Stream AAC on Android

Question

I'm working on an app for a client that requires streaming of an AAC audio stream. Unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about the stream format on the server. I'm working on Android and have discovered that Android's media player does not support raw AAC streams (which is what I'm getting). I found a project on Google Code that supports it (I tested it with the stream) but it's GPL'ed and that doesn't work for my client. I don't have much experience with this sort of thing so forgive me if my ideas aren't great. I know Android can play AAC encoded content if it is in an MP4 wrapper so I had thought about creating an MP4 wrapper on the fly on the client-side or perhaps even just doing some conversion to another format on the fly. Are these reasonable options? Does anybody have better suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Edit To rephrase, is it possible to put a raw AAC stream from a web server in an MP4 container in real time? If so, does anybody know of resources to help me with the process?

Answer 1

I'm wondering if you ever came up with a solution for this problem? I'm in a similar situation. We have a web service generating AAC files, though not raw, they have the ADTS header. Android 2.2 can't play these files, though android 2.1 can, oddly enough. It seems to be a problem rooted to android switching to stagefright libraries for media playback in 2.2.

The AAC files do play fine when wrapped in an MP4 container. We've accomplish this on the server side very easily using FAAC (I realize this doesn't help you in your situation). We are still investigating licensing issues with using an mp4 container though. Does this require royalties?

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To answer my own question...a lawyer has confirmed that using an mp4 container for an AAC file does not require licensing.

Answer 2

I TRIED ACCDECODER by Google for 4 motnhs it did work well. I found it and in 2 days I could did it works! :) I found it and saw it on the last Google I/O 2017

I can suggest to use EXOPLAYER INSTEAD MEDIAPLAYER. It is a better and improve way. I had the same problem using just MediaPlayer, but short time ago I found Exoplayer, now I do not have problem to Play audio streaming Acc, mp3, mpeg, etc. I can give a couple links to check it.

ExoPlayer is an open source project that is not part of the Android framework and is distributed separately from the Android SDK. ExoPlayer’s standard audio and video components are built on Android’s MediaCodec API, which was released in Android 4.1 (API level 16). Because ExoPlayer is a library, you can easily take advantage of new features as they become available by updating your app.

ExoPlayer supports features like Dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH), SmoothStreaming and Common Encryption, which are not supported by MediaPlayer. It's designed to be easy to customize and extend.

This is almost the same like MediaPlayer because Exoplayer extend from it. You can see a lot of differences and an easy way to implement it. If you need more help let me know :)

For example you have this:

Media Player mediaPlayer = new MediaPlayer();
 mediaPlayer.setAudioStreamType(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
 mediaPlayer.setDataSource("http://your.url.com"); //add you url address
 ...
 mediaPlayer.prepare();
 mediaPlayer.start();

In Exoplayer you need it:

    //  Create the player
        player = ExoPlayerFactory.newSimpleInstance(this, trackSelector, loadControl);
        simpleExoPlayerView = new SimpleExoPlayerView(this);
        simpleExoPlayerView = (SimpleExoPlayerView) findViewById(R.id.player_view);

//Set media controller
        simpleExoPlayerView.setUseController(true);
        simpleExoPlayerView.requestFocus();

// Bind the player to the view.
        simpleExoPlayerView.setPlayer(player);

ExoPlayer example code:

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {


    private static final String TAG = "MainActivity";
    private SimpleExoPlayerView simpleExoPlayerView;
    private SimpleExoPlayer player;
    private ExoPlayer.EventListener exoPlayerEventListener;


    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);

        Log.v(TAG,"portrait detected...");
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);



// 1. Create a default TrackSelector
        Handler mainHandler = new Handler();
        BandwidthMeter bandwidthMeter = new DefaultBandwidthMeter();
        TrackSelection.Factory videoTrackSelectionFactory = new AdaptiveVideoTrackSelection.Factory(bandwidthMeter);
        TrackSelector trackSelector = new DefaultTrackSelector(mainHandler, videoTrackSelectionFactory);

