content in the current RxPlayer instance.

–

The first argument should be set as an array of objects, each object describing constraints an audio track should respect.

Here is all the possible constraints you can set in any one of those objects (note that all properties are optional here, only those set will have an effect on which tracks will be filtered):

{
  language: "fra", // {string|undefined} The language the track should be in
                   // (in preference as an ISO 639-1, ISO 639-2 or ISO 639-3
                   // language code).
                   // If not set or set to `undefined`, the RxPlayer won't
                   // filter based on the language of the track.

  audioDescription: false // {Boolean|undefined} Whether the audio track should
                          // be an audio description for the visually impaired
                          // or not.
                          // If not set or set to `undefined`, the RxPlayer
                          // won't filter based on that status.

  codec: { // {Object|undefined} Constraints about the codec wanted.
           // if not set or set to `undefined` we won't filter based on codecs.

    test: /ec-3/, // {RegExp} RegExp validating the type of codec you want.

    all: true, // {Boolean} Whether all the profiles (i.e. Representation) in a
               // track should be checked against the RegExp given in `test`.
               // If `true`, we will only choose a track if EVERY profiles for
               // it have a codec information that is validated by that RegExp.
               // If `false`, we will choose a track if we know that at least
               // A SINGLE profile from it has codec information validated by
               // that RegExp.
  }
}

When encountering a new content or a new choice of tracks in a given content, the RxPlayer will look at each object in that array. If the first object in it defines constaints that cannot be respected under the currently available audio tracks, the RxPlayer will consider the second object in the array and so on.

As such, this array should be sorted by order of preference: from the most wanted constraints to the least.

–

The second argument to that function is an optional boolean which - when set to true - will apply that preference to the content and Period that have already been playing.

By setting it to true, you might thus change the currently-active track and the active track of Periods (in DASH) or sub-contents (in MetaPlaylist) that have already been played in the current content.

By setting it to false, undefined or not setting it, those preferences will only be applied each time a new Period or sub-content is loaded by the RxPlayer.

Simply put, if you don’t set the second argument to true those preferences won’t be applied to:

  • the content being currently played. Here, the current audio preference will stay in place.

  • the Periods or sub-contents which have already been loaded for the current content. Those will keep the audio track chosen at the last time they were loaded.

If you want the preferences to also be applied to those, you can set the second argument to true.

Examples

Let’s imagine that you prefer to have french or italian over all other audio languages. If not found, you want to fallback to english:

player.setPreferredAudioTracks([
  { language: "fra", audioDescription: false },
  { language: "ita", audioDescription: false },
  { language: "eng", audioDescription: false }
])

Now let’s imagine that you want to have in priority a track that contain at least one profile in Dolby Digital Plus (ec-3 codec) without caring about the language:

player.setPreferredAudioTracks([ { codec: { all: false, test: /ec-3/ } ]);

At last, let’s combine both examples by preferring french over itialian, italian over english while preferring it to be in Dolby Digital Plus:


player.setPreferredAudioTracks([
  {
    language: "fra",
    audioDescription: false,
    codec: { all: false, test: /ec-3/ }
  },

  // We still prefer non-DD+ french over DD+ italian
  { language: "fra", audioDescription: false },

  {
    language: "ita",
    audioDescription: false,
    codec: { all: false, test: /ec-3/ }
  },
  { language: "ita", audioDescription: false },

  {
    language: "eng",
    audioDescription: false,
    codec: { all: false, test: /ec-3/ }
  },
  { language: "eng", audioDescription: false }
]);

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options) when either :

  • No audio track API is supported on the current browser
  • The media file tracks are not supported on the browser

getPreferredAudioTracks

–

syntax: const preferences = player.getPreferredAudioTracks()

return value: Array.<Object>

–

Returns the current list of preferred audio tracks - by order of preference.

This returns the data in the same format that it was given to either the preferredAudioTracks constructor option or the last setPreferredAudioTracks if it was called.

It will return an empty Array if none of those two APIs were used until now.

setPreferredTextTracks

–

syntax: player.setPreferredTextTracks(preferences) / player.setPreferredTextTracks(preferences, shouldApply)

arguments:

  • preferences (Array.<Object>): wanted text track configurations by order of preference.

  • shouldApply (Boolean | undefined): Whether this should be applied to the content being played.

