Decryption Options

Overview

The RxPlayer has a lot of decryption-related options that you can give when calling the loadVideo method, itself described in the previous documentation page.

This page will desribe most of them.

In the case you find this documentation hard to grasp, we've written a tutorial on DRM configuration here.

loadVideo `keySystems` options

keySystems is a loadVideo option allowing to communicate your decryption-related preferences.

It takes the form of an array of objects, themselves potentially containing any of the properties described here.

Each object in the keySystems array will describe decryption configuration, from the most preferred (the one you wish to be apply) to the least preferred (the fallback configurations).

That way, the RxPlayer will first try to apply the configuration linked to the first object. If it fails, it will try the second and so on. If all configurations fail, the RxPlayer will stop playback with an ENCRYPTED_MEDIA_ERROR with the INCOMPATIBLE_KEYSYSTEMS code (see error documentation).

Mostly, the type and getLicense properties are usually mandatory for encrypted contents. Depending on your situation you might also want to set other options.

type

type: string

Name of the DRM system used. Can be either one of:

"widevine"
"playready"
"clearkey"

For more specific (or just different ones), the full reverse domain name of the key system can be used instead, for example:

"com.widevine.alpha",
"com.microsoft.playready.hardware"
"com.apple.fps.1_0"
etc.

Example

rxPlayer.loadVideo({
  // ...
  keySystems: [
    {
      type: "com.microsoft.playready.recommendation",
      // ...
    },
    // ...
  ],
});

getLicense

type: Function

Callback which will be triggered everytime a message is sent by the Content Decryption Module (CDM), usually to fetch/renew the license.

Gets two arguments when called:

the message (Uint8Array): The message, formatted to an Array of bytes.
the messageType (string): String describing the type of message received. There is only 4 possible message types, all defined in the w3c specification.

This function should return either synchronously the license, null to not set a license for this message event or a Promise which should either:

resolve if the license was fetched, with the licence in argument
resolve with null if you do not want to set a license for this message event
reject if an error was encountered.

Note: We set a 10 seconds timeout by default on this request (configurable through the keySystems[].getLicenseConfig object). If the returned Promise do not resolve or reject under this limit, the RxPlayer will stop with an error.

In any case, if a license is provided by this function it should be under a BufferSource type (example: an Uint8Array or an ArrayBuffer).

If this callback throws or rejects, the RxPlayer will either:

retry if new retry attempts can be done according to the parameters given as getLicenseConfig and if the noRetry property of the last rejected/throwed value was not set to true.

In that case an error with the KEY_LOAD_ERROR code will still be emitted through a warning event to indicate that this attempt as failed.
stop playback, emitting an error event with the KEY_LOAD_ERROR code, if no attempt is left to be done (or if the noRetry property of the last throwed/rejected error was set to true) AND if the fallbackOnLastTry property on the last throwed/rejected error was not set to true.
try to fallback to a different Representation (a.k.a. media profile) if no attempt is left to be done (or if the noRetry property of the last throwed/rejected error was set to true) AND if the fallbackOnLastTry property on the last throwed/rejected error WAS set to true.

In that case an error with the KEY_LOAD_ERROR code will still be emitted through a warning event to indicate that this attempt as failed.

If we have no Representation to fallback to anymore, we will throw a MediaError with a NO_PLAYABLE_REPRESENTATION code, as documented in the errors documentation.

If the getLicense call throws/rejects, you can add any of the following properties (none are mandatory) to configure the behavior of the RxPlayer relative to that failure:

noRetry (Boolean): If set to true, we won't make another attempt to call getLicense for this particular message.

