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AVFoundation Custom Video Compositor Skipping Frames During AVPlayer Playback Despite 60 FPS Frame Duration
I'm building a Swift video editor with AVFoundation and a custom compositor. Despite setting AVVideoComposition.frameDuration to 60 FPS, I'm seeing significant frame skipping during playback. Console Output Shows Frame Skipping Frame #0 at 0.0 ms (fps: 60.0) Frame #2 at 33.333333333333336 ms (fps: 60.0) Frame #6 at 100.0 ms (fps: 60.0) Frame #10 at 166.66666666666666 ms (fps: 60.0) Frame #32 at 533.3333333333334 ms (fps: 60.0) Frame #62 at 1033.3333333333335 ms (fps: 60.0) Frame #96 at 1600.0 ms (fps: 60.0) Instead of frames every ~16.67ms (60 FPS), I'm getting irregular intervals, sometimes 33ms, 67ms, or hundreds of milliseconds apart. Renderer.swift (Key Parts) @MainActor class Renderer: ObservableObject { @Published var playerItem: AVPlayerItem? private let assetManager: ProjectAssetManager? private let compositorId: String func buildComposition() async { // ... load mouse moves/clicks data ... let composition = AVMutableComposition() let videoTrack = composition.addMutableTrack( withMediaType: .video, preferredTrackID: kCMPersistentTrackID_Invalid ) var currentTime = CMTime.zero var layerInstructions: [AVMutableVideoCompositionLayerInstruction] = [] // Insert video segments for videoURL in videoURLs { let asset = AVAsset(url: videoURL) let tracks = try await asset.loadTracks(withMediaType: .video) let assetVideoTrack = tracks.first let duration = try await asset.load(.duration) try videoTrack.insertTimeRange( CMTimeRange(start: .zero, duration: duration), of: assetVideoTrack, at: currentTime ) let layerInstruction = AVMutableVideoCompositionLayerInstruction(assetTrack: videoTrack) let transform = try await assetVideoTrack.load(.preferredTransform) layerInstruction.setTransform(transform, at: currentTime) layerInstructions.append(layerInstruction) currentTime = CMTimeAdd(currentTime, duration) } let videoComposition = AVMutableVideoComposition() videoComposition.frameDuration = CMTime(value: 1, timescale: 60) // 60 FPS // Set render size from first video if let firstURL = videoURLs.first { let firstAsset = AVAsset(url: firstURL) let firstTrack = try await firstAsset.loadTracks(withMediaType: .video).first let naturalSize = try await firstTrack.load(.naturalSize) let transform = try await firstTrack.load(.preferredTransform) videoComposition.renderSize = CGSize( width: abs(naturalSize.applying(transform).width), height: abs(naturalSize.applying(transform).height) ) } let instruction = CompositorInstruction() instruction.timeRange = CMTimeRange(start: .zero, duration: currentTime) instruction.layerInstructions = layerInstructions instruction.compositorId = compositorId videoComposition.instructions = [instruction] videoComposition.customVideoCompositorClass = CustomVideoCompositor.self let playerItem = AVPlayerItem(asset: composition) playerItem.videoComposition = videoComposition self.playerItem = playerItem } } class CompositorInstruction: NSObject, AVVideoCompositionInstructionProtocol { var timeRange: CMTimeRange = .zero var enablePostProcessing: Bool = false var containsTweening: Bool = false var requiredSourceTrackIDs: [NSValue]? var passthroughTrackID: CMPersistentTrackID = kCMPersistentTrackID_Invalid var layerInstructions: [AVVideoCompositionLayerInstruction] = [] var compositorId: String = "" } class CustomVideoCompositor: NSObject, AVVideoCompositing { var sourcePixelBufferAttributes: [String : Any]? = [ kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as String: Int(kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA) ] var requiredPixelBufferAttributesForRenderContext: [String : Any] = [ kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as String: Int(kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA) ] func renderContextChanged(_ newRenderContext: AVVideoCompositionRenderContext) {} func startRequest(_ asyncVideoCompositionRequest: AVAsynchronousVideoCompositionRequest) { guard let sourceTrackID = asyncVideoCompositionRequest.sourceTrackIDs.first?.int32Value, let sourcePixelBuffer = asyncVideoCompositionRequest.sourceFrame(byTrackID: sourceTrackID), let outputBuffer = asyncVideoCompositionRequest.renderContext.newPixelBuffer() else { asyncVideoCompositionRequest.finish(with: NSError(domain: "VideoCompositor", code: -1)) return } let videoComposition = asyncVideoCompositionRequest.renderContext.videoComposition let frameDuration = videoComposition.frameDuration let fps = Double(frameDuration.timescale) / Double(frameDuration.value) let compositionTime = asyncVideoCompositionRequest.compositionTime let seconds = CMTimeGetSeconds(compositionTime) let frameInMilliseconds = seconds * 1000 let frameNumber = Int(round(seconds * fps)) print("Frame #\(frameNumber) at \(frameInMilliseconds) ms (fps: \(fps))") asyncVideoCompositionRequest.finish(withComposedVideoFrame: outputBuffer) } func cancelAllPendingVideoCompositionRequests() {} } VideoPlayerViewModel @MainActor class VideoPlayerViewModel: ObservableObject { let player = AVPlayer() private let renderer: Renderer func loadVideo() async { await renderer.buildComposition() if let playerItem = renderer.playerItem { player.replaceCurrentItem(with: playerItem) } } } What I've Tried Frame skipping is consistent—exact same timestamps on every playback Issue persists even with minimal processing (just passing through buffers) Occurs regardless of compositor complexity Please note that I need every frame at exact millisecond intervals for my application. Frame loss or inconsistent frameInMillisecond values are not acceptable.