–

Allows the RxPlayer to choose an initial text track, based on language and accessibility preferences.

This method can be called at any time - even when no content is loaded, and will apply to every future loaded content in the current RxPlayer instance.

–

The first argument should be set as an array of objects, each object describing constraints a text track should respect.

Here is all the properties that should be set in a single object of that array.

{
  language: "fra", // {string} The wanted language
                   // (ISO 639-1, ISO 639-2 or ISO 639-3 language code)
  closedCaption: false // {Boolean} Whether the text track should be a closed
                       // caption for the hard of hearing
}

When encountering a new content or a new choice of tracks in a given content, the RxPlayer will look at each object in that array. If the first object in it defines constaints that cannot be respected under the currently available text tracks, the RxPlayer will consider the second object in the array and so on.

As such, this array should be sorted by order of preference: from the most wanted constraints to the least.

You can set null instead of an object to mean that you want no subtitles. When reaching that point of the array, the RxPlayer will just disable the current text track.

As such, if you never want any subtitles, you can just set this argument to [null] (an array with only the value null at the first position).

–

The second argument to that function is an optional boolean which - when set to true - will apply that preference to the content and Period that have already been playing.

By setting it to true, you might thus change the currently-active text track and the active text track of Periods (in DASH) or sub-contents (in MetaPlaylist) that have already been played in the current content.

By setting it to false, undefined or not setting it, those preferences will only be applied each time a new Period or sub-content is loaded by the RxPlayer.

Simply put, if you don’t set the second argument to true those preferences won’t be applied to:

  • the content being currently played. Here, the current text track preference will stay in place.

  • the Periods or sub-contents which have already been loaded for the current content. Those will keep the text track chosen at the last time they were loaded.

If you want the preferences to also be applied to those, you can set the second argument to true.

Example

Let’s imagine that you prefer to have french or italian subtitles.If not found, you want no subtitles at all.

You will thus call setPreferredTextTracks that way.

player.setPreferredTextTracks([
  { language: "fra", closedCaption: false },
  { language: "ita", closedCaption: false },
  null
]);

This won’t apply on the currently loaded content(s), if you also want that, you can add true as a second argument:

player.setPreferredTextTracks([
  { language: "fra", closedCaption: false },
  { language: "ita", closedCaption: false },
  null
], true);

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options) when either :

  • No text track API is supported on the current browser
  • The media file tracks are not supported on the browser

getPreferredTextTracks

–

syntax: const preferences = player.getPreferredTextTracks()

return value: Array.<Object|null>

–

Returns the current list of preferred text tracks - by order of preference.

This returns the data in the same format that it was given to either the preferredTextTracks constructor option or the last setPreferredTextTracks if it was called:

{
  language: "fra", // {string} The wanted language
                   // (ISO 639-1, ISO 639-2 or ISO 639-3 language code)
  closedCaption: false // {Boolean} Whether the text track should be a closed
                       // caption for the hard of hearing
}

setPreferredVideoTracks

–

syntax: player.setPreferredVideoTracks(preferences) / player.setPreferredVideoTracks(preferences, shouldApply)

arguments:

  • preferences (Array.<Object>): wanted video track configurations by order of preference.

  • shouldApply (Boolean | undefined): Whether this should be applied to the content being played.

–

Allows the RxPlayer to choose an initial video track, based on codec preferences, accessibility preferences or both.

This method can be called at any time - even when no content is loaded, and will apply to every future loaded content in the current RxPlayer instance.

–

The first argument should be set as an array of objects, each object describing constraints a video track should respect.

Here is all the possible constraints you can set in any one of those objects (note that all properties are optional here, only those set will have an effect on which tracks will be filtered):

{
  codec: { // {Object|undefined} Constraints about the codec wanted.
           // if not set or set to `undefined` we won't filter based on codecs.

    test: /hvc/, // {RegExp} RegExp validating the type of codec you want.

    all: true, // {Boolean} Whether all the profiles (i.e. Representation) in a
               // track should be checked against the RegExp given in `test`.
               // If `true`, we will only choose a track if EVERY profiles for
               // it have a codec information that is validated by that RegExp.
               // If `false`, we will choose a track if we know that at least
               // A SINGLE profile from it has codec information validated by
               // that RegExp.
  }
  signInterpreted: true, // {Boolean|undefined} If set to `true`, only tracks
                         // which are known to contains a sign language
                         // interpretation will be considered.
                         // If set to `false`, only tracks which are known
                         // to not contain it will be considered.
                         // if not set or set to `undefined` we won't filter
                         // based on that status.
}

If the first defined object in that array - defining the first set of constraints - cannot be respected under the currently available video tracks, the RxPlayer will check with the second object instead and so on.