// 2. Create a default LoadControl
        LoadControl loadControl = new DefaultLoadControl();

// 3. Create the player
        player = ExoPlayerFactory.newSimpleInstance(this, trackSelector, loadControl);
        simpleExoPlayerView = new SimpleExoPlayerView(this);
        simpleExoPlayerView = (SimpleExoPlayerView) findViewById(R.id.player_view);

//Set media controller
        simpleExoPlayerView.setUseController(true);
        simpleExoPlayerView.requestFocus();

// Bind the player to the view.
        simpleExoPlayerView.setPlayer(player);





//CHOOSE CONTENT: Livestream links may be out of date so find any m3u8 files online and replace:
//VIDEO FROM SD CARD:
//        String urimp4 = "/FileName.mp4";
//        Uri mp4VideoUri = Uri.parse(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getAbsolutePath()+urimp4);

//yachts livestream m3m8 file:
        Uri mp4VideoUri =Uri.parse("http://your.url.com");

//Random livestream file:
//        Uri mp4VideoUri =Uri.parse("http://your.url.com");

//Sports livestream file:
//        Uri mp4VideoUri =Uri.parse("http://your.url.com");




// Measures bandwidth during playback. Can be null if not required.
        DefaultBandwidthMeter bandwidthMeterA = new DefaultBandwidthMeter();
//Produces DataSource instances through which media data is loaded.
//        DataSource.Factory dataSourceFactory = new DefaultDataSourceFactory(this, Util.getUserAgent(this, "exoplayer2example"), bandwidthMeterA);
        DefaultDataSourceFactory dataSourceFactory = new DefaultDataSourceFactory(this, Util.getUserAgent(this, "exoplayer2example"), bandwidthMeterA);

//Produces Extractor instances for parsing the media data.
        ExtractorsFactory extractorsFactory = new DefaultExtractorsFactory();

//This is the MediaSource representing the media to be played:
//FOR SD CARD SOURCE:
//        MediaSource videoSource = new ExtractorMediaSource(mp4VideoUri, dataSourceFactory, extractorsFactory, null, null);

//FOR LIVESTREAM LINK:
        MediaSource videoSource = new HlsMediaSource(mp4VideoUri, dataSourceFactory, 1, null, null);
        final LoopingMediaSource loopingSource = new LoopingMediaSource(videoSource);


// Prepare the player with the source.
        player.prepare(loopingSource);



        player.addListener(new ExoPlayer.EventListener() {
            @Override
            public void onLoadingChanged(boolean isLoading) {
                Log.v(TAG,"Listener-onLoadingChanged...");

            }

            @Override
            public void onPlayerStateChanged(boolean playWhenReady, int playbackState) {
                Log.v(TAG,"Listener-onPlayerStateChanged...");

            }

            @Override
            public void onTimelineChanged(Timeline timeline, Object manifest) {
                Log.v(TAG,"Listener-onTimelineChanged...");

            }

            @Override
            public void onPlayerError(ExoPlaybackException error) {
                Log.v(TAG,"Listener-onPlayerError...");
                player.stop();
                player.prepare(loopingSource);
                player.setPlayWhenReady(true);
            }

            @Override
            public void onPositionDiscontinuity() {
                Log.v(TAG,"Listener-onPositionDiscontinuity...");

            }
        });
        player.setPlayWhenReady(true);

    }//End of onCreate




    @Override
    protected void onStop() {
        super.onStop();
        Log.v(TAG,"onStop()...");
    }

    @Override
    protected void onStart() {
        super.onStart();
        Log.v(TAG,"onStart()...");

    }

    @Override
    protected void onResume() {
        super.onResume();
        Log.v(TAG,"onResume()...");
    }

    @Override
    protected void onPause() {
        super.onPause();
        Log.v(TAG,"onPause()...");
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
        Log.v(TAG,"onDestroy()...");
        player.release();

    }

}

It was a short example, If you are looking for something else or need more help let me know! I am here! I would like to help because I know how it feels when you are googling and searching and anything it is showing up! :) Take care!!