This will result in:
- if the fallbackOnLastTry boolean has been set to true, it will trigger a fallback to another Representations (and a KEY_LOAD_ERROR warning being sent) if possible (and throw a NO_PLAYABLE_REPRESENTATION error code if there's no Representation left to fallback to, as documented in the fallbackOnLastTry property documentation).
- If not, a KEY_LOAD_ERROR error code will be directly thrown and playback will be stopped.
If set to false or not set, the current retry parameters will be applied (see getLicenseConfig)
message (string): If the message property is set as a "string", this message will be set as the message property of the corresponding EncryptedMediaError (either communicated through an "error" event if we're not retrying or through a "warning" event if we're retrying). As every other getLicense-related errors, this error will have the KEY_LOAD_ERROR code property.
fallbackOnLastTry (boolean): If this getLicense is the last retry (if the noRetry property is set to true, this is always true), we will not throw immediately but rather try to fallback on other Representations (e.g. qualities) which might have a different decryption key. If no Representation is left, we will throw a MediaError with a NO_PLAYABLE_REPRESENTATION code, as documented in the errors documentation.

This option is thus only useful for contents depending on multiple licenses.

When fallbacking, we might need to reload the current MediaSource, leading to a black screen during a brief instant. When reloading, the RxPlayer will have the "RELOADING" player state. on most situations, we will however not reload the media source but only perform a very little seek (of some milliseconds). you might see the stream stutter for a very brief instant at that point.

On the Edge browser, we found an issue that can arise when this option is set if PlayReady is used. This issue can make the player loads the content indefinitely. Sadly, no work-around has been found for now for this issue. We're currently trying to create a reproducible scenario and document that issue so it can hopefully be fixed in the future. In the meantime, you're encouraged either to use Widevine (only on Chromium-based Edge) or to not make use of the fallBackOnLastTry option on that browser.

getLicenseConfig

type: Object | undefined

Optional configuration for the keySystems[].getLicense callback.

Can contain the following properties:

retry (Number|undefined) (default: 2): number of time getLicense is retried on error or on timeout before we fail on a KEY_LOAD_ERROR
timeout (Number|undefined) (default: 10000): timeout, in milliseconds after which we consider the getLicense callback to have failed.

Set it to -1 to disable any timeout.

serverCertificate

type: BufferSource | undefined

Eventual certificate used to encrypt messages to the license server.

If set, we will try to set this certificate on the CDM. If it fails, we will still continue to try deciphering the content (albeit a warning will be emitted in that case with the code "LICENSE_SERVER_CERTIFICATE_ERROR").

persistentLicenseConfig

type: Object | undefined

Set it only if you want to load persistent-license(s) for later retrieval. Note that not all licenses can be persisted, this is dependent both on the loaded licenses and on the Content Decryption Module used in the browser.

This is an object containing the following properties:

save (Function): function which takes into argument an Array.<Object> which will contain information on all the DRM sessions the RxPlayer currently needs to save. No return value is needed.
load (Function): Function which takes no argument and returns the last stored Array.<Object> (the last one given to save).
disableRetroCompatibility (boolean): If set to true the RxPlayer might not be able to load licenses persisted through an older RxPlayer version. This will allow to unlock some optimizations, for example to allow a faster loading of the current content.

We recommend setting that option to true if retrieving persisted licenses through older versions are not that warning to you.

maxSessionCacheSize

type: number | undefined

The RxPlayer maintains a cache of recently opened MediaKeySession (and consequently of recently fetched licenses) as an optimization measure.

That way, loading a content whose license had already been fetched won't necessitate a new license request, leading to shorter loading times and less requests.

The size of this cache is usually kept relatively low (in the 10s) by the player. We found out however that some devices have an even lower limit for the number of MediaKeySession that can be created at the same time.

The maxSessionCacheSize option allows to configure the maximum number of MediaKeySession that should be kept "alive" at the same time. Any supplementary older MediaKeySession will be closed, at least when the time comes to create a new one.

closeSessionsOnStop

type: Boolean | undefined

If set to true, all open MediaKeySession (JavaScript Objects linked to the keys used to decrypt the content) will be closed when the current playback stops.

By default, we keep created MediaKeySession from previous contents (up to maxSessionCacheSize MediaKeySession) to speed-up playback and avoid round-trips to the license server if the user ever decide to go back to those contents or to other contents relying to the same keys.