As such, this array should be sorted by order of preference: from the most wanted constraints to the least.

When the next encountered constraint is set to null, the player will simply disable the video track. If you want to disable the video track by default, you can just set null as the first element of this array (e.g. like [null]).

–

The second argument to that function is an optional boolean which - when set to true - will apply that preference to the content and Period that have already been playing.

By setting it to true, you might thus change the currently-active track and the active track of Periods (in DASH) or sub-contents (in MetaPlaylist) that have already been played in the current content.

By setting it to false, undefined or not setting it, those preferences will only be applied each time a new Period (or sub-content) is loaded by the RxPlayer.

Simply put, if you don’t set the second argument to true those preferences won’t be applied to:

  • the content being currently played. Here, the current video preference will stay in place.

  • the Periods or sub-contents which have already been loaded for the current content. Those will keep the video track chosen at the last time they were loaded.

If you want the preferences to also be applied to those, you can set the second argument to true.

Examples

Let’s imagine that you prefer to have a track which contains only H265 profiles. You can do:

player.setPreferredVideoTracks([ { codec: { all: false, test: /^hvc/ } } ]);

With that same constraint, let’s no consider that the current user prefer in any case to have a sign language interpretation on screen:

player.setPreferredVideoTracks([
  // first let's consider the best case: H265 + sign language interpretation
  {
    codec: { all: false, test: /^hvc/ }
    signInterpreted: true,
  },

  // If not available, we still prefer a sign interpreted track without H265
  { signInterpreted: true },

  // If not available either, we would prefer an H265 content
  { codec: { all: false, test: /^hvc/ } },

  // Note: If this is also available, we will here still have a video track
  // but which do not respect any of the constraints set here.
]);
would thus prefer the video to contain a sign language interpretation.
We could set both the previous and that new constraint that way:

