better_player

Better Player

Better Player handles the complex video playback edge cases so you don't have to. Originally based on video_player, it's now fully independent. It tackles HLS, DRM, and caching out of the box.

[IMPORTANT] Migrating from 0.0.84 to 1.x.x? See the Migration Guides section below.

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📱 Visual Showcase

Default Controls	Settings Menu	Audio Tracks	Event Listener

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🏆 vs Competitors

Why choose Better Player? Here is how it stacks up against the alternatives.

Feature	Better Player	video_player	chewie	media_kit
Engine	ExoPlayer/AVPlayer/Shaka	ExoPlayer/AVPlayer	video_player	libmpv
UI Controls	✅ Built-in & Customizable	❌ None	✅ Built-in	✅ Built-in
HLS / DASH	✅ Native	⚠️ Basic	⚠️ Basic	✅ Native
DRM Support	✅ Widevine/FairPlay/ClearKey	❌ None	❌ None	❌ None
Subtitles	✅ Advanced (WebVTT, HTML, SRT)	⚠️ Basic (SRT only)	⚠️ Basic	✅ Advanced
Caching	✅ Built-in	❌ None	❌ None	❌ None
Playlists	✅ Built-in	❌ None	❌ None	✅ Built-in

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🚀 Key Features

• Adaptive Streaming: Play HLS, DASH, and Smooth Streaming with automatic track selection.
• DRM Support: Protect your content with Widevine, FairPlay, and ClearKey.
• Smart Caching: Cache videos for seamless offline playback.
• Picture in Picture (PiP): Keep videos playing while users multitask.
• Advanced Subtitles: Parse SRT and WebVTT, including HTML tags.

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📦 Quick Start

1. Add dependency

Add Better Player to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  better_player: ^1.10.0

2. Basic Usage

Use the network factory to get a player up and running fast.

import 'package:better_player/better_player.dart';

// Inside your build method
AspectRatio(
  aspectRatio: 16 / 9,
  child: BetterPlayer.network(
    "https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckBunny.mp4",
    betterPlayerConfiguration: PlayerConfiguration(
      aspectRatio: 16 / 9,
      looping: true,
      autoPlay: true,
    ),
  ),
)

3. Advanced Controller Usage

Need full control? Initialize a BetterPlayerController manually.

BetterPlayerController _controller = BetterPlayerController(
    const PlayerConfiguration(),
    betterPlayerDataSource: PlayerDataSource(
        DataSourceType.network,
        "https://example.com/video.mp4",
    ),
);

BetterPlayer(controller: _controller)

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🤖 AI Agent Quick Reference

Writing a script or prompt? Feed this to your AI to get the right code on the first try.

• Initialization: Always initialize BetterPlayerController in initState() with a PlayerConfiguration and PlayerDataSource.
• Core Classes:
  • BetterPlayerController: Manages state and configuration.
  • PlayerDataSource: Wraps video URL, DRM config, subtitles, headers.
  • PlayerConfiguration: UI, looping, autoPlay, aspect ratio.
  • PlayerControlsConfiguration: Colors, icons, padding for the control bar.
• Subtitles: Pass PlayerSubtitlesSource directly into PlayerDataSource.
• Disposal: Default is autoDispose: true. Avoid manual controller.dispose() unless you opt out.

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🔄 Migration Guides

Moving from another package? Follow these guides:

• Migrating from video_player
• Migrating from chewie
• Migrating from 0.0.84 to 1.x.x

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📖 Resources

• Official Documentation
• Example Application
• API Reference

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🤝 Contributing

Bugs? Feature requests? Open an issue. Better yet, submit a PR.

💼 Enterprise Support

Need a custom video source adapter, bespoke DRM implementation, or tailored UI controls? I'm available for consulting.

Let's talk on LinkedIn →