Offline Playback

[defagos]

This release makes downloads and offline playback publicly available on iOS, and revisits URL-based and standard connector item creation to support them.

Note

Pillarbox now requires Xcode 27 (Swift 6.4). Downloads require iOS 17 or above and are not available on tvOS. Downloading FairPlay-protected content is not supported yet.

Improvements

• Added public support for downloads and offline playback with URLDownloader (URL-based content), StandardDownloader (Pillarbox standard metadata) and URNDownloader (SRG SSR content). Custom stores can be used with Downloader and AssetDownloadStore. See the new "Downloads and Offline Playback" article.
• Added DownloadConfiguration to choose the quality (preferredPeakBitRate, preferredMaximumResolution) and the audio and subtitle languages (DownloadMediaSelectionPreference) of downloaded content.
• Added Download.size to show how large a download is and how much of it has completed.
• Added support for downloading and playing AES-128 protected content offline.
• Made PlayerConfiguration, PlaybackConfiguration and PlayerLimits properties mutable.
• Made PlayerData properties public so they can be used in custom asset providers.
• Added AssetLoader.downloadableAssetPublisher(from:metadata:) to provide a different asset for downloading, if needed. A default implementation is provided.
• Requests for SRG SSR metadata now include platform information, so the resource best suited for Apple platforms is selected by the server.
• Added useful SRG SSR metadata response headers to events sent to Pillarbox monitoring (MetricsTracker.Metadata(metadataUrl:metadataHeaders:assetUrl:)).
• Added scrolling for long chapter titles in the Info panel on tvOS 26.
• Updated for Xcode, iOS and tvOS 27.

Fixes

• Fixed Player.resume(_:in:) when resuming an item other than the current one.
• Made Player.resume(_:in:) ignore invalid positions.
• Fixed a potential infinite recursion that could occur when a seek failed, most notably near the end of a stream.

Breaking Changes

• PlayerMetadata is now a type alias for AssetMetadata<EmptyCustomData>. AssetMetadata now exposes metadata fields (title, subtitle, imageSource, chapters, etc.) directly and no longer has a playerMetadata property. Create it with AssetMetadata(identifier:title:…:customData:).
• Moved EmptyCustomData from PillarboxStandardConnector to PillarboxPlayer. It is now Codable.
• Removed PlayerItem.init(asset:metadata:trackerAdapters:), PlayerItem.custom(url:delegate:metadata:trackerAdapters:configuration:) and PlayerItem.encrypted(url:delegate:metadata:trackerAdapters:configuration:), as well as the configuration parameter of PlayerItem.simple(url:metadata:trackerAdapters:). To create custom or encrypted items, or to provide a custom configuration, implement a URLAssetLoaderProvider and use PlayerItem.custom(assetProviderType:url:metadata:trackerAdapters:).
• Replaced PlayerItem.standard(request:type:decoder:trackerAdapters:assetProvider:) and PlayerItem.standard(request:decoder:trackerAdapters:assetProvider:) with PlayerItem.standard(assetProviderType:input:trackerAdapters:). Implement a StandardAssetLoaderProvider to supply the request, decoder and asset.
• Moved Source to PlayerData.Source.
• Removed MediaComposition.Chapter.recommendedResource and MediaComposition.StreamingMethod.supportedMethods. The server now returns resources suited for Apple platforms first.

Demo Improvements

• Added settings to choose the quality and the audio and subtitle languages of downloads.
• Moved URL-based downloads to the new URLDownloader API.
• Added AES-128 protected content examples.
• Added a sign language toggle example to the showcase.
• Displayed artwork for audio content on tvOS.
• Removed multi-window support.

Demo Fixes

• Fixed the TestFlight button frame on tvOS.
• Fixed or removed non-working examples.