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277
Oct ’25
AVAssetExportSession ignores frameDuration 60fps and exports at 30fps, but AVPlayer playback is correct
Hey everyone, I'm stuck on a really frustrating AVFoundation problem. I'm building a video editor that uses a custom AVVideoCompositor to add effects, and I need the final output to be 60 FPS. So basically, I create an AVMutableComposition to sequence my video clips. I create an AVMutableVideoComposition and set the frame rate to 60 FPS: videoComposition.frameDuration = CMTime(value: 1, timescale: 60) I assign my CustomVideoCompositor class to the videoComposition. I create an AVPlayerItem with the composition and video composition. The Problem: Playback Works: When I play the AVPlayerItem in an AVPlayer, it's perfect. It plays at a smooth 60 FPS, and my custom compositor's startRequest method is called 60 times per second. Export Fails: When I try to export the exact same composition and video composition using AVAssetExportSession, the final .mp4 file is always 30 FPS (or 29.97). I've logged inside my custom compositor during the export, and it's definitely being called 30 times per second, so it's generating the 30 frames. It seems like AVAssetExportSession is just dropping every other frame when it encodes the video. My source videos are screen recordings which I recorded using ScreenCaptureKit itself with the minimum frame interval to be 60. Here is my export function. I'm using the AVAssetExportPresetHighestQuality preset :- func exportVideo(to outputURL: URL) async throws { guard let composition = composition, let videoComposition = videoComposition else { throw VideoCompositionError.noValidVideos } try? FileManager.default.removeItem(at: outputURL) guard let exportSession = AVAssetExportSession( asset: composition, presetName: AVAssetExportPresetHighestQuality // Is this the problem? ) else { throw VideoCompositionError.trackCreationFailed } exportSession.outputFileType = .mp4 exportSession.videoComposition = videoComposition // This has the 60fps setting try await exportSession.export(to: outputURL, as: .mp4) } I've created a bare bones sample project that shows this exact bug in action. The resulting video is 60fps during playback, but only 30fps during the export. https://github.com/zaidbren/SimpleEditor My Question: Why is AVAssetExportSession ignoring my 60 FPS frameDuration and defaulting to 30 FPS, even though AVPlayer respects it?
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343
Oct ’25
PhotosPickerItem.itemIdentifier always nil
I'm using the SwiftUI Photos Picker to select videos from the users Photos library and then opening the video using the PhotosPickerItem. I'm looking for a way to allow the user to open the same video on their other devices as the app uses SwiftData and CloudKit to provide access to a recently watched list of videos. The URL from the PhotosPickerItem appears to be device specific and so I was looking to see if I can use the itemIdentifier and then the init that takes the itemIdentifier to create the PhotosPickerItem on the other devices. The itemIdentifier however is always nil and so wouldn't be able to be used in this way. Is there an alternative approach whereby the users can open a video using a PhotosPickerItem and that item would be viewable on their other devices with an item identifier or a URL that is device agnostic. This approach should also not involve copying the video into other storage as it would simply expand the use of the users iCloud storage, providing a less than ideal user experience. If the user has opened the video from their Photos library, there should be a way to allow the same user (e.g. same Apple ID), to use the same app on another device to open the video again.
