LightCompressor

LightCompressor can now be used in Flutter through light_compressor plugin.

A powerful and easy-to-use video compression library for android uses MediaCodec API. This library generates a compressed MP4 video with a modified width, height, and bitrate (the number of bits per seconds that determines the video and audio files’ size and quality). It is based on Telegram for Android source code.

The general idea of how the library works is that, extreme high bitrate is reduced while maintaining a good video quality resulting in a smaller size.

I would like to mention that the set attributes for size and quality worked just great in my projects and met the expectations. It may or may not meet yours. I’d appreciate your feedback so I can enhance the compression process.

LightCompressor is now available in iOS, have a look at LightCompressor_iOS.

What's new in 1.0.1

• Migrated to gradle version 7.0.4
• Increased the target SDK to 31

How it works

When the video file is called to be compressed, the library checks if the user wants to set a min bitrate to avoid compressing low resolution videos. This becomes handy if you don’t want the video to be compressed every time it is to be processed to avoid having very bad quality after multiple rounds of compression. The minimum is;

• Bitrate: 2mbps

You can pass one of a 5 video qualities; VERY_HIGH, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW, OR VERY_LOW and the library will handle generating the right bitrate value for the output video

return when (quality) {
    VideoQuality.VERY_LOW -> (bitrate * 0.1).roundToInt()
    VideoQuality.LOW -> (bitrate * 0.2).roundToInt()
    VideoQuality.MEDIUM -> (bitrate * 0.3).roundToInt()
    VideoQuality.HIGH -> (bitrate * 0.4).roundToInt()
    VideoQuality.VERY_HIGH -> (bitrate * 0.6).roundToInt()
}

when {
   width >= 1920 || height >= 1920 -> {
      newWidth = (((width * 0.5) / 16).roundToInt() * 16)
      newHeight = (((height * 0.5) / 16f).roundToInt() * 16)
   }
   width >= 1280 || height >= 1280 -> {
      newWidth = (((width * 0.75) / 16).roundToInt() * 16)
      newHeight = (((height * 0.75) / 16).roundToInt() * 16)
   }
   width >= 960 || height >= 960 -> {
      newWidth = (((width * 0.95) / 16).roundToInt() * 16)
      newHeight = (((height * 0.95) / 16).roundToInt() * 16)
   }
   else -> {
      newWidth = (((width * 0.9) / 16).roundToInt() * 16)
      newHeight = (((height * 0.9) / 16).roundToInt() * 16)
   }
}

You can as well pass custom frameRate and videoBitrate values if you don't want the library to auto-generate the values for you.

These values were tested on a huge set of videos and worked fine and fast with them. They might be changed based on the project needs and expectations.

Demo

Usage

To use this library, you must add the following permission to allow read and write to external storage. Refer to the sample app for a reference on how to start compression with the right setup.

API < 29

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"
android:maxSdkVersion="28"/>

API >= 29

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

And import the following dependencies to use kotlin coroutines

Groovy

implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core:${Version.coroutines}"
implementation "org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-android:${Version.coroutines}"

Then just call [VideoCompressor.start()] and pass both source and destination file paths.

NOTE: The source video can be provided as a string path or a content uri. If both [srcPath] and [srcUri] are provided, [srcUri] will be ignored. Passing [srcUri] requires [context].

NOTE: If you want an output video that is optimised to be streamed, ensure you pass [streamableFile] path that is different from the [destPath]. Note that both are needed - for now -.

The method has a callback for 5 functions;

1. OnStart - called when compression started
2. OnSuccess - called when compression completed with no errors/exceptions
3. OnFailure - called when an exception occurred or video bitrate and size are below the minimum required for compression.
4. OnProgress - called with progress new value
5. OnCancelled - called when the job is cancelled

Configuration values

• VideoQuality: VERY_HIGH (original-bitrate * 0.6) , HIGH (original-bitrate * 0.4), MEDIUM (original-bitrate * 0.3), LOW (original-bitrate * 0.2), OR VERY_LOW (original-bitrate * 0.1)

• isMinBitrateCheckEnabled: this means, don't compress if bitrate is less than 2mbps

• frameRate: any fps value

• videoBitrate: any custom bitrate value

• disableAudio: true/false to generate a video without audio. False by default.