---

For a totally different example, let's imagine you want to play without any
video track enabled (e.g. to start in an audio-only mode). To do that, you can
simply do:
```js
player.setPreferredVideoTracks([null], true);

⚠️ This option will have no effect in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options) when either :

  • No video track API is supported on the current browser
  • The media file tracks are not supported on the browser

getPreferredVideoTracks

–

syntax: const preferences = player.getPreferredVideoTracks()

return value: Array.<Object|null>

–

Returns the current list of preferred video tracks - by order of preference.

This returns the data in the same format that it was given to either the preferredVideoTracks constructor option or the last setPreferredVideoTracks if it was called.

It will return an empty Array if none of those two APIs were used until now.

Bitrate selection

The following methods allows to choose a given bitrate for audio or video content. It can also enable or disable an adaptive bitrate logic or influence it.

getAvailableVideoBitrates

–

syntax: const bitrates = player.getAvailableVideoBitrates()

return value: Array.<Number>

–

The different bitrates available for the current video track in bits per seconds.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the available video bitrates of the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), returns an empty Array.

Example

const videoBitrates = player.getAvailableVideoBitrates();
if (videoBitrates.length) {
  console.log(
    "The current video is available in the following bitrates",
    videoBitrates.join(", ")
  );
}

getAvailableAudioBitrates

–

syntax: const bitrates = player.getAvailableAudioBitrates()

return value: Array.<Number>

–

The different bitrates available for the current audio track in bits per seconds.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the available audio bitrates of the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), returns an empty Array.

Example

const audioBitrates = player.getAvailableAudioBitrates();
if (audioBitrates.length) {
  console.log(
    "The current audio is available in the following bitrates",
    audioBitrates.join(", ")
  );
}

getVideoBitrate

–

syntax: const bitrate = player.getVideoBitrate()

return value: Number|undefined

–

Returns the bitrate of the video quality currently chosen, in bits per second.

Returns undefined if no content is loaded.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the chosen video bitrate for the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), returns undefined.

getAudioBitrate

–

syntax: const bitrate = player.getAudioBitrate()

return value: Number|undefined

–

Returns the bitrate of the audio quality currently chosen, in bits per second.

Returns undefined if no content is loaded.

–

Note for multi-Period contents:

This method will only return the chosen audio bitrate for the Period that is currently playing.

–

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), returns undefined.

setMinVideoBitrate

–

syntax: player.setMinVideoBitrate(minBitrate)

arguments:

  • minBitrate (Number): Lower video bitrate limit when adaptive streaming is enabled.

–

Set a minimum video bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming.

When the bitrate is chosen through adaptive streaming (i.e., not enforced manually through APIs such as setVideoBitrate), the player will never switch to a video quality with a bitrate lower than that value.

The exception being when no quality has a higher bitrate, in which case the maximum quality will always be chosen instead.

For example, if you want that video qualities chosen automatically never have a bitrate below 100 kilobits per second you can call:

player.setMinVideoBitrate(100000);

Any limit can be removed just by setting that value to 0:

// remove video bitrate lower limit
player.setMinVideoBitrate(0);

The effect of this method is persisted from content to content. As such, it can even be called when no content is currently loaded.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setVideoBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

setMinAudioBitrate

–

syntax: player.setMinAudioBitrate(minBitrate)

arguments:

  • minBitrate (Number): Lower audio bitrate limit when adaptive streaming is enabled.

–

Set a minimum audio bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming.

When the bitrate is chosen through adaptive streaming (i.e., not enforced manually through APIs such as setAudioBitrate), the player will never switch to an audio quality with a bitrate lower than that value.

The exception being when no quality has a higher bitrate, in which case the maximum quality will always be chosen instead.

For example, if you want that audio qualities chosen automatically never have a bitrate below 100 kilobits per second you can call:

player.setMinAudioBitrate(100000);

Any limit can be removed just by setting that value to 0:

// remove audio bitrate lower limit
player.setMinAudioBitrate(0);

The effect of this method is persisted from content to content. As such, it can even be called when no content is currently loaded.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setAudioBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getMinVideoBitrate

–

syntax: const minBitrate = player.getMinVideoBitrate()

return value: Number

–

Returns the minimum video bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming, in bits per second.

This minimum limit has usually been set either through the setMinVideoBitrate method or through the minVideoBitrate constructor option.

This limit can be further updated by calling the setMinVideoBitrate method.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setVideoBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