However we found that some devices poorly handle that optimization.

Note that if setting that property to true fixes your issue, it may be that it's just the maxSessionCacheSize which is for now too high.

However if your problem doesn't disappear after setting closeSessionsOnStop to true, you may try reuseMediaKeys next.

reuseMediaKeys

If set to true or if not set, the RxPlayer might rely on the previous MediaKeys if a compatible one is already set on the media element, allowing to potentially speed-up content playback.

If set to false, the RxPlayer will create a new MediaKeys instance (a JavaScript object needed to decrypt contents) if needed for that content.

We noticed that reusing a previous MediaKeys had led to errors on a few devices. For example some smart TVs had shown errors after playing several encrypted contents, errors which disappeared if we renewed the MediaKeys for each content.

The RxPlayer should already be able to detect most of those cases. However, it is still possible that we don't know yet of a device which also has problem with that optimization.

If you have issues appearing only after playing multiple encrypted contents:

First, try setting the closeSessionsOnStop option which is less destructive.

If it fixes your issue, it may be that it's just the number of MediaKeySession cached by the RxPlayer that is here too high.

In that case you can instead update the maxSessionCacheSize option to still profit from a MediaKeySession cache (which avoid making license requests for already-played contents).

If that second option doesn't seem to have an effect, you can just set closeSessionsOnStop.
If none of the precedent work-arounds work however, you can try setting reuseMediaKeys to false. If it fixes your problem, please open an RxPlayer issue so we can add your device to our list.

singleLicensePer

type: string | undefined

Allows to use optimally a single license for multiple decryption keys.

Can be set to the following values:

"init-data": This is the default value. Under that behavior, the RxPlayer will try to fetch a new license any time it encounters an unknown encryption initialization data in the current content.

This usually means that a license will be fetched any time a new decryption key is encountered, which is the most sensible thing to do in most cases.
"content": Only fetch a single license for the whole content, even if the content has multiple keys.

Under that behavior, only a single license will be fetched, with a "challenge" generated from the first encryption initialization data encountered.

Not only that, all Representations (qualities) whose key was not present in the license will be fallbacked from[1], meaning that they won't be played anymore.
"periods": Each license fetched will be assumed to be for a group of Periods.

That is, the RxPlayer will assume that any license fetched:
- will contain all the compatible keys for the Period of the Representation for which the license request was done.
  
  That is, if the license request was done for a Representation in the second Period, the license fetched will be assumed to contain all compatible keys linked to the second Period.
  
  This means that all expected keys which are absent will be considered as not compatible - thus their corresponding Representation will be fallbacked from[1]).
- may contain all compatible keys for some other Periods (or all other Periods).
  
  The rule here is that as long as the license contain at least one decryption key linked to a Representation of any other Period, the RxPlayer will assume that the license server returned all compatible keys for that Period. Any other key linked to that Period but absent from the license will considered as not compatible - and thus their corresponding Representation will be fallbacked from[1].
This option allows to avoid doing too much license requests (compared to the default "init-data" mode) for contents encrypted with multiple keys, but also may be preferable to the "content" mode in any of the following situations:
- You don't know all upcoming keys in advance.
  
  Here you can just communicate them by groups of Periods
- The devices on which the RxPlayer will play are not able to store all keys needed for a single content at once
  
  Here you can just provide a limited number of keys, linked to a limited number of Periods.

[1] Note that while fallbacking, it is possible that the player goes into the "RELOADING" state (during which the video will disappear and many APIs will become unavailable). More information about the "RELOADING" state can be found in the player states documentation.

You can set this option as an optimization (to only perform a single license requests instead of many while playing contents encrypted with multiple keys) but only if the corresponding optimizations have also been performed on the side of the license server (to return a license for every keys even if one for a single key was asked for).

disableMediaKeysAttachmentLock

type: Boolean | undefined

In regular conditions, we might want to wait for the media element to have decryption capabilities (what we call here "MediaKeys attachment") before beginning to load the actual content.

