playing av1 converted media files in android.

[rupeshforu3]

Hi I am Rupesh from India and I have android tablet and smartphone, Linux pc. I have downloaded high quality youtube MP4 video files and it's size is upto 60 gb. I have converted these files to av1 codec using ffmpeg and libaom but I can't play these videos in android smartphone or tablet.

Here I am providing huge explanation as it tries to track the exact issue.

I have downloaded some youtube videos and some files are of size upto 60 mb to 100 mb with duration upto 15 minutes. I have converted these files to av1 codec using ffmpeg and used libaom for video, libopus for audio. 100 mb avc video file is converted to av1 of size 24 mb.

Here youtube videos are downloaded in Linux terminal emulator using a program called yt-dlp which is an youtube downloader. This program tries to download original youtube videos uploaded without converting to another video file. Some of the other youtube downloaders are videoder, TubeMate, newpipe, snaptube etc.,.

All YouTube downloaders like videoder TubeMate newpipe snaptube etc first download a video and converts to other video and save the output file which results in the quality loss. But yt-dlp and youtube-dl download youtube videos without converting to another video file.

The input video file provided to ffmpeg tool consists of avc or x264 codec for video and aac codec for audio. I have created a small shell script to convert all avc video files to av1 files. Now if I pass a 100 mb avc video file to this script an av1 video file is generated of size 24 mb.

Here input video file consists of avc or x264 for video and aac codec for audio. The output file converted consists of av1 codec for video and opus for audio.

All the files converted by ffmpeg and libaom are being played in android smartphone or tablet but few others can't especially the splitted ones.

Some of the youtube videos downloaded are of size 1 gb to 1.4 gb with high quality video and audio with duration 3 hours.

I have splitted these large size 1.3 gb avc video file into 8 equal parts using qwinff which is a gui for ffmpeg. I have passed splitted 130 mb to the same ffmpeg script.

All the avc video files converted to av1 files successfully without any errors. Here the issue is the converted output av1 video files are unable to play using vlc media player especially in android smartphone and tablet but they are playing properly in Linux system.

Here upon conversion to av1 there's huge reduction in disk space and audio and video quality are acceptable to me but can't play properly in android devices.

These videos are unable to play means suppose I open any video file I am able to see video with audio and if I move the seek button to say 20 mins then the vlc media player stops video at that time but audio will be running. Here there is no continuous play without any jurk.

I heard that av1 codec has less support in all platforms and in future it may be supported by all devices. I have even enabled full acceleration etc and even no use.

Kindly try to suggest how to play these videos in android smartphone or tablet using vlc media player or any other player. If it's not possible take it easy.

Regards,
Rupesh.

[Lotesdelere]

Long story short: most players are using the playback capabilities of the device, and VLC is one of them.
For AV1 playback you need a very recent device (e.g. Samsung Galaxy S21 with Exynos chip).
For best compatibility between any device use H.264.

[rupeshforu3]

Hi I have Lg g7 plus thinq ie., LMG7EAW which has latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor and runs android 10.

I heard that vlc is one of the members of alliance of media ie., aom which develops codecs like av1.

There is a tool called dav1d which is a decoder for av1. Is there any way to integrate it into vlc.Does vlc has any other plugins to play av1 video files.

With in some days I am going to buy nokia tab T20 tablet which has unisoc T610 processor. Does this tablet can play these av1 video files.

In vlc there are options like hardware acceleration, opengl etc., if I choose some of these options is it possible to play these av1 video files or it is impossible to play properly in old android devices.

[Lotesdelere]

I already answered you.
You shouldn't use a device which doesn't support hardware acceleration for AV1 because it will use a LOT of battery in software mode.
I don't know about the devices you have mentionned, I'm not going to check the specs of every device, do it yourself.

[rupeshforu3]

Why vlc can't integrate dav1d which is a decoder for av1 codec. Poweramp has integrated ffmpeg into its player.

The current device I am using has a octa core processor with high frequency clock rate. It can do a lot of things.

People with high programming skills can create a game for android device and why can't vlc write a code for playing av1 video files and integrate it into vlc.

[Aza]

VLC for Android should be compiled with dav1d. Could you please share a sample?

[rupeshforu3]

VLC for Android should be compiled with dav1d. Could you please share a sample?

May I know what do you mean by sample are you asking any video clip or any code.

[Aza]

I am asking for an av1 file that is not working.

