[ios] How to play video with AVPlayerViewController (AVKit) in Swift

How do you play a video with AV Kit Player View Controller in Swift?

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        let videoURLWithPath = "http://****/5.m3u8"
        let videoURL = NSURL(string: videoURLWithPath)
        playerViewController = AVPlayerViewController()

        dispatch_async(dispatch_get_main_queue()) {
            self.playerViewController?.player = AVPlayer.playerWithURL(videoURL) as AVPlayer
        }
    }

Try this, definitely works for Swift 2.0

 let player = AVPlayer(URL: url)
    let playerController = AVPlayerViewController()

    playerController.player = player
    self.addChildViewController(playerController)
    self.view.addSubview(playerController.view)
    playerController.view.frame = self.view.frame

    player.play()  

Try This

var player:AVPlayer!
var avPlayerLayer:AVPlayerLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: player)
avPlayerLayer.frame = CGRectMake(your frame)
self.view.layer .addSublayer(avPlayerLayer)
var steamingURL:NSURL = NSURL(string:playerURL)
player = AVPlayer(URL: steamingURL)
player.play()

This worked for me in Swift 5

Just added sample video to the project from Sample Videos

Added action Buttons for playing videos from Website and Local with the following swift code example

import UIKit
import AVKit

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        //TODO : Make Sure Add and copy "SampleVideo.mp4" file in project before play
    }

    @IBAction func playWebVideo(_ sender: Any) {

        guard let url = URL(string: "https://clips.vorwaerts-gmbh.de/big_buck_bunny.mp4") else {
            return
        }
        // Create an AVPlayer, passing it the HTTP Live Streaming URL.
        let player = AVPlayer(url: url)
        let controller = AVPlayerViewController()
        controller.player = player
        present(controller, animated: true) {
            player.play()
        }
    }

    @IBAction func playLocalVideo(_ sender: Any) {

        guard let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "SampleVideo", ofType: "mp4") else {
            return
        }
        let videoURL = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: path)

        // Create an AVPlayer, passing it the local video url path
        let player = AVPlayer(url: videoURL as URL)
        let controller = AVPlayerViewController()
        controller.player = player
        present(controller, animated: true) {
            player.play()
        }
    }

}

Objective c

This only works in Xcode 7

Go to .h file and import AVKit/AVKit.h and AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h. Then go .m file and add this code:

NSURL *url=[[NSBundle mainBundle]URLForResource:@"arreg" withExtension:@"mp4"];
AVPlayer *video=[AVPlayer playerWithURL:url];
AVPlayerViewController *controller=[[AVPlayerViewController alloc]init];
controller.player=video;
[self.view addSubview:controller.view];
controller.view.frame=self.view.frame;
[self addChildViewController:controller];
[video play];

Swift 3.0 Full source code:

import UIKit
    import AVKit
    import AVFoundation

    class ViewController: UIViewController,AVPlayerViewControllerDelegate
    {
        var playerController = AVPlayerViewController()


        @IBAction func Play(_ sender: Any)
        {
            let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: "video", ofType: "mp4")

            let url = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: path!)

            let player = AVPlayer(url:url as URL)

            playerController = AVPlayerViewController()


            NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(ViewController.didfinishplaying(note:)),name:NSNotification.Name.AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime, object: player.currentItem)

            playerController.player = player

            playerController.allowsPictureInPicturePlayback = true

            playerController.delegate = self

            playerController.player?.play()

            self.present(playerController,animated:true,completion:nil)
        }

        func didfinishplaying(note : NSNotification)
        {
            playerController.dismiss(animated: true,completion: nil)
            let alertview = UIAlertController(title:"finished",message:"video finished",preferredStyle: .alert)
            alertview.addAction(UIAlertAction(title:"Ok",style: .default, handler: nil))
            self.present(alertview,animated:true,completion: nil)
        }


        func playerViewController(_ playerViewController: AVPlayerViewController, restoreUserInterfaceForPictureInPictureStopWithCompletionHandler completionHandler: @escaping (Bool) -> Void) {
                let currentviewController =  navigationController?.visibleViewController

                if currentviewController != playerViewController
                {
                    currentviewController?.present(playerViewController,animated: true,completion:nil)
                }


            }
    }

a bug(?!) in iOS10/Swift3/Xcode 8?

if let url = URL(string: "http://devstreaming.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2016/102w0bsn0ge83qfv7za/102/hls_vod_mvp.m3u8"){
    let playerItem = AVPlayerItem(url: url)
    let player = AVPlayer(playerItem: playerItem)
    let playerLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: player)
    playerLayer.frame=CGRect(x: 10, y: 10, width: 300, height: 300)
    self.view.layer.addSublayer(playerLayer)
}

does not work (empty rect...)

this works:

if let url = URL(string: "http://devstreaming.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2016/102w0bsn0ge83qfv7za/102/hls_vod_mvp.m3u8"){

            let player = AVPlayer(url: url)
            let controller=AVPlayerViewController()
            controller.player=player
            controller.view.frame = self.view.frame
            self.view.addSubview(controller.view)
            self.addChildViewController(controller)
            player.play()
        }

Same URL...