What's Changed

• Bump json from 2.20.0 to 2.21.2 by @dependabot[bot] in Bump json from 2.20.0 to 2.21.2 #1562
• Remove FB22488151 from known issues by @defagos in Remove FB22488151 from known issues #1564
• Bump fastlane from 2.237.0 to 2.238.0 in the gems group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump fastlane from 2.237.0 to 2.238.0 in the gems group #1565
• Provide download file size information by @defagos in Provide download file size information #1563
• Update fixed known issues by @defagos in Update fixed known issues #1573
• Fix non-working examples by @defagos in Fix non-working examples #1569
• Replace image for HLS VOD by @waliid in Replace image for HLS VOD #1574
• Support quality and media selection choice for downloaded content by @defagos in Support quality and media selection choice for downloaded content #1566
• Fix download test stability by @defagos in Fix download test stability #1575
• Pin stale action to commit SHA by @defagos in Pin stale action to commit SHA #1576
• Send useful headers in monitoring events by @defagos in Send useful headers in monitoring events #1571
• Bump mikepenz/action-junit-report from 6.4.2 to 6.5.0 in the actions group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump mikepenz/action-junit-report from 6.4.2 to 6.5.0 in the actions group #1577
• Provide supported platform information when requesting SRG SSR metadata by @defagos in Provide supported platform information when requesting SRG SSR metadata #1572
• Bump fastlane from 2.238.0 to 2.239.0 in the gems group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump fastlane from 2.238.0 to 2.239.0 in the gems group #1580
• Support URL-based asset downloading by @defagos in Support URL-based asset downloading #1582
• Bump fastlane from 2.239.0 to 2.240.0 in the gems group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump fastlane from 2.239.0 to 2.240.0 in the gems group #1581
• Update for Xcode, iOS and tvOS 27 by @defagos in Update for Xcode, iOS and tvOS 27 #1567
• Document offline playback APIs by @defagos in Document offline playback APIs #1584
• Fix TestFlight button frame on tvOS by @defagos in Fix TestFlight button frame on tvOS #1585
• Bump fastlane from 2.240.0 to 2.240.1 in the gems group across 1 directory by @dependabot[bot] in Bump fastlane from 2.240.0 to 2.240.1 in the gems group across 1 directory #1586
• Remove demo multi-window support by @defagos in Remove demo multi-window support #1587
• Support offline standard connector by @waliid in Support offline standard connector #1588
• Add FairPlay-protected content support to demo standard connector integration by @defagos in Add FairPlay-protected content support to demo standard connector integration #1589
• Better organize asset loader and download files by @defagos in Better organize asset loader and download files #1591
• Handle long chapter titles on tvOS 26 by @waliid in Handle long chapter titles on tvOS 26 #1595
• Version SwiftData model schemas by @defagos in Version SwiftData model schemas #1598
• Bump mikepenz/action-junit-report from 6.5.0 to 6.6.0 in the actions group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump mikepenz/action-junit-report from 6.5.0 to 6.6.0 in the actions group #1600
• Bump mikepenz/action-junit-report from 6.6.0 to 6.6.1 in the actions group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump mikepenz/action-junit-report from 6.6.0 to 6.6.1 in the actions group #1605
• Bump fastlane from 2.240.1 to 2.241.0 in the gems group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump fastlane from 2.240.1 to 2.241.0 in the gems group #1606
• Display audio artwork on tvOS by @defagos in Display audio artwork on tvOS #1608
• Support AES-128 protected content by @waliid in Support AES-128 protected content #1609
• Remove useless imports by @waliid in Remove useless imports #1612
• Add sign language example by @defagos in Add sign language example #1613
• Bump fastlane from 2.241.0 to 2.241.1 in the gems group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump fastlane from 2.241.0 to 2.241.1 in the gems group #1610
• Enable trailing comma SwiftLint rule by @defagos in Enable trailing comma SwiftLint rule #1611
• Fix resume issue by @defagos in Fix resume issue #1614
• Fix flaky tests by @defagos in Fix flaky tests #1615
• Avoid invalid resume positions by @defagos in Avoid invalid resume positions #1616
• Polish documentation by @defagos in Polish documentation #1618
• Remove workaround potentially leading to infinite recursion by @defagos in Remove workaround potentially leading to infinite recursion #1619
• Add documentation for downloads and offline playback by @defagos in Add documentation for downloads and offline playback #1620
• Bump fastlane from 2.241.1 to 2.241.2 in the gems group by @dependabot[bot] in Bump fastlane from 2.241.1 to 2.241.2 in the gems group #1624

Full Changelog: 19.0.0...20.0.0

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This discussion was created from the release Offline Playback.