getMinAudioBitrate

–

syntax: const minBitrate = player.getMinAudioBitrate()

return value: Number

–

Returns the minimum audio bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming, in bits per second.

This minimum limit has usually been set either through the setMinAudioBitrate method or through the minAudioBitrate constructor option.

This limit can be further updated by calling the setMinAudioBitrate method.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setAudioBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

setMaxVideoBitrate

–

syntax: player.setMaxVideoBitrate(maxBitrate)

arguments:

  • maxBitrate (Number): Upper video bitrate limit when adaptive streaming is enabled.

–

Set a maximum video bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming.

When the bitrate is chosen through adaptive streaming (i.e., not enforced manually through APIs such as setVideoBitrate), the player will never switch to a video quality with a bitrate higher than that value.

The exception being when no quality has a lower bitrate, in which case the minimum quality will always be chosen instead.

For example, if you want that video qualities chosen automatically never have a bitrate higher than 1 Megabits per second you can call:

player.setMaxVideoBitrate(1e6);

Any limit can be removed just by setting that value to Infinity:

// remove video bitrate higher limit
player.setMaxVideoBitrate(Infinity);

The effect of this method is persisted from content to content. As such, it can even be called when no content is currently loaded.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setVideoBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

setMaxAudioBitrate

–

syntax: player.setMaxAudioBitrate(maxBitrate)

arguments:

  • maxBitrate (Number): Upper audio bitrate limit when adaptive streaming is enabled.

–

Set a maximum audio bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming.

When the bitrate is chosen through adaptive streaming (i.e., not enforced manually through APIs such as setAudioBitrate), the player will never switch to an audio quality with a bitrate higher than that value.

The exception being when no quality has a lower bitrate, in which case the minimum quality will always be chosen instead.

For example, if you want that audio qualities chosen automatically never have a bitrate higher than 1 Megabits per second you can call:

player.setMaxAudioBitrate(1e6);

Any limit can be removed just by setting that value to Infinity:

// remove audio bitrate higher limit
player.setMaxAudioBitrate(Infinity);

The effect of this method is persisted from content to content. As such, it can even be called when no content is currently loaded.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setAudioBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getMaxVideoBitrate

–

syntax: const maxBitrate = player.getMaxVideoBitrate()

return value: Number

–

Returns the maximum video bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming, in bits per second.

This maximum limit has usually been set either through the setMaxVideoBitrate method or through the maxVideoBitrate constructor option.

This limit can be further updated by calling the setMaxVideoBitrate method.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setVideoBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

getMaxAudioBitrate

–

syntax: const maxBitrate = player.getMaxAudioBitrate()

return value: Number

–

Returns the maximum audio bitrate reachable through adaptive streaming, in bits per second.

This maximum limit has usually been set either through the setMaxAudioBitrate method or through the maxAudioBitrate constructor option.

This limit can be further updated by calling the setMaxAudioBitrate method.

Note that this only affects adaptive strategies. Forcing the bitrate manually (for example by calling setAudioBitrate) bypass this limit completely.

setVideoBitrate

–

syntax: player.setVideoBitrate(bitrate)

arguments:

  • bitrate (Number): Optimal video bitrate (the quality with the maximum bitrate inferior to this value will be chosen if it exists).

–

Force the current video track to be of a certain bitrate.

If a video quality in the current track is found with the exact same bitrate, this quality will be set.

If no video quality is found with the exact same bitrate, either:

  • the video quality with the closest bitrate inferior to that value will be chosen.

  • if no video quality has a bitrate lower than that value, the video quality with the lowest bitrate will be chosen instead.

By calling this method with an argument set to -1, this setting will be disabled and the RxPlayer will chose the right quality according to its adaptive logic.

You can use getAvailableVideoBitrates to get the list of available bitrates for the current video track.

Note that the value set is persistent between loadVideo calls. As such, this method can also be called when no content is playing (the same rules apply for future contents).

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

setAudioBitrate

–

syntax: player.setAudioBitrate(bitrate)

arguments:

  • bitrate (Number): Optimal audio bitrate (the quality with the maximum bitrate inferior to this value will be chosen if it exists).

–

Force the current audio track to be of a certain bitrate.

If an audio quality in the current track is found with the exact same bitrate, this quality will be set.

If no audio quality is found with the exact same bitrate, either:

  • the audio quality with the closest bitrate inferior to that value will be chosen.

  • if no audio quality has a bitrate lower than that value, the audio quality with the lowest bitrate will be chosen instead.