To cancel the compression job, just call [VideoCompressor.cancel()]

Kotlin

VideoCompressor.start(
   context = applicationContext, // => This is required if srcUri is provided. If not, it can be ignored or null.
   srcUri = uri, // => Source can be provided as content uri, it requires context.
   srcPath = path, // => This could be ignored or null if srcUri and context are provided.
   destPath = desFile.path,
   streamableFile = streamableFile, /*String, ignore, or null*/
   listener = object : CompressionListener {
       override fun onProgress(percent: Float) {
          // Update UI with progress value
          runOnUiThread {
             // update a text view
             progress.text = "${percent.toLong()}%"
             // update a progress bar
             progressBar.progress = percent.toInt()
          }
       }

       override fun onStart() {
          // Compression start
       }

       override fun onSuccess() {
         // On Compression success
       }

       override fun onFailure(failureMessage: String) {
         // On Failure
       }

       override fun onCancelled() {
         // On Cancelled
       }

   },
   configureWith = Configuration(
      quality = VideoQuality.MEDIUM,
      frameRate = 24, /*Int, ignore, or null*/
      isMinBitrateCheckEnabled = true,
      videoBitrate = 3677198, /*Int, ignore, or null*/
      disableAudio = false, /*Boolean, or ignore*/
   )
)

Java

 VideoCompressor.start(
    applicationContext, // => This is required if srcUri is provided. If not, pass null.
    uri, // => Source can be provided as content uri, it requires context.
    path, // => This could be null if srcUri and context are provided.
    desFile.path,
    streamableFile.path, /*String, or null*/
    new CompressionListener() {
       @Override
       public void onStart() {
         // Compression start
       }

       @Override
       public void onSuccess() {
         // On Compression success
       }

       @Override
       public void onFailure(String failureMessage) {
         // On Failure
       }

       @Override
       public void onProgress(float v) {
         // Update UI with progress value
         runOnUiThread(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                progress.setText(progressPercent + "%");
                progressBar.setProgress((int) progressPercent);
           }
         });
       }

       @Override
       public void onCancelled() {
         // On Cancelled
       }
    }, new Configuration(
        VideoQuality.MEDIUM,
        24, /*frameRate: int, or null*/
        false,
        null, /*videoBitrate: int, or null*/
        false, /*disableAudio: Boolean, or true or false*/
    )
);

Common issues

• Sending the video to whatsapp when disableAudio = false, won't succeed [ at least for now ]. Whatsapp's own compression does not work with LightCompressor library. You can send the video as document.

• You cannot call Toast.makeText() and other functions dealing with the UI directly in onProgress() which is a worker thread. They need to be called from within the main thread. Have a look at the example code above for more information.

Reporting issues

To report an issue, please specify the following:

• Device name
• Android version
• If the bug/issue exists on the sample app (version 1.0.1) of the library that could be downloaded at this link.

Compatibility

Minimum Android SDK: LightCompressor requires a minimum API level of 21.

Performance

This method was tested on Pixel, Huawei, Xiaomi, Samsung and Nokia phones and more than 150 videos. Here’s some results from pixel 2 XL (medium quality);

• 94.3MB compressed to 9.2MB in 11 seconds
• 151.2MB compressed to 14.7MB in 18 seconds
• 65.7MB compressed to 6.4MB in 8 seconds

How to add to your project?

Gradle

Ensure Kotlin version is 1.6.0

Include this in your Project-level build.gradle file:

Groovy

allprojects {
    repositories {
        .
        .
        .
        maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
    }
}

Include this in your Module-level build.gradle file:

Groovy

implementation 'com.github.AbedElazizShe:LightCompressor:1.0.1'

Getting help

For questions, suggestions, or anything else, email elaziz.shehadeh(at)gmail.com

Credits

Telegram for Android.