Swift 5

  @IBAction func buttonPressed(_ sender: Any) {
    let videoURL = course.introductionVideoURL
    let player = AVPlayer(url: videoURL)
    let playerViewController = AVPlayerViewController()
    playerViewController.player = player

    present(playerViewController, animated: true, completion: {

        playerViewController.player!.play()
    })

// here the course includes a model file, inside it I have given the url, so I am calling the function from model using course function.

// also introductionVideoUrl is a URL which I declared inside model .

 var introductionVideoURL: URL

Also alternatively you can use the below code instead of calling the function from model

Replace this code

  let videoURL = course.introductionVideoURL

with

  guard let videoURL = URL(string: "https://something.mp4) else {
        return

Using MPMoviePlayerController :

 import UIKit
 import MediaPlayer

 class ViewController: UIViewController {

     var streamPlayer : MPMoviePlayerController =  MPMoviePlayerController(contentURL: NSURL(string:"video url here"))
     override func viewDidLoad() {
         super.viewDidLoad()
         streamPlayer.view.frame = self.view.bounds
         self.view.addSubview(streamPlayer.view)

         streamPlayer.fullscreen = true
         // Play the movie!
         streamPlayer.play()
}
}

Using AVPlayer :

import AVFoundation

var playerItem:AVPlayerItem?
var player:AVPlayer?

override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad() 
      let url = NSURL(string: "url of the audio or video") 
      playerItem = AVPlayerItem(URL: url!)
      player=AVPlayer(playerItem: playerItem!)
      let playerLayer=AVPlayerLayer(player: player!)
      playerLayer.frame=CGRectMake(0, 0, 300, 50)
      self.view.layer.addSublayer(playerLayer)
}

I have a play button to handle button tap.

playButton.addTarget(self, action: "playButtonTapped:", forControlEvents: .TouchUpInside)

func playButtonTapped(sender: AnyObject) {
        if player?.rate == 0
        {
            player!.play()
            playButton.setImage(UIImage(named: "player_control_pause_50px.png"), forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        } else {
            player!.pause()
            playButton.setImage(UIImage(named: "player_control_play_50px.png"), forState: UIControlState.Normal)
        }
    }

I have added an observer listening for AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTimeNotification.

override func viewWillAppear(animated: Bool) {
        NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().addObserver(self, selector: "finishedPlaying:", name: AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTimeNotification, object: playerItem)
    }

override func viewWillDisappear(animated: Bool) {
        NSNotificationCenter.defaultCenter().removeObserver(self)
    }

When video/audio play is finished, reset button image and notification

  func finishedPlaying(myNotification:NSNotification) {
        playButton.setImage(UIImage(named: "player_control_play_50px.png"), forState: UIControlState.Normal)

        let stopedPlayerItem: AVPlayerItem = myNotification.object as! AVPlayerItem
        stopedPlayerItem.seekToTime(kCMTimeZero)
    }

Swift 5.0

Improved from @ingconti answer . This worked for me.

 if let url = URL(string: "urUrlString"){
            let player = AVPlayer(url: url)
            let avController = AVPlayerViewController()
            avController.player = player
            // your desired frame
            avController.view.frame = self.view.frame
            self.view.addSubview(avController.view)
            self.addChild(avController)
            player.play()
        }

Swift 3:

import UIKit
import AVKit
import AVFoundation

class ViewController: UIViewController {

    @IBOutlet weak var viewPlay: UIView!
    var player : AVPlayer?

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()

        let url : URL = URL(string: "http://static.videokart.ir/clip/100/480.mp4")!
        player = AVPlayer(url: url)
        let playerLayer = AVPlayerLayer(player: player)
        playerLayer.frame = self.viewPlay.bounds
        self.viewPlay.layer.addSublayer(playerLayer)

    }

    @IBAction func play(_ sender: Any) {
        player?.play()
    }

    @IBAction func stop(_ sender: Any) {
        player?.pause()
    }

}

let videoUrl = //URL: Your Video URL

//Create player first using your URL
let yourplayer = AVPlayer(url: videoUrl)

//Create player controller and set it’s player
let playerController = AVPlayerViewController()
playerController.player = yourplayer


//Final step To present controller  with player in your view controller
present(playerController, animated: true, completion: {
   playerController.player!.play()
})

Swift 5+

First of all you have to define 2 variables globally inside your view controller.

var player: AVPlayer!
var playerViewController: AVPlayerViewController!

Here I'm adding player to a desired view.

@IBOutlet weak var playerView: UIView!

Then add following code to the viewDidLoad method.

let videoURL = URL(string: "videoUrl")
self.player = AVPlayer(url: videoURL!)
self.playerViewController = AVPlayerViewController()
playerViewController.player = self.player
playerViewController.view.frame = self.playerView.frame
playerViewController.player?.pause()
self.playerView.addSubview(playerViewController.view)

If you are not defining player and playerViewController globally, you won't be able to embed player.