By calling this method with an argument set to -1, this setting will be disabled and the RxPlayer will chose the right quality according to its adaptive logic.

You can use getAvailableAudioBitrates to get the list of available bitrates for the current audio track.

Note that the value set is persistent between loadVideo calls. As such, this method can also be called when no content is playing (the same rules apply for future contents).

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getManualVideoBitrate

–

syntax: const currentManualVideoBitrate = player.getManualVideoBitrate()

return value: Number

–

Get the last video bitrate manually set. Either via setVideoBitrate or via the initialVideoBitrate constructor option.

This value can be different than the one returned by getVideoBitrate:

  • getManualVideoBitrate returns the last bitrate set manually by the user
  • getVideoBitrate returns the actual bitrate of the current video track

-1 when no video bitrate is forced.

getManualAudioBitrate

–

syntax: const currentManualAudioBitrate = player.getManualAudioBitrate()

return value: Number

–

Get the last audio bitrate manually set. Either via setAudioBitrate or via the initialAudioBitrate constructor option.

This value can be different than the one returned by getAudioBitrate:

  • getManualAudioBitrate returns the last bitrate set manually by the user
  • getAudioBitrate returns the actual bitrate of the current audio track

-1 when no audio bitrate is forced.

Buffer control

The methods in this chapter allow to get and set limits on how the current buffer can grow.

setWantedBufferAhead

–

syntax: player.setWantedBufferAhead(bufferGoal)

arguments:

  • bufferGoal (Number): Ideal amount of buffer that should be pre-loaded, in seconds.

–

Set the buffering goal, as a duration ahead of the current position, in seconds.

Once this size of buffer reached, the player won’t try to download new segments anymore.

By default, this value is set to 30.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getWantedBufferAhead

–

syntax: const bufferGoal = player.getWantedBufferAhead()

return value: Number

–

returns the buffering goal, as a duration ahead of the current position, in seconds.

By default, this value is set to 30.

setMaxBufferBehind

–

syntax: player.setMaxBufferBehind(bufferSize)

arguments:

  • bufferSize (Number): Maximum amount of buffer behind the current position, in seconds.

–

Set the maximum kept buffer before the current position, in seconds.

Everything before that limit (currentPosition - maxBufferBehind) will be automatically garbage collected.

This feature is not necessary as the browser should by default correctly remove old segments from memory if/when the memory is scarce.

However on some custom targets, or just to better control the memory footprint of the player, you might want to set this limit.

You can set it to Infinity to remove this limit and just let the browser do this job instead.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getMaxBufferBehind

–

syntax: const bufferSize = player.getMaxBufferBehind()

return value: Number

–

Returns the maximum kept buffer before the current position, in seconds.

This setting can be updated either by:

  • calling the setMaxBufferBehind method.
  • instanciating an RxPlayer with a maxBufferBehind property set.

setMaxBufferAhead

–

syntax: player.setMaxBufferAhead(bufferSize)

arguments:

  • bufferSize (Number): Maximum amount of buffer ahead of the current position, in seconds.

–

Set the maximum kept buffer ahead of the current position, in seconds.

Everything superior to that limit (currentPosition + maxBufferAhead) will be automatically garbage collected.

This feature is not necessary as the browser should by default correctly remove old segments from memory if/when the memory is scarce.

However on some custom targets, or just to better control the memory footprint of the player, you might want to set this limit.

You can set it to Infinity to remove any limit and just let the browser do this job instead.

The minimum value between this one and the one returned by getWantedBufferAhead will be considered when downloading new segments.

⚠️ Bear in mind that a too-low configuration there (e.g. inferior to 10) might prevent the browser to play the content at all.

–

⚠️ This option will have no effect for contents loaded in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getMaxBufferAhead

–

syntax: const bufferSize = player.getMaxBufferAhead()

return value: Number

–

Returns the maximum kept buffer ahead of the current position, in seconds.

This setting can be updated either by:

  • calling the setMaxBufferAhead method.
  • instanciating an RxPlayer with a maxBufferAhead property set.

Buffer information

The methods in this chapter allows to retrieve information about what is currently buffered.

getVideoLoadedTime

–

syntax: const loadedTime = player.getVideoLoadedTime()

return value: Number

–

Returns in seconds the difference between:

  • the start of the current contiguous loaded range.
  • the end of it.

In other words, this is the duration of the current contiguous range of media data the player is currently playing: If we’re currently playing at the position at 51 seconds, and there is media data from the second 40 to the second 60, then getVideoLoadedTime() will return 20 (60 - 40).

0 if there’s no data loaded for the current position.

getVideoPlayedTime

–

syntax: const playedTime = player.getVideoPlayedTime()

return value: Number

–

Returns in seconds the difference between:

  • the start of the current contiguous loaded range.
  • the current time.

In other words, this is the amount of time in the current contiguous range of media data the player has already played. If we’re currently playing at the position at 51 seconds, and there is media data from the second 40 to the second 60, then getVideoPlayedTime() will return 11 (51 - 40).

