• Common library:
  • Add Format.channelMask to explicitly represent the audio channel mask, and a new Util.getAudioTrackChannelConfig(Format) overload to safely resolve it.
  • Upgrade Kotlin from 2.0.20 to 2.2.0.
• ExoPlayer:
  • Fix a timing-dependent concurrency bug that could cause an IllegalStateException or IndexOutOfBoundsException in ExoPlayer.
  • Relax ad group count checks in AdsMediaSource to allow the ad group count to decrease when an ad group is fully processed
    (hasUnplayedAds() is false), accommodating dynamic ad group resizing during reset workflows.
  • Add getFlags() and FLAG_STRICT_DURATION to SampleStream to allow streams to report flags, and update renderers to check these flags dynamically.
  • Fall back to the frame rate estimator in MediaCodecVideoRenderer and to the codec output format in MediaCodecAudioRenderer to calculate the codec operating rate when the stream formats do not provide a valid value, and avoid unnecessary codec resets.
  • Remove clipping of content for client-side inserted ads in the core player. Instead, AdsMediaSource takes care of the clipping logic. Custom client-side inserted ads sources need to be updated to implement the content clipping internally.
  • Mark tracks with a well-formed but unrecognized codec profile or level as supported=NO_EXCEEDS_CAPABILITIES instead of supported=YES (which is how tracks with missing or malformed profile or level info are marked). This ensures these tracks (which are unlikely to be supported by the device) are not selected when there are better-supported alternatives.
  • Add DefaultPreloadManager.SimpleRankingDataComparator, which is a RankingDataComparator that compares the ranks of the media items based on their distances to the index of the current playing media item. Apps can override its compare(Integer, Integer) method if a more fine-tuned comparison logic is needed. The custom SimpleRankingDataComparator can be injected via a new constructor of DefaultPreloadManager.Builder.
  • Reduce the OOM risk of DefaultLoadControl.prioritizeTimeOverSizeThresholds by falling back to buffer byte size limits if available heap memory seems tight.
  • Align handling of still images when MediaItem.imageDurationUs is not set: JPEG and HEIC still images now 'play' with a very short default duration (the same way PNG and other images previously behaved).
  • Add MediaSource.prepareSource(MediaSourceCaller, PlayerId, BandwidthMeter) to plumb BandwidthMeter to MediaSource. The deprecated method with custom implementation will still be called by default though, it is recommended to implement the new method and use BandwidthMeter.getTransferListener() to get parity to the old method.
  • In DefaultBandwidthMeter, add support for a custom InitialBitrateSupplier. This allows apps to provide their own logic for determining the initial bitrate estimate, which will be used on creation of DefaultBandwidthMeter and on network type changes. The supplier can be set via DefaultBandwidthMeter.Builder.setInitialBitrateSupplier().
  • Enable dynamic scheduling by default. ExoPlayer playback work loop will run dynamically as opposed to on a static interval.
  • Remove an unnecessary reset that can occur when joining tracks with pre-roll samples to active playback.
  • In DefaultBandwidthMeter, optimize getInitialBitrateCountryGroupAssignment to return the country group assignments packed into a 32-bit integer instead of an array, reducing code size and avoiding allocations.
  • Fix AudioTrack initialization failures on some devices by ensuring the retry logic always attempts a minimum of 1 second buffer size if other retries (by halving the buffer size) are unsuccessful (#3207).
  • Fix codec issue on some devices where the codec was swallowing all samples if previously flushed before receiving input buffers.
  • Add experimental ExoPlayer.Builder.enablePerStreamMediaProgression() to allow advancing media processing on a per-stream basis. This reduces startup latency between playlist items and avoids playback becoming "stuck" with very short content (#3122).
  • Fix race condition related to audio session id usage where the initial audio session id auto-generated by ExoPlayer would be used instead of the value set by setAudioSessionId (#3241).
  • Add experimental HAGC (ST 2094-50) timed metadata playback support for progressive media (e.g. MP4, Matroska). The player automatically merges HAGC metadata tracks with the associated video track and delivers the metadata out-of-band to the decoder on API 37+ devices. This behavior can be disabled via DefaultMediaSourceFactory.setExperimentalEnableHagcPlayback(false).
  • Add Format.selectionPriority representing the relative preference of the Format in track selection (#3236).
  • Fix potential scrubbing mode issue where scrubbing could stall when seeking to 'end of stream'.
• CompositionPlayer:
  • Fix an issue where TrackSelector instances were not being released.
• Transformer:
  • Fix an issue where ExportResult.fileSizeBytes may be over-reported.
• Track selection:
  • Expose BaseTrackSelection.DEFAULT_FORMAT_COMPARATOR and add AdaptiveTrackSelection.Factory.setTrackFormatComparator to allow custom format ordering and ABR selection priority beyond bitrate-only ordering.