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253
2w
AVCaptureSession setting preset has no effect if HDR configured with AVCaptureVideoDataOutput
I want to confirm if this is a bug or a programming error. Very easy to reproduce it by modifying AVCam sample code. Steps to reproduce: Add AVCaptureVideoDataOutput to AVCaptureSession, no need to set delegate in AVCam sample code (CaptureService actor) private let videoDataOutput = AVCaptureVideoDataOutput() and then in configureSession method, add the following line try addOutput(videoDataOutput) if videoDataOutput.availableVideoPixelFormatTypes.contains(kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr8BiPlanarFullRange) { videoDataOutput.videoSettings = [kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as AnyHashable as! String : kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr8BiPlanarFullRange] } And next modify set HDR method: /// Sets whether the app captures HDR video. func setHDRVideoEnabled(_ isEnabled: Bool) { // Bracket the following configuration in a begin/commit configuration pair. captureSession.beginConfiguration() defer { captureSession.commitConfiguration() } do { // If the current device provides a 10-bit HDR format, enable it for use. if isEnabled, let format = currentDevice.activeFormat10BitVariant { try currentDevice.lockForConfiguration() currentDevice.activeFormat = format currentDevice.unlockForConfiguration() isHDRVideoEnabled = true if videoDataOutput.availableVideoPixelFormatTypes.contains(kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr10BiPlanarVideoRange) { videoDataOutput.videoSettings = [kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as AnyHashable as! String : kCVPixelFormatType_420YpCbCr10BiPlanarVideoRange] } } else { captureSession.sessionPreset = .high isHDRVideoEnabled = false if videoDataOutput.availableVideoPixelFormatTypes.contains(kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA) { print("Setting sdr pixel format \(kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA)") videoDataOutput.videoSettings = [kCVPixelBufferPixelFormatTypeKey as AnyHashable as! String : kCVPixelFormatType_32BGRA] } try currentDevice.lockForConfiguration() currentDevice.activeColorSpace = .sRGB currentDevice.unlockForConfiguration() } } catch { logger.error("Unable to obtain lock on device and can't enable HDR video capture.") } The problem now is toggling HDR on and off no longer works in video mode. If after setting HDR on, you set HDR to off, active format of device does not change (setting sessionPreset has no effect). This does not happen if video data output is not added to session. Is there any workaround available?
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147
1w
Capturing multiple screens no longer works with macOS Sequoia
Capturing more than one display is no longer working with macOS Sequoia. We have a product that allows users to capture up to 2 displays/screens. Our application is using gstreamer which in turn is based on AVFoundation. I found a quick way to replicate the issue by just running 2 captures from separate terminals. Assuming display 1 has device index 0, and display 2 has device index 1, here are the steps: install gstreamer with brew install gstreamer Then open 2 terminal windows and launch the following processes: terminal 1 (device-index:0): gst-launch-1.0 avfvideosrc -e device-index=0 capture-screen=true ! queue ! videoscale ! video/x-raw,width=640,height=360 ! videoconvert ! osxvideosink terminal 2 (device-index:1): gst-launch-1.0 avfvideosrc -e device-index=1 capture-screen=true ! queue ! videoscale ! video/x-raw,width=640,height=360 ! videoconvert ! osxvideosink The first process that is launched will show the screen, the second process launched will not. Testing this on macOS Ventura and Sonoma works as expected, showing both screens. I submitted the same issue on Feedback Assistant: FB15900976
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355
Apr ’25
Video freezing with FairPlay streaming on iOS 18
Since iOS/iPadOs/tvOS 18 then we have run into a new problem with streaming of FairPlay encrypted video. On the affected streams then the audio plays perfectly but the video freezes for periods of a few seconds, so it will freeze for 5s or so, then be OK for a few seconds then freeze again. It is entirely reproducible when all the following are true the video streams were produced by a particular encoder (or particular settings, not sure on that) the video must be encrypted device is running some variety of iOS 18 (or iPadOS or tvOS) the device is an affected device Known devices are AppleTV 4K 2nd Gen iPad Pro 11" 1st and 2nd gen Devices known not to show the problem are all other AppleTV models iPhone 13 Pro and 16 Pro If we stream the same content, but unencrypted, then it plays perfectly, or if you play the encrypted stream on, say, tvOS 17. When the freezing occurs then we can see in the console logs repeating blocks of lines like the following default 18:08:46.578582+0000 videocodecd AppleAVD: AppleAVDDecodeFrameResponse(): Frame# 5771 DecodeFrame failed with error 0x0000013c default 18:08:46.578756+0000 videocodecd AppleAVD: AppleAVDDecodeFrameInternal(): failed - error: 316 default 18:08:46.579018+0000 videocodecd AppleAVD: AppleAVDDecodeFrameInternal(): avdDec - Frame# 5771, DecodeFrame failed with error: 0x13c default 18:08:46.579169+0000 videocodecd AppleAVD: AppleAVDDisplayCallback(): Asking fig to drop frame # 5771 with err -12909 - internalStatus: 315 also more relevant looking lines: default 18:17:39.122019+0000 kernel AppleAVD: avdOutbox0ISR(): FRM DONE (cid: 2.0, fno: 10970, codecT: 1) FAILED!! default 18:17:39.122155+0000 videocodecd AppleAVD: AppleAVDDisplayCallback(): Asking fig to drop frame # 10970 with err -12909 - internalStatus: 315 default 18:17:39.122221+0000 kernel AppleAVD: ## client[ 2.0] @ frm 10970, errStatus: 0x10 default 18:17:39.122338+0000 kernel AppleAVD: decodeFailIdentify(): VP error bit 4 has EP3B0 error default 18:17:39.122401+0000 kernel AppleAVD: processHWResponse(): clientID 2.0 frameNumber 10970 error 315, offsetIndex 10, isHwErr 1 So it would seem to me that one of the following must be happening: When these particular HLS files are encrypted then the data is being corrupted in some way that played back on iOS 17 and earlier but now won't on 18+, or There's a regression in iOS 18 that means that this particular format of video data is corrupted on decryption If anyone has seen similar behaviour, or has any ideas how to identify which of the two scenarios it is, please say. Unfortunately we don't have control of the servers so can't make changes there unless we can identify they are definitely the cause of the problem. Thanks, Simon.
