[ios] iPhone SDK:How do you play video inside a view? Rather than fullscreen

I am trying to play video inside a UIView, so my first step was to add a class for that view and start playing a movie in it using this code:

- (IBAction)movie:(id)sender{
    NSBundle *bundle = [NSBundle mainBundle];
        NSString *moviePath = [bundle pathForResource:@"Movie" ofType:@"m4v"];
    NSURL *movieURL = [[NSURL fileURLWithPath:moviePath] retain];
    MPMoviePlayerController *theMovie = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:movieURL];
    theMovie.scalingMode = MPMovieScalingModeAspectFill;
    [theMovie play];
}

But this just crashes the app when using this method inside it's own class, but is fine elsewhere. Does anyone know how to play video inside a view? and avoid it being full screen?

NSString * pathv = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"vfile" ofType:@"mov"];
playerv = [[MPMoviePlayerViewController alloc] initWithContentURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:pathv]];

[self presentMoviePlayerViewControllerAnimated:playerv];

Looking at your code, you need to set the frame of the movie player controller's view, and also add the movie player controller's view to your view. Also, don't forget to add MediaPlayer.framework to your target.

Here's some sample code:

#import <MediaPlayer/MediaPlayer.h>

@interface ViewController () {
    MPMoviePlayerController *moviePlayerController;
}

@property (weak, nonatomic) IBOutlet UIView *movieView; // this should point to a view where the movie will play

@end

@implementation ViewController

- (void)viewDidLoad
{
    [super viewDidLoad];
    // Do any additional setup after loading the view, typically from a nib.

    // Instantiate a movie player controller and add it to your view
    NSString *moviePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"foo" ofType:@"mov"];
    NSURL *movieURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:moviePath];    
    moviePlayerController = [[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL:movieURL];
    [moviePlayerController.view setFrame:self.movieView.bounds];  // player's frame must match parent's
    [self.movieView addSubview:moviePlayerController.view];

    // Configure the movie player controller
    moviePlayerController.controlStyle = MPMovieControlStyleNone;        
    [moviePlayerController prepareToPlay];
}

- (void)viewDidAppear:(BOOL)animated
{
    [super viewDidAppear:animated];

    // Start the movie
    [moviePlayerController play];
}

@end

The best way is to use layers insted of views:

AVPlayer *player = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:[NSURL url...]]; // 

AVPlayerLayer *layer = [AVPlayerLayer layer];

[layer setPlayer:player];
[layer setFrame:CGRectMake(10, 10, 300, 200)];
[layer setBackgroundColor:[UIColor redColor].CGColor];
[layer setVideoGravity:AVLayerVideoGravityResizeAspectFill];

[self.view.layer addSublayer:layer];

[player play];

Don't forget to add frameworks:

#import <QuartzCore/QuartzCore.h>
#import "AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h"

You cannot play a video inside a view. It has to be played fullscreen.

NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:[exreciesDescription objectForKey:@"exercise_url"]];
moviePlayer =[[MPMoviePlayerController alloc] initWithContentURL: url];
[[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] addObserver:self selector:@selector(doneButtonClicked) name:MPMoviePlayerWillExitFullscreenNotification object:nil];
[[moviePlayer view] setFrame: [self.view bounds]];  // frame must match parent view
[self.view addSubview: [moviePlayer view]];
[moviePlayer play];

-(void)playMediaFinished:(NSNotification*)theNotification 
{
    moviePlayer=[theNotification object];
    [[NSNotificationCenter defaultCenter] removeObserver:self
                                                    name:MPMoviePlayerPlaybackDidFinishNotification
                                                  object:moviePlayer];


    [moviePlayer.view removeFromSuperview];
}

-(void)doneButtonClicked
  {
         [moviePlayer stop];
        [moviePlayer.view removeFromSuperview];
         [self.navigationController popViewControllerAnimated:YES];//no need this if you are      opening the player in same screen;
  }

Swift version:

import AVFoundation

func playVideo(url: URL) {

    let player = AVPlayer(url: url)

    let layer: AVPlayerLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: player)
    layer.backgroundColor = UIColor.white.cgColor
    layer.frame = CGRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 300, height: 300)
    layer.videoGravity = .resizeAspectFill
    self.view.layer.addSublayer(layer)

    player.play()
}

Use the following method.

self.imageView_VedioContainer is the container view of your AVPlayer.

- (void)playMedia:(UITapGestureRecognizer *)tapGesture
{
    playerViewController = [[AVPlayerViewController alloc] init];

    playerViewController.player = [AVPlayer playerWithURL:[[NSBundle mainBundle]
                                                 URLForResource:@"VID"
                                                         withExtension:@"3gp"]];
    [playerViewController.player play];
    playerViewController.showsPlaybackControls =YES;
    playerViewController.view.frame=self.imageView_VedioContainer.bounds;
    [playerViewController.view setAutoresizingMask:UIViewAutoresizingNone];// you can comment this line 
    [self.imageView_VedioContainer addSubview: playerViewController.view];
}

Swift

This is a self contained project so that you can see everything in context.

Layout

Create a layout like the following with a UIView and a UIButton. The UIView will be the container in which we will play our video.

Add a video to the project

If you need a sample video to practice with, you can get one from sample-videos.com. I'm using an mp4 format video in this example. Drag and drop the video file into your project. I also had to add it explicitly into the bundle resources (go to Build Phases > Copy Bundle Resources, see this answer for more).

Code

Here is the complete code for the project.

import UIKit
import AVFoundation

class ViewController: UIViewController {
    
    var player: AVPlayer?

    @IBOutlet weak var videoViewContainer: UIView!
    
    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        initializeVideoPlayerWithVideo()
    }
    
    func initializeVideoPlayerWithVideo() {
        
        // get the path string for the video from assets
        let videoString:String? = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "SampleVideo_360x240_1mb", ofType: "mp4")
        guard let unwrappedVideoPath = videoString else {return}

        // convert the path string to a url
        let videoUrl = URL(fileURLWithPath: unwrappedVideoPath)

        // initialize the video player with the url
        self.player = AVPlayer(url: videoUrl)

        // create a video layer for the player
        let layer: AVPlayerLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: player)
        
        // make the layer the same size as the container view
        layer.frame = videoViewContainer.bounds
        
        // make the video fill the layer as much as possible while keeping its aspect size
        layer.videoGravity = AVLayerVideoGravity.resizeAspectFill
        
        // add the layer to the container view
        videoViewContainer.layer.addSublayer(layer)
    }

    @IBAction func playVideoButtonTapped(_ sender: UIButton) {
        // play the video if the player is initialized
        player?.play()
    }
}

Notes

• If you are going to be switching in and out different videos, you can use AVPlayerItem.
• If you are only using AVFoundation and AVPlayer, then you have to build all of your own controls. If you want full screen video playback, you can use AVPlayerViewController. You will need to import AVKit for that. It comes with a full set of controls for pause, fast forward, rewind, stop, etc. Here and here are some video tutorials.
• MPMoviePlayerController that you may have seen in other answers is deprecated.

Result

The project should look like this now.