  • Fix a timing-dependent concurrency issue where rapid sequential updates to track selection parameters could result in some updates being lost or overwritten.
• Extractors:
  • MP4, MP3, and FLAC: Add FLAG_DISABLE_ARTWORK_METADATA to allow discarding attached pictures and cover art metadata during container parsing to reduce runtime memory consumption (#2077). This can also be enabled centrally via DefaultExtractorsFactory.setDisableArtworkMetadata.
  • MP4: Add support for extracting ITU-T T.35 (it35) timed metadata tracks.
  • MP4: Add support for extracting chapter metadata (both Nero and QuickTime formats). QuickTime chapters are preferred if both are present. The extracted chapter information is exposed as Chapter entries within the track's Metadata, allowing for native chapter navigation in MP4, M4A, and M4B files (such as audiobooks and podcasts) (#2803).
  • WAV, Matroska, and MP4: Add support for 64-bit floating point PCM audio (#3090).
  • Matroska: Use codec bitstream metadata to populate accurate ColorInfo.
  • MP4: Add support for seeking in fragmented MP4 files using the mfra box when a sidx box is not present. To enable this, provide FLAG_READ_MFRA_FOR_SEEK_MAP to the FragmentedMp4Extractor, which is now done by default in DefaultExtractorsFactory (#3088).
  • Ignore av1C data with unsupported version.
  • MP4: Add support for big-endian floating point PCM in fpcm boxes.
  • Matroska: Parse chapter info to Chapter entries in a track's Metadata.
  • MPEG-TS: Improve extraction of DTS-HD and DTS Express streams by combining the Core and Extension Substream into a single sample, fixing playback issues where the two were previously output as separate samples (#3147).
  • MP4: Prevent infinite loops and out-of-bounds reads when parsing empty ilst metadata tag items (#3191).
  • MPEG-TS: Ensure the last frame is rendered for streams where the last PES packet has a known length (#3206).
  • MP3: Fix bitrate reporting for files with Xing and VBRI header.
  • Matroska: Handle tracks defined in the last cluster (#3250).
  • Matroska: Add support for ALAC (#3268).
  • MP4: Allow variable length sgpd boxes in fragmented MP4 files (#3243).
  • AVI: Fix an issue where playing files without keyframe flags on audio tracks caused audio loss and OutOfMemoryError.
  • MP3: Use gapless-aware durations from Xing/Info headers (#3183).
  • MP3: Adjust LAME/Xing encoder delay and padding metadata to match decoded PCM trimming (#3200).
• Audio:
  • Add a 100ms grace period in ExoPlayer's audio renderers when transitioning from ready to not-ready state, to debounce transient underruns and avoid unexpected buffering states during active playout (#3210).
  • Change the default PCM buffer size logic in DefaultAudioTrackBufferSizeProvider to use a fixed 500ms buffer to make it less device dependent.
  • Update MediaCodecAudioRenderer to extract the spatial channelMask from the platform decoder, allowing DefaultAudioSink to use this explicit mask instead of inferring one from the channel count.
  • Convert parameters of AudioSink.configure to data class. Custom overrides of ForwardingAudioSink.configure need to be migrated to the new method signature.
  • Add support for maintaining pitch when time-stretching an audio stream with EditedMediaItem.Builder#setSpeed(SpeedParameters).
  • Enhance ToFloatPcmAudioProcessor to support converting 8-bit PCM, 16-bit big-endian PCM, and 64-bit floating point PCM to 32-bit floating point PCM (#3090).
  • Change return value of DecoderAudioRenderer.getChannelMapping to ImmutableIntArray.
  • Fix bug where playback gets stuck when playing a playlist of gapless audio in compressed offload mode.
  • Forward Timeline and period UID to AudioSink.configure and AudioProcessor.StreamMetadata to provide playlist context to the audio processors (#418).
  • Set correct AudioProcessor.StreamMetadata.positionOffsetUs to allow time-based audio processing (#418).
  • Add support for big endian 32-bit and 64-bit floating point PCM.
  • Remove fallback path of EAC3-JOC to EAC3 for playback on Google Pixel devices as their standard EAC3 decoders cannot decode EAC3-JOC streams (#3257).
• Video:
  • Fix video joining logic to count dropped buffers during joining as skipped instead of dropped.
  • Fix immediate rendering decision when setting new surface to avoid frame drops on devices that don't support placeholder surfaces.
  • Fix frame rate estimation in MediaCodecVideoRenderer to be more accurate by accounting for dropped or skipped frames.
  • Allow configuration of the threshold used to schedule frames early. The default is 50ms but one can customize the value through MediaCodecVideoRenderer.Builder.setMaxEarlyUsThreshold().
