Since iOS 10, Apple has provided the support for downloading HLS (m3u8) video for offline viewing.
My question is: Is it necessary that we can only download HLS when it is being played ? Or we can just download when user press download button and show progress.
Does anyone has implemented this in Objective C version? Actually my previous App is made in Objective C. Now I want to add support for downloading HLS rather than MP4 (previously I was downloading MP4 for offline view).
I am really desperate to this. Please share thoughts or any code if implemented.
The only way you can do this is to set up an HTTP server to serve the files locally after you've downloaded them.
The Live playlist uses a sliding-window. You need to periodically reload it after target-duration time and download only the new segments as they appear in the list (they will be removed at a later time).
Here are some related answers: Can IOS devices stream m3u8 segmented video from the local file system using html5 video and phonegap/cordova?
I used the apple code guid to download HLS content with the following code:
var configuration: URLSessionConfiguration?
var downloadSession: AVAssetDownloadURLSession?
var downloadIdentifier = "\(Bundle.main.bundleIdentifier!).background"
func setupAssetDownload(videoUrl: String) {
// Create new background session configuration.
configuration = URLSessionConfiguration.background(withIdentifier: downloadIdentifier)
// Create a new AVAssetDownloadURLSession with background configuration, delegate, and queue
downloadSession = AVAssetDownloadURLSession(configuration: configuration!,
assetDownloadDelegate: self,
delegateQueue: OperationQueue.main)
if let url = URL(string: videoUrl){
let asset = AVURLAsset(url: url)
// Create new AVAssetDownloadTask for the desired asset
let downloadTask = downloadSession?.makeAssetDownloadTask(asset: asset,
assetTitle: "Some Title",
assetArtworkData: nil,
options: nil)
// Start task and begin download
downloadTask?.resume()
}
}//end method
func urlSession(_ session: URLSession, assetDownloadTask: AVAssetDownloadTask, didFinishDownloadingTo location: URL) {
// Do not move the asset from the download location
UserDefaults.standard.set(location.relativePath, forKey: "testVideoPath")
}
if you don't understand what's going on, read up about it here:
https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/AudioVideo/Conceptual/MediaPlaybackGuide/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/HTTPLiveStreaming/HTTPLiveStreaming.html
now you can use the stored HSL content to play the video in AVPlayer with the following code:
//get the saved link from the user defaults
let savedLink = UserDefaults.standard.string(forKey: "testVideoPath")
let baseUrl = URL(fileURLWithPath: NSHomeDirectory()) //app's home directory
let assetUrl = baseUrl.appendingPathComponent(savedLink!) //append the saved link to home path
now use the path to play video in AVPlayer
let avAssest = AVAsset(url: assetUrl)
let playerItem = AVPlayerItem(asset: avAssest)
let player = AVPlayer(playerItem: playerItem) // video path coming from above function
let playerViewController = AVPlayerViewController()
playerViewController.player = player
self.present(playerViewController, animated: true, completion: {
player.play()
})
You can easily download an HLS stream with AVAssetDownloadURLSession makeAssetDownloadTask. Have a look at the AssetPersistenceManager in Apples Sample code: https://developer.apple.com/library/content/samplecode/HLSCatalog/Introduction/Intro.html
It should be fairly straight forward to use the Objective C version of the api.
Yes, you can download video stream served over HLS and watch it later.
There is a very straight forward sample app (HLSCatalog) from apple on this. The code is fairly simple. you can find it here - https://developer.apple.com/services-account/download?path=/Developer_Tools/FairPlay_Streaming_Server_SDK_v3.1/FairPlay_Streaming_Server_SDK_v3.1.zip
You can find more about offline HLS streaming here.
