Module javafx.media

# Package javafx.scene.media

package javafx.scene.media

Provides the set of classes for integrating audio and video into Java FX Applications. The primary use for this package is media playback. There are three principal classes in the media package: `Media`, `MediaPlayer`, and `MediaView`.

## Contents

1. Supported Media Types
2. Supported Protocols
3. Supported Metadata Tags
4. Playing Media in Java FX

### Supported Media Types

Java FX supports a number of different media types. A media type is considered to be the combination of a container format and one or more encodings. In some cases the container format might simply be an elementary stream containing the encoded data.

#### Supported Encoding Types

An encoding type specifies how sampled audio or video data are stored. Usually the encoding type implies a particular compression algorithm. The following table indicates the encoding types supported by Java FX Media.

Media Encoding Table
Encoding | Type | Description
--- | --- | ---
AAC | Audio | Advanced Audio Coding audio compression
MP3 | Audio | Raw MPEG-1, 2, and 2.5 audio; layers I, II, and III; all supported combinations of sampling frequencies and bit rates. Note: File must contain at least 3 MP3 frames.
PCM | Audio | Uncompressed, raw audio samples
H.264/AVC | Video | H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10 / AVC (Advanced Video Coding) video compression

#### Supported Container Types

A container type specifies the file format used to store the encoded audio, video, and other media data. Each container type is associated with one or more MIME types, file extensions, and file signatures (the initial bytes in the file). The following table indicates the combination of container and encoding types supported by Java FX Media.

Media Container / Encoding Types Table
Container | Description | Video Encoding | Audio Encoding | MIME Type | File Extension
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
AIFF | Audio Interchange File Format | N/A | PCM | audio/x-aiff | .aif, .aiff
HLS (*) | MP2T HTTP Live Streaming (audiovisual) | H.264/AVC | AAC | application/vnd.apple.mpegurl, audio/mpegurl | .m3u8
HLS (*) | MP3 HTTP Live Streaming (audio-only) | N/A | MP3 | application/vnd.apple.mpegurl, audio/mpegurl | .m3u8
MP3 | MPEG-1, 2, 2.5 raw audio stream possibly with ID3 metadata v2.3 or v2.4 | N/A | MP3 | audio/mpeg | .mp3
MP4 | MPEG-4 Part 14 | H.264/AVC | AAC | video/mp4, audio/x-m4a, video/x-m4v | .mp4, .m4a, .m4v
WAV | Waveform Audio Format | N/A | PCM | audio/x-wav | .wav

(*) HLS is a protocol rather than a container type but is included here to aggregate similar attributes.

### Supported Protocols

Supported Protocols Table
Protocol | Description | Reference
--- | --- | ---
FILE | Protocol for URI representation of local files | java.net.URI
HTTP | Hypertext transfer protocol for representation of remote files | java.net.URI
HTTPS | Hypertext transfer protocol secure for representation of remote files | java.net.URI
JAR | Representation of media entries in files accessible via the FILE, HTTP or HTTPS protocols | java.net.JarURLConnection
HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) | Playlist-based media streaming via HTTP or HTTPS | Internet-Draft: HTTP Live Streaming

#### MPEG-4 Playback via HTTP

It is recommended that MPEG-4 media to be played over HTTP or HTTPS be formatted such that the headers required to decode the stream appear at the beginning of the file. Otherwise, playback might stall until the entire file is downloaded.

#### HTTP Live Streaming (HLS)

HLS playback handles sources with these characteristics:

- On-demand and live playlists.
- Elementary MP3 audio streams (audio/mpegurl) and multiplexed MP2T streams (application/vnd.apple.mpegurl) with one AAC audio and one H.264/AVC video track.
- Playlists with integer or float duration.

Sources which do not conform to this basic profile are not guaranteed to be handled. The playlist contains information about the streams comprising the source and is downloaded at the start of playback. Switching between alternate streams, bit rates, and video resolutions is handled automatically as a function of network conditions.

### Supported Metadata Tags

A media container may also include certain metadata which describe the media in the file. The Java FX Media API makes the metadata available via the `Media.getMetadata()` method. The keys in this mapping are referred to as tags with the tags supported by Java FX Media listed in the following table. Note that which tags are available for a given media source depend on the metadata actually stored in that source, i.e., not all tags are guaranteed to be available.

"Metadata Keys and Tags Table
Container | Tag (type String) | Type | Description
--- | --- | --- | ---
MP3 | raw metadata | Map<String,ByteBuffer> | The raw metadata according to the appropriate media specification. The key "ID3" maps to MP3 ID3v2 metadata.
MP3 | album artist | java.lang.String | The artist for the overall album, possibly "Various Artists" for compilations.
MP3 | album | java.lang.String | The name of the album.
MP3 | artist | java.lang.String | The artist of the track.
MP3 | comment-N | java.lang.String | A comment where N is a 0-relative index. Comment format: ContentDescription[lng]=Comment
MP3 | composer | java.lang.String | The composer of the track.
MP3 | year | java.lang.Integer | The year the track was recorded.
MP3 | disc count | java.lang.Integer | The number of discs in the album.
MP3 | disc number | java.lang.Integer | The 1-relative index of the disc on which this track appears.
MP3 | duration | javafx.util.Duration | The duration of the track.
MP3 | genre | java.lang.String | The genre of the track, for example, "Classical," "Darkwave," or "Jazz."
MP3 | image | javafx.scene.image.Image | The album cover.
MP3 | title | java.lang.String | The name of the track.
MP3 | track count | java.lang.Integer | The number of tracks on the album.
MP3 | track number | java.lang.Integer | The 1-relative index of this track on the disc.