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703
Sep ’25
AVPlayer fail
when I played a local video(I downloaded it to the sandbox),KVO the AVPlayerItem status is AVPlayerItemStatusFailed and error is Error Domain=AVFoundationErrorDomain Code=-11800 "这项操作无法完成" UserInfo={NSLocalizedFailureReason=发生未知错误(24), NSLocalizedDescription=这项操作无法完成, NSUnderlyingError=0x3004137e0 {Error Domain=NSPOSIXErrorDomain Code=24 "Too many open files"}} why?
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366
Dec ’24
AVPlayer takes too much memory when playing AVComposition with multiple videos
I am creating an AVComposition and using it with an AVPlayer. The player works fine and doesn't consume much memory when I do not set playerItem.videoComposition. Here is the code that works without excessive memory usage: func configurePlayer(composition: AVMutableComposition, videoComposition: AVVideoComposition) { player.pause() player.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil) let playerItem = AVPlayerItem(asset: composition) player.play() } However, when I add playerItem.videoComposition = videoComposition, as in the code below, the memory usage becomes excessive: func configurePlayer(composition: AVMutableComposition, videoComposition: AVVideoComposition) { player.pause() player.replaceCurrentItem(with: nil) let playerItem = AVPlayerItem(asset: composition) playerItem.videoComposition = videoComposition player.play() } Issue Details: The memory usage seems to depend on the number of video tracks in the composition, rather than their duration. For instance, two videos of 30 minutes each consume less memory than 40 videos of just 2 seconds each. The excessive memory usage is showing up in the Other Processes section of Xcode's debug panel. For reference, 42 videos, each less than 30 seconds, are using around 1.4 GB of memory. I'm struggling to understand why adding videoComposition causes such high memory consumption, especially since it happens even when no layer instructions are applied. Any insights on how to address this would be greatly appreciated. Before After I initially thought the problem might be due to having too many layer instructions in the video composition, but this doesn't seem to be the case. Even when I set a videoComposition without any layer instructions, the memory consumption remains high.
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564
Dec ’24
slow decoding of animated AVIF images
Safari is supposed to support animated AVIF images since version 16, but the ones I've tested perform very poorly, even on an M4 Mac Mini running Sequoia 15.1.1. I believe Safari delegates decoding to the operating system itself, so this issue also happens in Live Preview in the finder, when I try to preview a file. Sample file here: https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/cdn.paintera.org/test/sample.avif 322KB file, 5 seconds long, 12fps This plays perfectly on Chrome on Mac OS, but is slow and laggy on Safari and Live Preview (it takes about 6.5 seconds to finish the 5 second video). Does anyone know how to fix this or workaround this issue?
