supported-formats.md

---
layout: default
title: Supported formats
weight: 3
---

When defining the formats that ExoPlayer supports, it's important to note that "media formats" are
in fact defined at multiple levels. From the lowest level to the highest, these are:

* The format of the individual media samples (e.g. a frame of video or a frame of audio). We call
these *sample formats*. Note that a typical video file will contain media in at least two sample
formats; one for video (e.g. H.264) and one for audio (e.g. AAC).
* The format of the container that houses the media samples and associated metadata. We call these
*container formats*. A media file has a single container format (e.g. MP4), which is commonly
indicated by the file extension. Note that for some audio only formats (e.g. MP3), the sample and
container formats may be the same.
* Adaptive streaming technologies such as DASH, SmoothStreaming and HLS. These are not media formats
as such, however it's still necessary to define what level of support ExoPlayer provides.

The following sections define ExoPlayer's support at each level, from highest to lowest.

## Adaptive streaming ##

### DASH ###

ExoPlayer supports DASH with the FMP4, WebM and Matroska container formats. Media streams must be
demuxed, meaning that video, audio and text must be defined in distinct AdaptationSet elements in
the DASH manifest. The contained sample formats must also be supported (see the
[sample formats](#sample-formats) section for details).

| Feature | Supported    | Comment              |
|---------|:------------:|:---------------------|
| **Containers** |||
| FMP4                          | YES          | Demuxed streams only |
| WebM | YES | Demuxed streams only |
| Matroska | YES | Demuxed streams only |
| MPEG-TS | NO | No support planned |
| **Closed captions/subtitles** |||
| TTML | YES | Raw, or embedded in FMP4 according to ISO/IEC 14496-30 |
| WebVTT | YES | Raw, or embedded in FMP4 according to ISO/IEC 14496-30 |
| Tx3g | YES | Embedded in FMP4 |
| SubRip | YES | Embedded in WebM |
| **Content protection**                  |||
| Widevine | YES | API 18 and higher |
| PlayReady SL2000                        | YES          | Android TV only      |

### SmoothStreaming ###

ExoPlayer supports SmoothStreaming with the FMP4 container format. Media streams must be demuxed,
meaning that video, audio and text must be defined in distinct StreamIndex elements in the
SmoothStreaming manifest. The contained sample formats must also be supported (see the
[sample formats](#sample-formats) section for details).

| Feature | Supported    | Comment              |
|---------|:------------:|:---------------------|
| **Containers**                          |||
| FMP4                          | YES          | Demuxed streams only |
| **Closed captions/subtitles**           |||
| TTML | YES | Embedded in FMP4 |
| **Content protection**                    |||
| PlayReady SL2000                        | YES          | Android TV only      |

### HLS ###

ExoPlayer supports HLS with the MPEG-TS, ADTS and MP3 container formats. The contained sample
formats must also be supported (see the [sample formats](#sample-formats) section for details). Note
that we recommend using DASH (or SmoothStreaming) rather than HLS where possible. You can read about
some of the benefits of DASH
[here](https://medium.com/google-exoplayer/test-8b62d50362ef#.dlz6npay4).

| Feature | Supported    | Comment              |
|---------|:------------:|:---------------------|
| **Containers**                          |||
| MPEG-TS                                 | YES          ||
| ADTS (AAC) | YES ||
| MP3 | YES ||
| **Closed captions/subtitles**           |||
| EIA-608 | YES ||
| WebVTT                                  | YES          ||
| **Metdata** |||
| ID3 metadata                            | YES          ||
| **Content protection**                  |||
| AES-128                                 | YES          ||
| Sample AES-128 | NO ||

## Standalone container formats ##

Media files in the following container formats can be played directly by ExoPlayer. The contained
sample formats must also be supported (see the [sample formats](#sample-formats) section for
details).

| Container format | Supported    | Comment              |
|------------------|:------------:|:---------------------|
| MP4 | YES ||
| FMP4 | YES ||
| WebM| YES ||
| Matroska| YES ||
| MP3 | YES ||
| Ogg | YES | Containing Vorbis, Opus and Flac |
| WAV | YES ||
| MPEG-TS | YES | Not seekable* |
| MPEG-PS | YES | Not seekable* |
| FLV | YES | Not seekable* |
| ADTS (AAC) | YES | Not seekable* |
| Flac | YES | Using the [Flac extension][] only |

\* Seeking is unsupported because the container does not provide metadata (e.g. a sample index) to
allow a media player to perform a seek in an efficient way. If seeking is required, we suggest using
a more appropriate container format.

## Sample formats ##

By default ExoPlayer uses Android's platform decoders. Hence the supported sample formats depend on
the underlying platform rather than on ExoPlayer. Sample formats supported by Android devices are
documented [here](https://developer.android.com/guide/appendix/media-formats.html#core). Note that
individual devices may support additional formats beyond those listed.

In addition to using Android's platform decoders, ExoPlayer can also make use of software decoder
extensions. These must be manually built and included in projects that wish to make use of them. We
currently provide software decoder extensions for
[VP9](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/tree/master/extensions/vp9),
[Flac](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/tree/master/extensions/flac) and
[Opus](https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/tree/master/extensions/opus).

[Flac extension]: https://github.com/google/ExoPlayer/tree/master/extensions/flac