### Playing Media in Java FX

#### Basic Playback

The basic steps required to play media in Java FX are:

1. Create a `Media` object for the desired media source.
2. Create a `MediaPlayer` object from the `Media` object.
3. Create a `MediaView` object.
4. Add the `MediaPlayer` to the `MediaView`.
5. Add the `MediaView` to the scene graph.
6. Invoke `MediaPlayer.play()`.

The foregoing steps are illustrated by the sample code in the `MediaView` class documentation. Some things which should be noted are:

- One `Media` object may be shared among multiple `MediaPlayer`s.
- One `MediaPlayer` may be shared amoung multiple `MediaView`s.
- Media may be played directly by a `MediaPlayer` without creating a `MediaView` although a view is required for display.
- Instead of `MediaPlayer.play()`, `MediaPlayer.setAutoPlay(true)` may be used to request that playing start as soon as possible.
- `MediaPlayer` has several operational states defined by `MediaPlayer.Status`.
- Audio-only media may instead be played using `AudioClip` (recommended for low latency playback of short clips).

#### Error Handling

Errors using Java FX Media may be either synchronous or asynchronous. In general synchronous errors will manifest themselves as a Java `Exception` and asynchronous errors will cause a Java FX property to be set. In the latter case either the `error` property may be observed directly, an `onError` callback registered, or possibly both.

The main sources of synchronous errors are `Media()` and `MediaPlayer()`. The asynchronous error properties are `Media.error` and `MediaPlayer.error`, and the asynchronous error callbacks `Media.onError`, `MediaPlayer.onError`, and `MediaView.onError`.

Some errors might be duplicated. For example, a `MediaPlayer` will propagate an error that it encounters to its associated `Media`, and a `MediaPlayer` to all its associated `MediaView`s. As a consequence, it is possible to receive multiple notifications of the occurrence of a given error, depending on which properties are monitored.

The following code snippet illustrates error handling with media:

        String source;
        Media media;
        MediaPlayer mediaPlayer;
        MediaView mediaView;
        try {
            media = new Media(source);
            if (media.getError() == null) {
                media.setOnError(new Runnable() {
                    public void run() {
                        // Handle asynchronous error in Media object.
                    }
                });
                try {
                    mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer(media);
                    if (mediaPlayer.getError() == null) {
                        mediaPlayer.setOnError(new Runnable() {
                            public void run() {
                                // Handle asynchronous error in MediaPlayer object.
                            }
                        });
                        mediaView = new MediaView(mediaPlayer);
                        mediaView.setOnError(new EventHandler<MediaErrorEvent>() {
                            public void handle(MediaErrorEvent t) {
                                // Handle asynchronous error in MediaView.
                            }
                        });
                    } else {
                        // Handle synchronous error creating MediaPlayer.
                    }
                } catch (Exception mediaPlayerException) {
                    // Handle exception in MediaPlayer constructor.
                }
            } else {
                // Handle synchronous error creating Media.
            }
        } catch (Exception mediaException) {
            // Handle exception in Media constructor.
        }

Related Packages
Module
Package
Description
javafx.graphics
javafx.scene
Provides the core set of base classes for the JavaFX Scene Graph API.
Class
Description
AudioClip
An `AudioClip` represents a segment of audio that can be played with minimal latency.
AudioEqualizer
The `AudioEqualizer` class provides audio equalization control for a media player.
AudioSpectrumListener
Audio spectrum callback interface.
AudioTrack
A `Track` that describes an audio track.
EqualizerBand
The `EqualizerBand` class provides control for each band in the `AudioEqualizer`.
Media
The `Media` class represents a media resource.
MediaErrorEvent
An `Event` representing the occurrence of an error in handling media.
MediaException
A `MediaException` describes a runtime error condition in a `Media`, `MediaPlayer` or `MediaView`.
MediaException.Type
Enumeration describing categories of errors.
MediaMarkerEvent
An `ActionEvent` representing a media marker.
MediaPlayer
The `MediaPlayer` class provides the controls for playing media.
MediaPlayer.Status
Enumeration describing the different status values of a `MediaPlayer`.
MediaView
A `Node` that provides a view of `Media` being played by a `MediaPlayer`.
SubtitleTrack
A `Track` that contains subtitle or captioning data to be rendered overlaying a video track.
Track
A class representing a track contained in a media resource.
VideoTrack
A `Track` that describes a video track.