  • Fix bug in VideoFrameReleaseHelper where display changes could trigger redundant Choreographer callbacks and excessive CPU wakeups on the main thread.
• Text:
  • TTML: Fallback to displayAlign from style for regions (#2559).
  • TTML: Inherit cue start time from parent of <p> elements (#3246).
• Metadata:
  • Add MediaMetadata.discSubtitle field and parse it from ID3v2.4 TSST and Vorbis DISCSUBTITLE data.
  • Parse disc number & count from ID3 TPOS frame.
• Effect:
  • Clear redraw state in FinalShaderProgramWrapper when flushing to prevent the player from freezing when seeking.
• Muxers:
  • Add support for track references (the tref box) in Mp4Muxer via a new addTrackReference API. This allows establishing relationships between tracks, such as linking a metadata track to the video track it describes.
  • Add OggMuxer to allow muxing of OPUS or VORBIS media streams into the ogg file format.
  • Add WavMuxer for WAV file generation (supports integer and floating-point PCM).
  • Add setAttemptStreamableOutputEnabled to InAppMp4Muxer.Factory to allow writing smaller non-streamable files without reserved space.
  • Add support for IAMF audio in Mp4Muxer and FragmentedMp4Muxer.
• IMA extension:
  • Add ImaServerSideAdInsertionMediaSource.AdsLoader.Builder.setPauseAdSlot to allow providing an ad slot to use for pause ads.
  • Fix bug where back-to-back skippable VAST ads show the skip button immediately on the second ad (#3165).
• Session:
  • Fix potential deadlocks and IllegalStateException crashes inside MediaNotificationManager when using a session with a background thread player looper.
  • Enforce stricter threading requirements for MediaSession methods. Void methods now automatically post execution to the application looper thread, and state accessors (getters) explicitly throw an IllegalStateException if called from a thread other than the application looper.
  • Fix an out-of-bounds timeline merge crash (IllegalStateException in MediaUtils.mergePlayerInfo) by tracking state consistency per-controller on the session side.
  • Add androidx.media3.session.MediaSessionManager to provide support for querying active media sessions and returning Media3 SessionToken instances.
  • Change default behavior of MediaSession.Callback.onConnect if the method is not overridden to only provide read access to untrusted controllers.
  • Add support to override package name while creating MediaSession via a new API MediaSession.Builder#setPackageNameOverride. The caller must have android.permission.OVERRIDE_MEDIA_SESSION_OWNER permission to override the package name of the session.
  • Add MediaSession.Callback.onConnectAsync(). The new method allows to asynchronously process the connection attempt of a controller. Apps can return an immediate Future with Futures.immediateFuture(ConnectionResult) to achieve the previous behaviour. It's recommended to migrate to the new method because Callback.onConnect is a candidate to be deprecated.
  • Fix issue where Bluetooth AVRCP browsing didn't recognise MediaLibraryService on API 36 and 37.
  • Fix double-downscaling of artwork in MediaSession when the image size is close to the platform limit, resolving blurriness in notifications (#3134).
  • Fix ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException crash in MediaNotificationManager when an asynchronous artwork bitmap load callback attempts to start the foreground service while the app is in the background (#3270).
  • Fix an issue where PositionInfo objects received by a MediaController were missing their original Timeline UIDs. The session now reliably translates and propagates these UIDs during state updates.
  • Fix crash by catching ForegroundServiceStartNotAllowedException in MediaSessionService.stopSelfSafely() (#3310).
  • Fix unexpected onMediaItemTransition() callback on MediaController when seeking inside the same media item (#3248).
• UI:
  • Fix first frame rendering at the wrong size when ContentFrame is recomposed mid-playback (#3238).
  • Add CurrentMediaItemState class and the corresponding rememberCurrentMediaItemState Composable to media3-ui-compose module. This state holder is used in demo-compose to display various metadata information about the currently playing MediaItem.
  • Add PlaylistState class and the corresponding rememberPlaylistState Composable to media3-ui-compose module. This state holder is used in demo-compose to display various metadata information about the MediaItems set on the Player.
  • Add fastforwarding/slow motion API to PlaybackSpeedState. Use this functionality in demo-compose to showcase fastforwarding with a long press.
  • Add MiniController composable to media3-ui-compose-material3 module. It provides a compact affordance to control the Player while displaying the title, artist, artwork, and progress of the current media item.
  • Add ErrorState class and the corresponding rememberErrorState Composable to media3-ui-compose module. Add ErrorText Composable to media3-ui-compose-material3 and make it a default overlay on the Player.
  • Publish PlayerDefaults object with composables for TopControls, CenterControls, BottomControls, and ErrorOverlay.
  • Add FocusRequester to Player Composable and its content slots.