[Lotesdelere]

Please upload a short sample of your original problematic file to Zippyshare.com or to WeTransfer.com and then post the link to the file here.
https://www.zippyshare.com
https://wetransfer.com

If you are also using Windows you can cut it with DGsplit, read here about how to do it:
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.ph ... 35#p193335
200 MB max should be enough.

[rupeshforu3]

H I have uploaded problematic video to my Google drive and I am providing the link below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10EnR45 ... p=drivesdk

Please download it and check and if you can't tell me I will try other way.

[Lotesdelere]

Your link requires to be logged in to Google and I don't want to do that.
Please remove that requirement or use one of the sites I've mentioned right above your post.

[rupeshforu3]

Sorry for not doing what you said and I have uploaded to we transfer and I am providing the link below.

https://we.tl/t-ac3lke3tGT

Thanks for your patience.

[Aza]

Thanks, I'll take a look.

[rupeshforu3]

Try to view the properties or details of this video using tools like ffprobe and mediainfo gui

[Lotesdelere]

After a quick test the file is playing fine on my Samsungs but I'm still using older versions of VLC for Android.

[rupeshforu3]

In my LG g7 plus thinq and Lenovo IdeaPad a3000h it's not playing.

[rupeshforu3]

I think that vlc player doesn't have full support for av1.

[rupeshforu3]

Is there any progress in adding support for av1 codec in our vlc media player especially for android.

[Lotesdelere]

As Aza said there is already support for decoding AV1 in VLC for Android, and I also told you that it's working fine for me, even on devices that don't have native support for AV1, as you can see in this screenshot:
https://i.postimg.cc/0PHVfn38/Screensho ... 31-VLC.png

[Gracus36]

As Aza said there is already support for decoding AV1 in VLC for Android, and I also told you that it's working fine for me, even on devices that don't have native support for AV1, as you can see in this screenshot:
https://i.postimg.cc/0PHVfn38/Screensho ... 31-VLC.png

In addition to your test, just here to say that the video sample works on my samsung galaxy s10 android 12 and vlc 3.5.0 RC1.

[rupeshforu3]

Many people said that I must buy a new android tablet or android smartphone as they have support for av1 video encoding. Some people even suggested that Qualcomm decided to support av1 video after 2023.

Why can't the developer's of vlc integrate dav1d decoder into VLC media player.

[Lotesdelere]

Why can't the developer's of vlc integrate dav1d decoder into VLC media player.

For the third time, this is already done!
And, once again, it is playing AV1 files, even yours, on devices which don't have native AV1 support (e.g. SM-A530F running Android 8 ).
Why it doesn't work on your devices is a mystery. Provide logs.

[rupeshforu3]

One of the developer of vlc named Aza replied to the current thread as follows.

"VLC for Android should be compiled with dav1d. Could you please share a sample?".

I agree with you ie., there is no proper hardware for me to decode av1 files. I think in future if I buy any handset it may have the hardware to decode av1 video files.

Actually I have a smartphone which has better cpu but I also have a old android tablet named lenevo a3000 h which has slower cpu.

In my smartphone I can play these av1 video files properly but I can't play properly in android tablet.

I can't play properly means the playback of video and audio doesn't take place simultaneously instead video stops and audio plays upto end.

As aza agreed dav1d has to be compiled with vlc daily I am posting some text to aza.

If it's difficult to provide full support for av1 codec in vlc then take it easy.

[Gracus36]

In my smartphone I can play these av1 video files properly but I can't play properly in android tablet.

I can't play properly means the playback of video and audio doesn't take place simultaneously instead video stops and audio plays upto end.

As aza agreed dav1d has to be compiled with vlc daily I am posting some text to aza.

Aza did not say av1 has to be done but that it is already there.

For your tablet, maybe hardware power is a little bit too low : no hardware decoding and a bottleneck on cpu/memory for software decoding... (we speak of an 9 years old tablet with android 4.2, an old mediatek quad-core cpu and 1Gb ram only)

[rupeshforu3]

Ok thanks to all of you for your valuable suggestions and patience.

I am going to buy a new tablet like nokia tab T20 or Lenovo tab m10. T20 has unisoc T610 cpu and m10 has Qualcomm 429.

Both of them has ram greater than 3gb and has android version 11. Can I buy any of the above to play av1 video files using vlc. Specifically I am interested in buying nokia tab T20 tablet.

My question is whether I can play av1 video files in these tablets properly or not.

Do you have any recommendations of android tablets which have better support for av1 codec.