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546
Jan ’25
AVPlayerItem step(byCount:) callback or notification
Hello there, I need to move through video loaded in an AVPlayer one frame at a time back or forth. For that I tried to use AVPlayerItem's method step(byCount:) and it works just fine. However I need to know when stepping happened and as far as I observed it is not immediate using the method. If I check the currentTime() just after calling the method it's the same and if I do it slightly later (depending of the video itself) it shows the correct "jumped" time. To achieve my goal I tried subclassing AVPlayerItem and implement my own async method utilizing NotificationCenter and the timeJumpedNotification assuming it would deliver it as the time actually jumps but it's not the case. Here is my "stripped" and simplified version of the custom Player Item: import AVFoundation final class PlayerItem: AVPlayerItem { private var jumpCompletion: ( (CMTime) -> () )? override init(asset: AVAsset, automaticallyLoadedAssetKeys: [String]?) { super .init(asset: asset, automaticallyLoadedAssetKeys: automaticallyLoadedAssetKeys) NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(self, selector: #selector(timeDidChange(_:)), name: AVPlayerItem.timeJumpedNotification, object: self) } deinit { NotificationCenter.default.removeObserver(self, name: AVPlayerItem.timeJumpedNotification, object: self) jumpCompletion = nil } @discardableResult func step(by count: Int) async -> CMTime { await withCheckedContinuation { continuation in step(by: count) { time in continuation.resume(returning: time) } } } func step(by count: Int, completion: @escaping ( (CMTime) -> () )) { guard jumpCompletion == nil else { completion(currentTime()) return } jumpCompletion = completion step(byCount: count) } @objc private func timeDidChange(_ notification: Notification) { switch notification.name { case AVPlayerItem.timeJumpedNotification where notification.object as? AVPlayerItem [==](https://www.example.com/) self: jumpCompletion?(currentTime()) jumpCompletion = nil default: return } } } In short the notification never gets called thus the above is not working. I guess the key there is that in the docs about the timeJumpedNotification: is said: "A notification the system posts when a player item’s time changes discontinuously." so the step(byCount:) is not considered as discontinuous operation and doesn't trigger it. I'd be really helpful if somebody can help as I don't want to use seek(to:toleranceBefore:toleranceAfter:) mainly cause it's not accurate in terms of the exact next/previous frame as the video might have VFR and that causes repeating frames sometimes or even skipping one or another. Thanks a lot
2
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630
Jan ’25
Encoder Performance Unable to Achieve 4k 120fps on iPhone 16 Pro
Hello, I am trying to get the new iPhone 16 pro to achieve 4k 120fps encoding when we are getting the video feed from the default, wide angle camera on the back. We are using the apple API to capture the individual frames from the camera as they are processed and we get them in this callback: // this is the main callback function to handle video frames captured func captureOutput(_ output: AVCaptureOutput, didOutput sampleBuffer: CMSampleBuffer, from connection: AVCaptureConnection) { We are then taking these frames as they come in and encoding them using VideoToolBox. After they are encoded, they are added to a ring buffer so we can access them after they have been encoded. The problem is that when we are encoding these frames on an iPhone 16 Pro, we are only reaching 80-90fps instead of 120fps. We have removed as much processing as we can. We get some small attributes about the frame when it comes in, encode the frame, and then add it to our ring buffer. I have attached a sample project that is broken down as much as possible to the basic task of encoding 4k 120fps footage. Inside the sample app, there is an fps and pps display showing how many frames we are encoding per second. FPS represents how many frames we are coming in per second from the camera, and PPS represents how many frames we are processing (encoding) per second. Link to sample project: https://github.com/jake-fishtech/EncoderPerformance Thanks you for any help or suggestions.
2
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574
Jan ’25
H.265 Decoding with VideoToolBox