  • Publish PlayerPool (common-ktx) and rememberPooledPlayer (ui-compose) to support preloading of MediaItems in sliding window UI environments. Showcase this functionality in demo-compose with a new ShortFormPlayerScreen.
  • Fix shutter suppression bug in PlayerView and Compose PresentationState that caused crashes on timelines that do not support period UID lookup (#3264).
• Downloads:
  • Resolve HLS variables in media playlist when fetched for download (#3258).
• Ktor extension:
  • Add a new media3-datasource-ktor extension module providing a KtorDataSource backed by the Ktor HTTP stack.
  • Fix KtorDataSource loading the entire HTTP response body into memory when opening a connection (#3305).
• HLS extension:
  • Add support for HLS Content Steering and Pathway Cloning (#1689).
  • Add setWithAssetListReset to HlsInterstitialsAdsLoader to allow apps to reset fully processed asset list interstitials back to an unavailable state for on-demand re-resolution.
  • Parse SCORE attribute of EXT-X-STREAM-INF and EXT-X-I-FRAME-STREAM-INF, and populate it to Format.selectionPriority (#3236).
  • Fix bug where scheduled HLS playlist refreshes continue even if the playlist is no longer primary or active (#3254).
  • Fix calculation of content resume offset when resolving interstitial asset lists (#3322).
  • Fix unexpected audio track timestamp discontinuity when resuming low latency live playback after a playlist request failure (#3311).
  • Fix bug in HlsMediaPeriod.getStreamKeys() where the ID3 track in audio renditions is considered as subtitles (#3333).
• DASH extension:
  • Separate CEA closed captions into different TrackGroups based on language (#3113).
  • Add support for parsing multiple Location elements from the manifest (MPD) and performing location fallback in DashMediaSource when manifest loads fail.
  • Fix crash (IndexOutOfBoundsException) when opening manifests with an empty <SegmentTimeline/> element (#3326).
• RTSP extension:
  • Fix transient playback stalls or failures during RTSP playback preparation caused by UDP port binding errors.
• Cast extension:
  • Add new CastParams class to allow configuration of Cast by calling Cast.initialize(CastParams).
  • Add new CastParams.getShowSystemOutputSwitcherOnCastIconClick() option, which triggers the use of the SystemUI Output Switcher instead of the in-app Cast device picker when available.
  • Add MediaRouteButtonState and rememberMediaRouteButtonState to support observing the visibility state of the media route picker, and add state parameter to MediaRouteButton (#3172).
  • Fix bug where RemoteCastPlayer could get permanently stuck in a track-masking state after a track selection, causing it to ignore subsequent track updates from the Cast receiver (#3237).
  • Fix bug where DefaultMediaItemConverter throws a NullPointerException when trying to join a cast session started from a non-Media3 sender.
  • Prevent CastPlayer from transferring MediaItems that are not playable when changing the active player (#3199).
  • Fix bug where unconfigured live streams (liveConfiguration == UNSET) were queued as STREAM_TYPE_BUFFERED (#3318).
• Test utilities:
  • Expand DataSourceContractTest to include support for POST requests with headers & bodies, add some POST resources to HttpDataSourceTestEnv, and add assertions for the expected HTTP method, headers & body in WebServerDispatcher.
  • Tighten assertions in DataSourceContractTest for lengths returned from DataSource.open(). Resources that may result in C.LENGTH_UNSET should indicate this by using TestResource.Builder.setMayResolveToUnknownLength(boolean).
  • Add setPlaybackLooper to TestExoPlayerBuilder.
• Remove deprecated symbols:
  • Remove androidx.media3.exoplayer.MetadataRetriever. Use androidx.media3.inspector.MetadataRetriever instead.
  • Remove androidx.media3.exoplayer.MediaExtractorCompat. Use androidx.media3.inspector.MediaExtractorCompat instead.
  • Remove Mp4Extractor.FLAG_READ_MOTION_PHOTO_METADATA. Use HeifExtractor to extract motion photo metadata from HEIC files instead.
  • Remove androidx.media3.extractor.metadata.mp4.MotionPhotoMetadata. Use androidx.media3.extractor.metadata.MotionPhotoMetadata instead.
  • Remove androidx.media3.extractor.DummyTrackOutput. Use androidx.media3.extractor.DiscardingTrackOutput instead.
  • Remove androidx.media3.extractor.DummyExtractorOutput. Use androidx.media3.extractor.NoOpExtractorOutput instead.
  • Remove androidx.media3.common.C.generateAudioSessionIdV21. Use androidx.media3.common.util.Util.generateAudioSessionId instead.
• Build
  • Updated the README.md instructions for depending on Media3 locally to use Gradle Composite Builds (includeBuild). The core_settings.gradle script has been removed, and the androidxMediaModulePrefix and androidxMediaEnableMidiModule properties are no longer used.