0 if there’s no data loaded for the current position.

getVideoBufferGap

–

syntax: const bufferGap = player.getVideoBufferGap()

return value: Number

–

Returns in seconds the difference between:

  • the current time.
  • the end of the current contiguous loaded range.

In other words, this is the amount of seconds left in the buffer before the end of the current contiguous range of media data. If we’re currently playing at the position at 51 seconds, and there is media data from the second 40 to the second 60, then getVideoPlayedTime() will return 9 (60 - 51).

Content information

The methods documented in this chapter allows to obtain general information about the current loaded content.

isLive

–

syntax: const isLive = player.isLive()

return value: Boolean

–

Returns true if the content is a “live” content (e.g. a live TV Channel). false otherwise.

Also false if no content is loaded yet.

Example

if (player.isLive()) {
  console.log("We're playing a live content");
}

getUrl

–

syntax: const url = player.getUrl()

return value: string

–

Returns the URL of the downloaded Manifest.

In DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options), returns the URL of the content being played.

Returns undefined if no content is loaded yet.

Example

const url = player.getUrl();
if (url) {
  console.log("We are playing the following content:", url);
}

getCurrentKeySystem

–

syntax: const keySystemName = player.getCurrentKeySystem()

return value: string|undefined

–

Returns the type of keySystem used for DRM-protected contents.

Deprecated

The following methods are deprecated. They are still supported but we advise users to not use those as they might become not supported in the future.

getManifest

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

–

syntax: const manifest = player.getManifest()

return value: Manifest|null

–

Returns the current loaded Manifest if one. The Manifest object structure is relatively complex and is described in the Manifest Object structure page.

null if the player is either stopped or not loaded.

null in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

The Manifest will be available before the player reaches the "LOADED" state.

getCurrentAdaptations

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

–

syntax: const adaptations = player.getCurrentAdaptations()

return value: Object|null

–

Returns the Adaptations being loaded per type if a Manifest is loaded. The returned object will have at most a key for each type (“video”, “audio”, “text” and “image”) which will each contain an array of Adaptation Objects.

The Adaptation object structure is relatively complex and is described in the Manifest Object structure page.

null if the current Adaptations are not known yet.

null in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getCurrentRepresentations

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

–

syntax: const representations = player.getCurrentRepresentations()

return value: Object|null

–

Returns the Representations being loaded per type if a Manifest is loaded. The returned object will have at most a key for each type (“video”, “audio”, “text” and “image”) which will each contain an array of Representation Objects.

An Representation object structure is relatively complex and is described in the Manifest Object structure page.

null if the current Representations are not known yet.

null in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

getImageTrackData

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

–

syntax: const data = player.getImageTrackData()

return value: Array.<Object>|null

–

The current image track’s data, null if no content is loaded / no image track data is available.

The returned array follows the usual image playlist structure, defined here.

null in DirectFile mode (see loadVideo options).

setFullscreen

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

arguments: Boolean

Switch or exit the <video> element to fullscreen mode. The argument is an optional boolean:

  • if set:

    • true: enters fullscreen
    • false: exit fullscreen

  • if not set: enter fullscreen

Note that only the video element will be set to fullscreen mode. You might prefer to implement your own method to include your controls in the final UI.

exitFullscreen

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

Exit fullscreen mode. Same than setFullscreen(false).

isFullscreen

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

return value: Boolean

Returns true if the video element is in fullscreen mode, false otherwise.

Example

if (player.isFullscreen()) {
  console.log("The player is in fullscreen mode");
}

getNativeTextTrack

–

⚠️ This method is deprecated, it will disappear in the next major release v4.0.0 (see Deprecated APIs).

–

–

syntax: const textTrack = player.getNativeTextTrack()

return value: TextTrack|null

–

Returns the first text track of the video’s element, null if none.

This is equivalent to:

const el = player.getVideoElement();
const textTrack = el.textTracks.length ? el.textTracks[0] : null;

Static properties

This chapter documents the static properties that can be found on the RxPlayer class.

version

type: Number

The current version of the RxPlayer.

ErrorTypes

type: Object

The different “types” of Error you can get on playback error,

See the Player Error documentation for more information.

ErrorCodes

type: Object

The different Error “codes” you can get on playback error,

See the Player Error documentation for more information.

LogLevel

type: string

default: "NONE"

The current level of verbosity for the RxPlayer logs. Those logs all use the console.