I am creating an app that decodes H.265 elementary streams on iOS. I use VideoToolBox to decode from H.265 to NV12. The decoded data is enqueued in the CMSampleBufferDisplayLayer as a CMSampleBuffer. However, nothing is displayed in the VideoPlayerView. It remains black. The decoding in VideoToolBox is successful. I confirmed this by saving the NV12 data in the CMSampleBuffer to a file and displaying it using a tool. Why is nothing displayed in the VideoPlayerView? I can provide other source code as well. // // ContentView.swift // H265Decoder // // Created by Kohshin Tokunaga on 2025/02/15. // import SwiftUI struct ContentView: View { var body: some View { VStack { Text("H.265 Player (temp.h265)") .font(.headline) VideoPlayerView() .frame(width: 360, height: 640) // Adjust or make it responsive for iOS } .padding() } } #Preview { ContentView() } // // VideoPlayerView.swift // H265Decoder // // Created by Kohshin Tokunaga on 2025/02/15. // import SwiftUI import AVFoundation struct VideoPlayerView: UIViewRepresentable { // Return an H265Player as the coordinator, and start playback there. func makeCoordinator() -> H265Player { H265Player() } func makeUIView(context: Context) -> UIView { let uiView = UIView(frame: .zero) // Base layer for attaching sublayers uiView.backgroundColor = .black // Screen background color (for iOS) // Create the display layer and add it to uiView.layer let displayLayer = context.coordinator.displayLayer displayLayer.frame = uiView.bounds displayLayer.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear.cgColor uiView.layer.addSublayer(displayLayer) // Start playback context.coordinator.startPlayback() return uiView } func updateUIView(_ uiView: UIView, context: Context) { // Reset the frame of the AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer when the view's size changes. let displayLayer = context.coordinator.displayLayer displayLayer.frame = uiView.layer.bounds // Optionally update the layer's background color, etc. uiView.backgroundColor = .black displayLayer.backgroundColor = UIColor.clear.cgColor // Flush transactions if necessary CATransaction.flush() } } // // H265Player.swift // H265Decoder // // Created by Kohshin Tokunaga on 2025/02/15. // import Foundation import AVFoundation import CoreMedia class H265Player: NSObject, VideoDecoderDelegate { let displayLayer = AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer() private var decoder: H265Decoder? override init() { super.init() // Initial configuration for the display layer displayLayer.videoGravity = .resizeAspect // Initialize the decoder (delegate = self) decoder = H265Decoder(delegate: self) // For simple playback, set isBaseline to true decoder?.isBaseline = true } func startPlayback() { // Load the file "cars_320x240.h265" guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "temp2", withExtension: "h265") else { print("File not found") return } do { let data = try Data(contentsOf: url) // Set FPS and video size as needed let packet = VideoPacket(data: data, type: .h265, fps: 30, videoSize: CGSize(width: 1080, height: 1920)) // Decode as a single packet decoder?.decodeOnePacket(packet) } catch { print("Failed to load file: \(error)") } } // MARK: - VideoDecoderDelegate func decodeOutput(video: CMSampleBuffer) { // When decoding is complete, send the output to AVSampleBufferDisplayLayer displayLayer.enqueue(video) } func decodeOutput(error: DecodeError) { print("Decoding error: \(error)") } }
2
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596
May ’25
AVPlayerViewController crashes
I have a crash related to playing video in AVPlayerViewController and AVQueuePlayer. I download the video locally from the network and then initialize it using AVAsset and AVPlayerItem. Can't reproduce locally, but crashes occur from firebase crashlytics only for users starting with iOS 18.4.0 with this trace: Crashed: com.apple.avkit.playerControllerBackgroundQueue 0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x1458 objc_retain + 16 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x1458 objc_retain_x0 + 16 2 AVKit 0x12afdc __77-[AVPlayerController currentEnabledAssetTrackForMediaType:completionHandler:]_block_invoke + 108 3 libdispatch.dylib 0x1aac _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 32 4 libdispatch.dylib 0x1b584 _dispatch_client_callout + 16 5 libdispatch.dylib 0x6560 _dispatch_continuation_pop + 596 6 libdispatch.dylib 0x5bd4 _dispatch_async_redirect_invoke + 580 7 libdispatch.dylib 0x13db0 _dispatch_root_queue_drain + 364 8 libdispatch.dylib 0x1454c _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 156 9 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x4624 _pthread_wqthread + 232 10 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x19f8 start_wqthread + 8
2
3
178
May ’25
FxPlug SDK 4.3.2 causes dyld errors when loaded on versions of macOS prior to 14.6
