LibVLCSharp is a cross-platform audio and video API for .NET platforms based on VideoLAN's LibVLC Library. It provides a comprehensive multimedia API that can be used across mobile, server and desktop to render video and output audio. Mono, .NET Framework and .NET Core runtimes are supported.
This package contains the core features of LibVLCSharp (libvlc loading and initialization, .NET-friendly classes to ease the use of libvlc...). All other `LibVLCSharp.*` packages depend on this one.
Features:
- Play every media file formats, every codec and every streaming protocols
- Run on every platform, from desktop (Windows, Linux, Mac) to mobile (Android, iOS) and TVs
- Hardware and efficient decoding on every platform, up to 8K
- Network browsing for distant filesystems (SMB, FTP, SFTP, NFS...) and servers (UPnP, DLNA)
- Playback of Audio CD, DVD and Bluray with menu navigation
- Support for HDR, including tonemapping for SDR streams
- Audio passthrough with SPDIF and HDMI, including for Audio HD codecs, like DD+, TrueHD or DTS-HD
- Support for video and audio filters
- Support for 360 video and 3D audio playback, including Ambisonics
- Able to cast and stream to distant renderers, like Chromecast and UPnP renderers.
This package also contains the views for the following platforms:
- Android
- iOS
- Mac
- tvOS
- UWP
If you need Xamarin.Forms support, see LibVLCSharp.Forms.
LibVLC needs to be installed separately, see VideoLAN.LibVLC.* packages.
LibVLCSharp is a cross-platform audio and video API for .NET platforms based on VideoLAN's LibVLC Library.
It provides a comprehensive multimedia API that can be used across mobile, server and desktop to render video and output audio as well as encode and stream.
LibVLCSharp 4 preview and LibVLC 4 nightly builds are distributed using https://feedz.io/ for now. To pull pre-release versions into your project, use the following NuGet.config file:
When you encounter an issue with LibVLC/LibVLCSharp, identifying the cause is not always straightforward. This document gives you clues on how to go about it.
Here we list several interesting projects made by the community using LibVLCSharp. Feel free to send a PR to yours!
Ebook
In September 2022, the first book ever about LibVLC, the VideoLAN community and LibVLCSharp was released!
The Good Parts of LibVLC contains everything you need to know about VLC, LibVLC and how to use it from .NET with LibVLCSharp.
Samples
For more advanced samples, have a look at libvlcsharp-samples with apps such as:
Chromecast sample: Discover chromecasts on your local network and select one for playback in 100% shared code (Xamarin.Forms, iOS/Android).
Record HLS sample: Simple .NET Core CLI app which shows how to record an HLS stream to the filesystem.
RTSP Mosaic sample: Cross-platform RTSP player sample with 4 views mosaic (Xamarin.Forms, iOS/Android).
PulseMusic UX sample: A stylish music player UX example using Skia on iOS and Android.
Gestures sample: Cross-platform touch gestures and 360 videos on iOS and Android.
LocalNetwork sample: Cross-platform local network browsing and playback with network shares (SMB, UPnP) on Android, iOS and WPF.
MediaPlayerElement sample: Minimal iOS/Android sample showing how to get started with the crossplatform MediaPlayerElement control from LibVLCSharp.Forms.
SkiaSharp Preview Thumbnailer sample: .NET Core sample app showing how to use LibVLC 3 video callbacks and encode the frame with SkiaSharp before saving it to disk.
lvst: Watch a movie while it is downloading! lvst is a .NET Core CLI app using MonoTorrent and LibVLCSharp for macOS, Linux and Windows.
Feel free to suggest and contribute new samples.
Quick API overview
using var libvlc = new LibVLC(enableDebugLogs: true);
using var media = new Media(libvlc, new Uri(@"C:\tmp\big_buck_bunny.mp4"));
using var mediaplayer = new MediaPlayer(media);
mediaplayer.Play();
Console.ReadKey();
LibVLC.cs: Main object pointing to a native libvlc instance in native code.
MediaPlayer.cs: Manages playback, offers event listeners and more. Accessible from VideoView with data-binding support.
Media.cs: Class representing and providing information about a media such as a video or audio file or stream.
VideoView.cs: Custom native view which holds a MediaPlayer object.
MediaDiscoverer.cs: This object should be used to find media on NAS and any SMB/UPnP-enabled device on your local network.
RendererDiscoverer.cs: Use this to find and use a Chromecast or other distant renderers.
Dialog.cs: Dialogs can be raised from the libvlc engine in some cases. Register callbacks with this object.
The LibVLCSharp.Forms and Uno packages features a MediaPlayerElement control, similar to the ones provided by the .NET Framework on WPF and UWP. It currently supports iOS, Android and UWP (Uno only).
If you have a request or question regarding the roadmap, feel free to open an issue (using an issue template) or PR.
Versioning
As this is a libvlc binding, we try to follow the libvlc versioning scheme as much as possible. The versioning strategy is explained in the versioning document.
Release Notes
Check out the NEWS file for details about each release.
Contribute
Pull request
Pull requests are more than welcome! If you do submit one, please make sure to read the contributing guidelines first, and use our pull request template.
Gitlab issues
You can look through issues we currently have on the VideoLAN Gitlab. Please pick one of our GitLab issue templates so we can assist you better.
Note: the .NET4.0 LibVLCSharp build references a nuget package that may indicate its license as the .NET Library license but it's actually opensource under MIT.