Waiting for that capability validation first allows for example to play a content which contains both encrypted and unencrypted data on Chrome and Chromium-derived browsers.

However, we found that on some peculiar devices (like some set-top boxes) this can create a deadlock: the browser might wait for some content to be loaded before validating the media element's decryption capabilities.

Because we didn't find a good enough compromise for now, we added the disableMediaKeysAttachmentLock boolean. By setting it to true, we won't wait for "MediaKeys attachment" before pushing the first content. The downside being that content of mixed unencrypted/encrypted data might not be playable with that configuration.

You can try that property if your encrypted contents seems to be loading indefinitely on some peculiar targets.

distinctiveIdentifier

type: String | undefined

Whether the use of Distinctive Indentifier(s) or Distinctive Permanent Identifier(s) will be required, optional or not-allowed.

It can be set to any value of the MediaKeysRequirement enumeration, as declared here in the EME specification. This is not needed for most use cases.

persistentState

type: String | undefined

Whether the decryption module's ability to persist state will be required, optional or not-allowed.

This includes session data and any other type of state, but does not include distinctive identifiers, for which there's another keySystems option, distinctiveIdentifier.

If the persistentLicenseConfig keySystems option has been set to true, setting this value to "required" is redundant and therefore unnecessary (as exploiting persistent licenses already necessitate the ability to persist session state).

It can be set to any value of the MediaKeysRequirement enumeration, as declared here in the EME specification. This is not needed for most use cases.

onKeyOutputRestricted

type: string | undefined

"error" by default.

Behavior the RxPlayer should have when a key has the status "output-restricted". This is the proper status for a key refused due to output restrictions.

onKeyOutputRestricted can be set to a string, each describing a different behavior, the default one if not is defined being "error":

"error": The RxPlayer will stop on an error when any key has the "output-restricted" status. This is the default behavior.

The error emitted in that case should be an EncryptedMediaError with a KEY_STATUS_CHANGE_ERROR code property with a set keyStatuses property containing at least one string set to "output-restricted".
"continue": The RxPlayer will not do anything when a key has the "output-restricted" status. This may lead in many cases to infinite rebuffering.
"fallback": The Representation(s) linked to the problematic key(s) will be fallbacked from, meaning the RxPlayer will switch to other representation without keys with a problematic status.

If no Representation remains, an error with the NO_PLAYABLE_REPRESENTATION code will be thrown.

Note that when the "fallbacking" action is taken, the RxPlayer might temporarily switch to the "RELOADING" state - which should thus be properly handled.

onKeyInternalError

type: string | undefined

"error" by default.

Behavior the RxPlayer should have when a key has the status "internal-error".

onKeyInternalError can be set to a string, each describing a different behavior, the default one if not is defined being "error":

"error": The RxPlayer will stop on an error when any key has the "internal-error" status. This is the default behavior.

The error emitted in that case should be an EncryptedMediaError with a KEY_STATUS_CHANGE_ERROR code property with a set keyStatuses property containing at least one string set to "internal-error".
"continue": The RxPlayer will not do anything when a key has the "internal-error" status. This may lead in many cases to infinite rebuffering.
"fallback": The Representation(s) linked to the problematic key(s) will be fallbacked from, meaning the RxPlayer will switch to other representation without keys with a problematic status.

If no Representation remains, an error with the NO_PLAYABLE_REPRESENTATION code will be thrown.

Note that when the "fallbacking" action is taken, the RxPlayer might temporarily switch to the "RELOADING" state - which should thus be properly handled.
"close-session": The RxPlayer will close and re-create a DRM session (and thus re-download the corresponding license) if any of the key associated to this session has the "internal-error" status.

It will try to do so in an efficient manner, only reloading the license when the corresponding content plays.

