# Tauri Plugin: Native Video Player
[](https://crates.io/crates/tauri-plugin-videoplayer) [](https://www.npmjs.com/package/tauri-plugin-videoplayer-api) [](https://github.com/YeonV/tauri-plugin-videoplayer/blob/main/LICENSE) <br/> [](https://v2.tauri.app/) [](https://github.com/YeonV) [](https://github.com/YeonV)
A Tauri v2 plugin that provides a native video player, launched from your webview. Ideal for playing fullscreen video streams (like M3U8) on mobile devices without the overhead or limitations of a web-based player.
---
### 🤔 Why This Plugin?
Web-based video players are fantastic, but they can struggle on mobile, especially with certain stream formats or when dealing with performance-intensive tasks. This plugin solves that by handing off the video playback to the operating system's native player.
On Android, this means launching a new, fullscreen `Activity` powered by `androidx.media3` (the successor to ExoPlayer), the same powerful media engine used by apps like YouTube and Netflix.
The core benefit is **performance and stability**. It also ensures a clean separation of concerns and robust lifecycle management—the stream is **guaranteed to terminate** when the user switches apps, a critical feature for single-stream services.
### ✨ Features
- ✅ **Native Android Playback**: Utilizes a fullscreen `Activity` with `androidx.media3` (ExoPlayer).
- ✅ **Simple API**: A single `playVideo(url)` function to launch the player.
- ✅ **HLS/M3U8 Support**: Built to handle streaming playlists out of the box.
- ✅ **Robust Lifecycle Management**: Automatically stops and releases the player when the user navigates away (e.g., switches app, goes to home screen), ensuring stream connections are properly terminated.
- ✅ **Tauri v2 Ready**: Built from the ground up for the modern Tauri v2 architecture, including the new permission system.
### 📦 Compatibility
This plugin is currently in its early stages and supports:
| Platform | Supported |
| :------- | :-------: |
| Android | ✅ |
| iOS | ❌ |
| Windows | ❌ |
| macOS | ❌ |
| Linux | ❌ |
This plugin is only compatible with **Tauri v2**.
### 🛠️ Installation
Integrating the plugin into your Tauri v2 application involves four steps:
**1. Install the JavaScript Package:**
```bash
# Using npm
npm install tauri-plugin-videoplayer-api
# Using yarn
yarn add tauri-plugin-videoplayer-api
```
**2. Add the Rust Crate:**
Add the crate to your app's `src-tauri/Cargo.toml` dependencies:
```toml
[dependencies]
# ... other dependencies
tauri-plugin-videoplayer = "0.1.0"
```
**3. Register the Plugin:**
In your app's `src-tauri/src/lib.rs` (or `main.rs`), register the plugin with the Tauri builder:
```rust
#[cfg_attr(mobile, tauri::mobile_entry_point)]
pub fn run() {
tauri::Builder::default()
.plugin(tauri_plugin_videoplayer::init()) // <-- Add this line
.run(tauri::generate_context!())
.expect("error while running tauri application");
}
```
**4. Configure Permissions:**
The plugin requires permission to be called from the frontend. Add `"videoplayer:default"` to your app's capabilities file at `src-tauri/capabilities/default.json`:
```json
{
// ...
"permissions": [
"core:default",
"videoplayer:default" // <-- Add this line
]
}
```
> **Note:** If you're adding the plugin to a new project, your IDE might show an error on this line initially. Run `yarn tauri dev` once to force Tauri to regenerate its permission schemas, and the error will disappear.
### 🚀 Usage
Using the plugin in your frontend code is straightforward. Import the `playVideo` function and call it with a valid video URL.
```typescript
import { playVideo } from 'tauri-plugin-videoplayer-api';
function MyComponent() {
const handlePlayButtonClick = () => {
const m3u8_url = 'https://your-stream-provider.com/stream.m3u8';
console.log(`Requesting native playback for: ${m3u8_url}`);
// This will launch the native fullscreen player on Android
playVideo(m3u8_url);
};
return (
<button onClick={handlePlayButtonClick}>
Play Video Natively
</button>
);
}
```
On Android, this will launch the fullscreen native player. The user can return to your app by using the standard system back button.