Better Player

pub package pub package pub package

Better Player handles the complex video playback edge cases so you don't have to. Originally based on video_player, it's now fully independent. It tackles HLS, DRM, and caching out of the box.

IMPORTANT Migrating from 0.0.84 to 1.x.x? See the Migration Guides section below.

📱 Visual Showcase

Default Controls Settings Menu Audio Tracks Event Listener

🏆 vs Competitors

Why choose Better Player? Here is how it stacks up against the alternatives.

Feature Better Player video_player chewie media_kit
Engine ExoPlayer/AVPlayer/Shaka ExoPlayer/AVPlayer video_player libmpv
UI Controls ✅ Built-in & Customizable ❌ None ✅ Built-in ✅ Built-in
HLS / DASH ✅ Native ⚠️ Basic ⚠️ Basic ✅ Native
DRM Support ✅ Widevine/FairPlay/ClearKey ❌ None ❌ None ❌ None
Subtitles ✅ Advanced (WebVTT, HTML, SRT) ⚠️ Basic (SRT only) ⚠️ Basic ✅ Advanced
Caching ✅ Built-in ❌ None ❌ None ❌ None
Playlists ✅ Built-in ❌ None ❌ None ✅ Built-in

🚀 Key Features

  • Adaptive Streaming: Play HLS, DASH, and Smooth Streaming with automatic track selection.
  • DRM Support: Protect your content with Widevine, FairPlay, and ClearKey.
  • Smart Caching: Cache videos for seamless offline playback.
  • Picture in Picture (PiP): Keep videos playing while users multitask.
  • Advanced Subtitles: Parse SRT and WebVTT, including HTML tags.

📦 Quick Start

1. Add dependency

Add Better Player to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  better_player: ^1.17.0

2. Basic Usage

Use the network factory to get a player up and running fast.

import 'package:better_player/better_player.dart';

// Inside your build method
AspectRatio(
  aspectRatio: 16 / 9,
  child: BetterPlayer.network(
    "https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/gtv-videos-bucket/sample/BigBuckBunny.mp4",
    betterPlayerConfiguration: PlayerConfiguration(
      aspectRatio: 16 / 9,
      looping: true,
      autoPlay: true,
    ),
  ),
)

3. Advanced Controller Usage

Need full control? Initialize a BetterPlayerController manually.

BetterPlayerController _controller = BetterPlayerController(
    const PlayerConfiguration(),
    betterPlayerDataSource: PlayerDataSource(
        DataSourceType.network,
        "https://example.com/video.mp4",
    ),
);

BetterPlayer(controller: _controller)

🤖 AI Agent Quick Reference

Better Player ships with Dart package skills so your AI coding agent (Cursor, Gemini, Claude Code, Copilot) knows the 1.x API out of the box. Install the skill into your project:

dart run skills@ get -p better_player

Writing a script or prompt? Feed this to your AI to get the right code on the first try:

  • Initialization: Always initialize BetterPlayerController in initState() with a PlayerConfiguration and PlayerDataSource.
  • Core Classes:
    • BetterPlayerController: Manages state and configuration.
    • PlayerDataSource: Wraps video URL, DRM config, subtitles, headers.
    • PlayerConfiguration: UI, looping, autoPlay, aspect ratio.
    • PlayerControlsConfiguration: Colors, icons, padding for the control bar.
  • Subtitles: Pass PlayerSubtitlesSource directly into PlayerDataSource.
  • Disposal: Default is autoDispose: true. Avoid manual controller.dispose() unless you opt out.

🔄 Migration Guides

Moving from another package? Follow these guides:

📖 Resources

🤝 Contributing

Bugs? Feature requests? Open an issue. Better yet, submit a PR.

💼 Enterprise Support

Need a custom video source adapter, bespoke DRM implementation, or tailored UI controls? I'm available for consulting.

Let's talk on LinkedIn →

Libraries

better_player