The RxPlayer might go through the "RELOADING" and/or light decoding glitches can arise while doing so, depending on the platform, for some seconds, under that mode.

onKeyExpiration

type: string | undefined

"error" by default.

Behavior the RxPlayer should have when one of the key is known to be expired.

onKeyExpiration can be set to a string, each describing a different behavior, the default one if not is defined being "error":

"error": The RxPlayer will stop on an error when any key is expired. This is the default behavior.

The error emitted in that case should be an EncryptedMediaError with a KEY_STATUS_CHANGE_ERROR code property with a set keyStatuses property containing at least one string set to "expired".
"continue": The RxPlayer will not do anything when a key expires. This may lead in many cases to infinite rebuffering.
"fallback": The Representation(s) linked to the expired key(s) will be fallbacked from, meaning the RxPlayer will switch to other representation without expired keys.

If no Representation remains, an error with the NO_PLAYABLE_REPRESENTATION code will be thrown.

Note that when the "fallbacking" action is taken, the RxPlayer might temporarily switch to the "RELOADING" state - which should thus be properly handled.
"close-session": The RxPlayer will close and re-create a DRM session (and thus re-download the corresponding license) if any of the key associated to this session expired.

It will try to do so in an efficient manner, only reloading the license when the corresponding content plays.

The RxPlayer might go through the "RELOADING" state after an expired key and/or light decoding glitches can arise, depending on the platform, for some seconds, under that mode.

videoCapabilitiesConfig / audioCapabilitiesConfig

type: Object | undefined

videoCapabilitiesConfig and audioCapabilitiesConfig allow to configure respectively the videoCapabilities and audioCapabilities of the wanted key system.

Setting one of these options (or both) allows for example to signal that some robustness level (SL3000, Widevine L1...) are explicitely wanted when decrypting respectively video and audio and/or that the key system should also be compatible to specific video/audio codecs and containers.

Those options are relatively advanced, thus it is preferable to let them to undefined unless you understand what you're doing.

The values videoCapabilitiesConfig and audioCapabilitiesConfig can be set to have a similar format

They can both be set to an object with two properties: type and value. The content of the value property totally depends on the set type property.

The type property can be set to one of the three following values:

"robustness": When type is set to "robustness", value should be set to an array of strings, each defining a wanted key system robustness by order of preference.

For example:
```
{ type: "robustness", value: ["3000", "2000"] }
```
Mean that you want first a "3000" robustness and - if not available - a "2000" one.

Note that when type is set to "robustness", default mime-types - defined by the RxPlayer - will be considered in the resulting sequence of MediaKeySystemMediaCapability objects. Those should be compatible with most usages.
"contentType": When type is set to "contentType", value should be set to an array of strings, each defining by order of preference mimeTypes of the video content to decrypt (if you're setting videoCapabilitiesConfig) or of the audio contents to decrypt (if you're setting audioCapabilitiesConfig.).

Note that when type is set to "contentType", chosen robustnesses in the corresponding sequence of MediaKeySystemMediaCapability objects will have a default value chosen by the RxPlayer. Those should be compatible with most usages.
"full": When type is set to "full", value should be set to an array of object, each being, a MediaKeySystemMediaCapability object.

This value will then be taken as is, either as the wanted videoCapabilities (if you're setting the videoCapabilitiesConfig property) or as the wanted audioCapabilities (if you're setting the audioCapabilitiesConfig property) of the resulting MediaKeySystemConfiguration wanted by the RxPlayer.

Decryption Options

Overview

loadVideo keySystems options

type

Example

getLicense

getLicenseConfig

serverCertificate

persistentLicenseConfig

maxSessionCacheSize

closeSessionsOnStop

reuseMediaKeys

singleLicensePer

disableMediaKeysAttachmentLock

distinctiveIdentifier

persistentState

onKeyOutputRestricted

onKeyInternalError

onKeyExpiration

videoCapabilitiesConfig / audioCapabilitiesConfig

loadVideo `keySystems` options