FxPlug is one of Apple’s official SDKs, recently updated to version 4.3.2. In theory the SDK should guarantee third-parties can build plug-ins that are backward compatible with older versions of Final Cut Pro, Motion and Compressor. FxPlug SDK includes two frameworks that third-party developers like me end up bundling inside our third-party plugins: FxPlug.framework and PlugInManager.framework. Behind the scenes, the SDK relies on PlugInKit, but the FxPlug.framework provides abstractions so that third-parties don't have to handle the intricacies of XPC directly. The most recent version of FxPlug.framework included with the SDK was possibly built with an error: the Info.plist shows a LSMinimumSystemVersion entry of 14.6, suggesting the binary may have been compiled and linked with MACOSX_DEPLOYMENT_TARGET set to 14.6 by accident. The problem: when older versions of Final Cut Pro or Motion load a third-party plugin (itself built with the appropriate deployment target, macOS 11 or 12, for example) on pre-macOS 14.6, the dynamic linker immediately loads Apple’s own FxPlug.framework, but this causes the process to crash immediately: Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread 0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x7ff81e065955 map_images_nolock + 5399 1 libobjc.A.dylib 0x7ff81e0643d6 map_images + 67 2 dyld 0x10bd551fb invocation function for block in dyld4::RuntimeState::setObjCNotifiers(void (*)(unsigned int, char const* const*, mach_header const* const*), void (*)(char const*, mach_header const*), void (*)(char const*, mach_header const*)) + 275 3 dyld 0x10bd506c9 dyld4::RuntimeState::withLoadersReadLock(void () block_pointer) + 41 4 dyld 0x10bd550e2 dyld4::RuntimeState::setObjCNotifiers(void (*)(unsigned int, char const* const*, mach_header const* const*), void (*)(char const*, mach_header const*), void (*)(char const*, mach_header const*)) + 82 5 dyld 0x10bd68d45 dyld4::APIs::_dyld_objc_notify_register(void (*)(unsigned int, char const* const*, mach_header const* const*), void (*)(char const*, mach_header const*), void (*)(char const*, mach_header const*)) + 79 6 libobjc.A.dylib 0x7ff81e064244 _objc_init + 1279 7 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff81e01d993 _os_object_init + 13 8 libdispatch.dylib 0x7ff81e02b1b8 libdispatch_init + 311 9 libSystem.B.dylib 0x7ff828fd585f libSystem_initializer + 238 10 dyld 0x10bd5ae4f invocation function for block in dyld4::Loader::findAndRunAllInitializers(dyld4::RuntimeState&) const + 182 11 dyld 0x10bd81aad invocation function for block in dyld3::MachOAnalyzer::forEachInitializer(Diagnostics&, dyld3::MachOAnalyzer::VMAddrConverter const&, void (unsigned int) block_pointer, void const*) const + 242 12 dyld 0x10bd78e26 invocation function for block in dyld3::MachOFile::forEachSection(void (dyld3::MachOFile::SectionInfo const&, bool, bool&) block_pointer) const + 557 13 dyld 0x10bd47db3 dyld3::MachOFile::forEachLoadCommand(Diagnostics&, void (load_command const*, bool&) block_pointer) const + 129 14 dyld 0x10bd78bb7 dyld3::MachOFile::forEachSection(void (dyld3::MachOFile::SectionInfo const&, bool, bool&) block_pointer) const + 179 15 dyld 0x10bd81604 dyld3::MachOAnalyzer::forEachInitializer(Diagnostics&, dyld3::MachOAnalyzer::VMAddrConverter const&, void (unsigned int) block_pointer, void const*) const + 466 16 dyld 0x10bd5ad82 dyld4::Loader::findAndRunAllInitializers(dyld4::RuntimeState&) const + 144 17 dyld 0x10bd6165a dyld4::PrebuiltLoader::runInitializers(dyld4::RuntimeState&) const + 30 18 dyld 0x10bd6e76e dyld4::APIs::runAllInitializersForMain() + 38 19 dyld 0x10bd4c38d dyld4::prepare(dyld4::APIs&, dyld3::MachOAnalyzer const*) + 3443 20 dyld 0x10bd4b4e4 start + 388 Can someone at Apple with the right domain expertise confirm that this is the type of crash you would see because the framework was built assuming it would run on macOS 14.6 and later, and when facing an older environment (e.g. ObjC runtime) it lacks extra code that would ensure backward compatibility with the earlier ObjC runtime found on macOS 12.x?
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113
Jun ’25
Importing pictures with non-QT metadata
Movies taken with Android phones store their location metadata (and probably others) in ways that are ignored by Apple's ecosystem (QuickTime Player, Photos.app). I am considering creating a Spotlight importer so that this metadata is available to the sytem. But I have a couple of questions: Can a Spotlight importer add new data (like location) to the data that the standard importer already captured? Or would the new importer need to take over the whole data gathering? If so, would macOS allow that? Would that Spotlight importer be somehow used by e.g. Photos.app and QT Player to capture the location? Or would this end up in Spotlight "knowing" the location but Photos.app ignoring it? If so, maybe there is something more broadly useful than a Spotlight importer?