From the less verbose to the most:

  • "NONE": no log

  • "ERROR": unexpected errors (via console.error)

  • "WARNING": The previous level + minor problems encountered (via console.warn)

  • "INFO": The previous levels + noteworthy events (via console.info)

  • "DEBUG": The previous levels + normal events of the player (via console.log)

If the value set to this property is different than those, it will be automatically set to "NONE".

Example

import RxPlayer from "rx-player";
RxPlayer.LogLevel = "WARNING";

Tools

The RxPlayer has several “tools”, which are utils which can be imported without importing the whole RxPlayer itself.

They are all documented here.

StringUtils

Tools to convert strings into bytes and vice-versa.

The RxPlayer internally has a lot of code dealing with strings to bytes conversion (and vice-versa). This tool exports that logic so you don’t have to rewrite it yourself.

You might need one of those functions for example when dealing with challenge and licenses, which are often under a binary format.

How to import it

The simplest way to import the StringUtils is by importing it as a named export from “rx-player/tools”, like so:

import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";

console.log(StringUtils.strToUtf8("hello😀"));

You can also import only the function(s) you want to use by importing it directly from “rx-player/tools/string-utils”:

import { strToUtf8 } from "rx-player/tools/string-utils";
console.log(strToUtf8("hello😀"));

StringUtils functions

StringUtils is an object containing the following functions:

  • strToUtf8: Convert a JS string passed as argument to an Uint8Array of its corresponding representation in UTF-8.

    Example:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
StringUtils.strToUtf8("hello😀");
// => Uint8Array(9) [ 104, 101, 108, 108, 111, 240, 159, 152, 128 ]
//                    "h"  "e"  "l"  "l"  "o"  "grinning face" emoji

  • utf8ToStr: Convert a Uint8Array containing a string encoded with UTF-8 into a JS string.

    Example:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
const uint8Arr = new Uint8Array([104, 101, 108, 108, 111, 240, 159, 152, 128]);
StringUtils.utf8ToStr(uint8Arr);
// => "hello😀"

    Note: if what you have is an ArrayBuffer, you have to convert it to an Uint8Array first:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
const toUint8Array = new Uint8Array(myArrayBuffer);
console.log(StringUtils.utf8ToStr(toUint8Array));

  • strToUtf16LE: Convert a JS string passed as argument to an Uint8Array containing its corresponding representation in UTF-16-LE (little endian UTF-16).

    Example:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
StringUtils.strToUtf16LE("hi😀");
// => Uint8Array(9) [ 104, 0, 105, 0, 61, 216, 0, 222 ]
//                    "h"     "i"     "grinning face" emoji

  • utf16LEToStr: Convert a Uint8Array containing a string encoded with UTF-16-LE (little endian UTF-16) into a JS string.

    Example:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
const uint8Arr = new Uint8Array([104, 0, 105, 0, 61, 216, 0, 222]);
StringUtils.utf16LEToStr(uint8Arr);
// => "hi😀"

    Note: if what you have is an ArrayBuffer, you have to convert it to an Uint8Array first:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
const toUint8Array = new Uint8Array(myArrayBuffer);
console.log(StringUtils.utf16LEToStr(toUint8Array));

  • strToUtf16BE: Convert a JS string passed as argument to an Uint8Array containing its corresponding representation in UTF-16-BE (big endian UTF-16).

    Example:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
StringUtils.strToUtf16BE("hi😀");
// => Uint8Array(9) [ 0, 104, 0, 105, 216, 61, 222, 0 ]
//                    "h"     "i"     "grinning face" emoji

  • utf16BEToStr: Convert a Uint8Array containing a string encoded with UTF-16-BE (big endian UTF-16) into a JS string.

    Example:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
const uint8Arr = new Uint8Array([0, 104, 0, 105, 216, 61, 222, 0]);
StringUtils.utf16BEToStr(uint8Arr);
// => "hi😀"

    Note: if what you have is an ArrayBuffer, you have to convert it to an Uint8Array first:

    import { StringUtils } from "rx-player/tools";
const toUint8Array = new Uint8Array(myArrayBuffer);
console.log(StringUtils.utf16BEToStr(toUint8Array));

TextTrackRenderer

The TextTrackRenderer allows to easily render subtitles synchronized to a video element.

It allows easily to dynamically add subtitles (as long as it is in one of the following format: srt, ttml, webVTT or SAMI) to a played video.

This tool is documented here.

VideoThumbnailLoader

The VideoThumbnailLoader is a tool allowing to display preview thumbnails based on possible trickmode video tracks in a content.

More information on this tool and how to use it here.

MediaCapabilitiesProber

–

⚠️ This tool is experimental. This only means that its API can change at any new RxPlayer version (with all the details in the corresponding release note).

–

An experimental tool to probe browser media capabilities:

  • Decoding capabilities
  • DRM support
  • HDCP support
  • Display capabilities

You can find its documentation here.

parseBifThumbnails

–

⚠️ This tool is experimental. This only means that its API can change at any new RxPlayer version (with all the details in the corresponding release note).

–

The parseBifThumbnails function parses BIF files, which is a format used to declare thumbnails linked to a given content.

This tool is documented here.

createMetaplaylist

–

⚠️ This tool is experimental. This only means that its API can change at any new RxPlayer version (with all the details in the corresponding release note).

–

The createMetaplaylist function build a metaplaylist object from given informations about contents.

This tool is documented here.