Accessing URL from AVPlayer object?

Question

Is there a way to access the URL from an AVPlayer object that has been initialized with a URL, as in:

NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString: @"http://www.example.org/audio"];
self.player = [AVPlayer playerWithURL: url];

The `AVPlayer` [docs](https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/AVFoundation/Reference/AVPlayer_Class/Reference/Reference.html) don't appear to give a way to grab the URL. You can try to see if it responds to `valueForKey:` with various permutations of `@"URL"`, but I doubt it will be exposed. — coneybeare, Dec 26 '12 at 03:46

NJones · Accepted Answer · 2017-04-17T17:36:13.707

102

An AVPlayer plays an AVPlayerItem. AVPlayerItems are backed by objects of the class AVAsset. When you use the playerWithURL: method of AVPlayer it automatically creates the AVPlayerItem backed by an asset that is a subclass of AVAsset named AVURLAsset. AVURLAsset has a URL property.

So, yes, in the case you provided you can get the NSURL of the currently playing item fairly easily. Here's an example function of how to do this:

-(NSURL *)urlOfCurrentlyPlayingInPlayer:(AVPlayer *)player{
    // get current asset
    AVAsset *currentPlayerAsset = player.currentItem.asset;
    // make sure the current asset is an AVURLAsset
    if (![currentPlayerAsset isKindOfClass:AVURLAsset.class]) return nil;
    // return the NSURL
    return [(AVURLAsset *)currentPlayerAsset URL];
}

Not a swift expert, but it seems it can be done in swift more briefly.

func urlOfCurrentlyPlayingInPlayer(player : AVPlayer) -> URL? {
    return ((player.currentItem?.asset) as? AVURLAsset)?.url
}

edited Apr 17 '17 at 17:36

answered Dec 26 '12 at 05:08

NJones

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May want to check that `player.currentItem` is not `nil` also in the case of an empty init – jocull Jun 19 '13 at 16:17
2

@jocull You certainly could check for `nil` so as to not waste time sending messages to `nil`. But the beauty of objective-c is that this code is completely safe. In objective-c sending a message to `nil` doesn't crash and simply returns a 'nil` or `0` or `NO`(depending on return type, they're all the same anyway). So the only check required is the the if statement I included to make sure the asset is a url-asset because if it wasn't then it wouldn't respond to the `-URL` selector, and would crash. – NJones Sep 22 '13 at 15:22
I forget what was happening when I wrote this, but if `player.currentItem` is nil then trying to use `player.currentItem.asset` will crash. That's the only thing to really watch out for. – jocull Sep 22 '13 at 20:05

Sentry.co · Answer 2 · 2019-10-14T16:48:08.517

17

Oneliner swift 4.1

let url: URL? = (player?.currentItem?.asset as? AVURLAsset)?.url

edited Oct 14 '19 at 16:48

answered May 19 '18 at 19:41

Sentry.co

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score 13 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 14 '16 at 00:18

13

Solution for Swift 3

func getVideoUrl() -> URL? {
    let asset = self.player?.currentItem?.asset
    if asset == nil {
        return nil
    }
    if let urlAsset = asset as? AVURLAsset {
        return urlAsset.url
    }
    return nil
}

answered Dec 14 '16 at 00:18

Eric Conner

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score 5 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 07 '20 at 10:16

5

AVPlayerItem extension base on @eonist answer.

extension AVPlayerItem {
    var url: URL? {
        return (asset as? AVURLAsset)?.url
    }
}

answered Oct 07 '20 at 10:16

Vladyslav Shmatok

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2
10

Accessing URL from AVPlayer object?

4 Answers4

Oneliner swift 4.1

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