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72
May ’25
AVPlayer freezes after ReplaceCurrentItemWithPlayerItem + immediate seek on iOS 18.4 (streaming only)
Starting in iOS 18.4, (and still in the iOS 18.5 beta), the AVPlayer seems to freeze when we: Replace the current AVPlayerItem, ReplaceCurrentItemWithPlayerItem and then: Call Seek very shortly afterwards (seekToTime:toleranceBefore:toleranceAfter: / seek(to:)) And then subsequent calls to play after have no effect. However, it feels scrubbing to see after works and also changing the playback rate (i.e. fast forward) tends to clear up the frozen state. Our primary workflow involves video playback, replacing video to show new clips and in some cases seeking to specific frames. This appears to only be occurring while streaming video, reports are all that local downloaded video playback remains fine. This same code path has worked without issue on 17.x and 18.3.2 and for years before that. What is particularly strange is that time observers log that video is still playing or feeding frames. The reported status is ReadyToPlay, IsLikelyToKeepUp is true, and there are no indications of stalling or buffering. A similar issue is true for our web application in Safari. While on Sonoma and Safari 17.x, there is no issue. When you update to macOS Sequoia 15.4.1 and Safari 18.4, you begin observing a similar freezing. The same does not occur on Chrome or other tested browsers. There appears to be in the release notes for Safari 18.4, an interesting "fix" note that seems similar to what we are now experiencing: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/safari-release-notes/safari-18_4-release-notes "Fixed an issue where playback doesn’t always resume after a seek. (140097993)" "Fixed playing video generating non-monotonic ‘timeupdate’ events. (142275184) (FB16222910)" "Fixed websites calling play() during a seek() is allowed by the specification so that the play event is fired even if the seek hasn’t completed. (142517488)" "Fixed seek not completing for WebM under some circumstances. (143372794)" "Fixed MediaRecorderPrivateEncoder writing frames out of order. (143956063)"
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161
May ’25
How to disable automatic updates to MPNowPlayingInfoCenter from AVPlayer
I’m building a SwiftUI app whose primary job is to play audio. I manage all of the Now-Playing metadata and Command center manually via the available shared instances: MPRemoteCommandCenter.shared() MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo In certain parts of the app I also need to display videos, but as soon as I attach another AVPlayer, it automatically pushes its own metadata into the Control Center and overwrites my audio info. What I need: a way to show video inline without ever having that video player update the system’s Now-Playing info (or Control Center). In my app, I start by configuring the shared audio session do { try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(.playback, mode: .default, options: [ .allowAirPlay, .allowBluetoothA2DP ]) try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true) } catch { NSLog("%@", "**** Failed to set up AVAudioSession \(error.localizedDescription)") } and then set the MPRemoteCommandCenter commands and MPNowPlayingInfoCenter nowPlayingInfo like mentioned above. All this works without any issues as long as I only have one AVPlayer in my app. But when I add other AVPlayers to display some videos (and keep the main AVPlayer for the sound) they push undesired updates to MPNowPlayingInfoCenter: struct VideoCardView: View { @State private var player: AVPlayer let videoName: String init(player: AVPlayer = AVPlayer(), videoName: String) { self.player = player self.videoName = videoName guard let path = Bundle.main.path(forResource: videoName, ofType: nil) else { return } let url = URL(fileURLWithPath: path) let item = AVPlayerItem(url: url) self.player.replaceCurrentItem(with: item) } var body: some View { VideoPlayer(player: player) .aspectRatio(contentMode: .fill) .onAppear { player.isMuted = true player.allowsExternalPlayback = false player.actionAtItemEnd = .none player.play() MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = nil MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().playbackState = .stopped NotificationCenter.default.addObserver(forName: .AVPlayerItemDidPlayToEndTime, object: player.currentItem, queue: .main) { notification in guard let finishedItem = notification.object as? AVPlayerItem, finishedItem === player.currentItem else { return } player.seek(to: .zero) player.play() } } .onDisappear { player.pause() } } } Which is why I tried adding: MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().nowPlayingInfo = nil MPNowPlayingInfoCenter.default().playbackState = .stopped // or .interrupted, .unknown But that didn't work. I also tried making a wrapper around the AVPlayerViewController in order to set updatesNowPlayingInfoCenter to false, but that didn’t work either: struct CustomAVPlayerView: UIViewControllerRepresentable { let player: AVPlayer func makeUIViewController(context: Context) -> AVPlayerViewController { let vc = AVPlayerViewController() vc.player = player vc.updatesNowPlayingInfoCenter = false vc.showsPlaybackControls = false return vc } func updateUIViewController(_ controller: AVPlayerViewController, context: Context) { controller.player = player } } Hence any help on how to embed video in SwiftUI without its AVPlayer touching MPNowPlayingInfoCenter would be greatly appreciated. All this was tested on an actual device with iOS 18.4.1, and built with Xcode 16.2 on macOS 15.5
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181
Jun ’25
Live HLS Stream Not Playing After Window Resize in Vision Pro
Hi everyone, I'm developing a visionOS app for Apple Vision Pro, and I've encountered an issue related to window resizing at runtime when using AVPlayer to play a live HLS stream. ✅ What I'm Trying to Do Play a live HLS stream (from Wowza) inside my app using AVPlayer. Support resizing the immersive window using Vision Pro’s built-in runtime scaling gesture. Stream works fine at default window size when the app launches. ❌ Problem If I resize the app’s window at runtime (using the Vision Pro pinch-drag gesture), then try to start the stream, it does not play. Instead, it just shows the "Loading live stream..." state and never proceeds to playback. This issue only occurs after resizing the window — if I don’t resize, the stream works perfectly every time. 🧪 What I’ve Tried Verified the HLS URL — it’s working and plays fine in Safari and in the app before resizing. Set .automaticallyWaitsToMinimizeStalling = false on AVPlayer. Observed that .status on AVPlayerItem never reaches .readyToPlay after resizing. Tried to force window size back using UIWindowScene.requestGeometryUpdate(...), but behavior persists.
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214
Jul ’25