Play Audio iOS Objective-C

Question

I'm trying to get an audio file playing in my iOS app. This is my current code

NSString *soundFilePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/test.m4a", [[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath]];

NSLog(@"%@",soundFilePath);
NSURL *fileURL = [[NSURL alloc] initFileURLWithPath: soundFilePath];

audioPlayer = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:fileURL error:nil];
[[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setCategory:AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback error:nil];
[[AVAudioSession sharedInstance] setActive: YES error: nil];
[[UIApplication sharedApplication] beginReceivingRemoteControlEvents];

[audioPlayer setVolume:1.0];

audioPlayer.delegate = self;

[audioPlayer stop];
[audioPlayer setCurrentTime:0];
[audioPlayer play];

I've being checking a bunch of other posts but they all generally do the same thing. I'm not getting an error, but I don't hear any audio playing on the simulator or device.

This is the path I get for the audio file on the simulator

/Users/username/Library/Application Support/iPhone Simulator/5.1/Applications/long-numbered-thing/BookAdventure.app/test.m4a

Any help is appreciated!

Shinbone

Try another audio file, its possible that test.m4a might be corrupted, which is why it isn't playing. – Gowrie

Does audioPlayer point to a valid object? Is the mute switch on? Device volume turned up? – Foveola

I'm pretty sure it's a valid object. Is there a way to tell if the path is correct? I assumed it would throw an error if it was a null object or invalid path.. The mute switch is not on and device volume is turned up @Jeremy1026 the file plays normally in xCode and on my MBP so I think it's fine – Shinbone

Are you using ARC in this project? – Kelula

have you figured this out? @Shinbone – Phalange

Yes- The code shown works fine. There was an issue with the type of file. I found mp3 worked, but issues with m4a. Haven't tested/tried it since the issue! – Shinbone

Answer 1

Maybe you should try using the NSBundle method pathForResource:ofType: method to create the path to the file.

The following code should successfully play an audio file. I have only used it with an mp3, but I imagine it should also work with m4a. If this code does not work, you could try changing the format of the audio file. For this code, the audio file is located in the main project directory.

/* Use this code to play an audio file */
NSString *soundFilePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"test"  ofType:@"m4a"];
NSURL *soundFileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:soundFilePath];

AVAudioPlayer *player = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:soundFileURL error:nil];
player.numberOfLoops = -1; //Infinite

[player play];

---

EDIT

Ok, so try this:

NSString *soundFilePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/test.m4a",[[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath]];
NSURL *soundFileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:soundFilePath];

AVAudioPlayer *player = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:soundFileURL error:nil];
player.numberOfLoops = -1; //Infinite

[player play];

Also, make sure you do the proper imports:

#import <AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h>
#import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

Cameral

when I do that, my soundFilePath ends up being (null)...? My file is in the main project directory. In xCode its under the group "Audio", which I don't think matters. – Shinbone

You could try my code, but using your path creation method (eg NSString *soundFilePath = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@/test.m4a", [[NSBundle mainBundle] resourcePath]];) instead. Also, what does an NSLog of your soundFilePath print? – Cameral

sound file path is printing (null) every time When I use this other path creation method, my soundFilePath shows "file://localhost/Users/userName/Library/Application%20Support/iPhone%20Simulator/5.1/Applications/long-number-thing-here/BookAdventure.app/test.m4a" – Shinbone

I added another slightly modified code snippet to my response, try that. – Cameral

Had the proper imports already. Weird, .mp3 works but .m4a isn't working. Not sure why, but just happy I got some audio playing! – Shinbone

FYI AudioToolbox import is not required for these snippets :) – Apomorphine

Answer 2

You need to store a strong reference to 'AVAudioPlayer'

@property (strong) AVAudioPlayer *audioPlayer;

And if you are sure that your audio file is in following Bundle Resources, it should play.

Project>Build Phases>Copy

Parshall

I was having pretty much the same issue and making sure that I kept a reference to the player object solved the problem. Which variation of how the player gets created withUrl, etc. was NOT the problem but just the fact that the reference to the player was lost as the method/scope in which it was being instantiated finished. – Wanwand

Answer 3

To play file with extension .caf, .m4a, .mp4, .mp3,.wav, .aif

---

Download following two files from GitHub

SoundManager.h
SoundManager.m

Add these files to your project

Also add audio files to resource folder (sample files)

mysound.mp3, song.mp3

Import header file in desired file

#import "SoundManager.h"

And add following two lines in -(void)viewDidLoad

[SoundManager sharedManager].allowsBackgroundMusic = YES;
[[SoundManager sharedManager] prepareToPlay];

Use following line to play sound (mysound.mp3)

[[SoundManager sharedManager] playSound:@"mysound" looping:NO];

Use following line to stop the sound (mysound.mp3)

[[SoundManager sharedManager] stopSound:@"mysound"];

Also you can play music (song.mp3) as

[[SoundManager sharedManager] playMusic:@"song" looping:YES];

And can be stop music as

[[SoundManager sharedManager] stopMusic];

Complete Documentation is on GitHub

Izettaizhevsk

Add .FileExtension (for example:@"mysound.mp3") to the above methods :) – Expressive

Have you tried without extension plz. It should automatically detect sound file from resource – Izettaizhevsk

Yeah, I tried it without extensions but then it could not detect the file. Maybe because I'm using it in xcode 6.x, its not detecting. Dont know about xcode 7x. – Expressive

Answer 4

First import this framework to your file

#import <AVFoundation/AVFoundation.h>

Then declare an instance of AVAudioPlayer.

AVAudioPlayer *audioPlayer;

NSString *soundFilePath = [[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@"Name of your audio file" 
                                                          ofType:@"type of your audio file example: mp3"];
NSURL *soundFileURL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:soundFilePath];
audioPlayer = [[AVAudioPlayer alloc] initWithContentsOfURL:soundFileURL error:nil];
audioPlayer.numberOfLoops = -1;
[audioPlayer play];

Lipography

Cool sample, bare minimum, for, say, have the functionality in place. A little clarification wrt numbnerOfLoopsCounting: (-1) -stands for infinity, 0 - for one and so on. I added a UIButton to run [audioPlayer play]; but it's up to user how to handle the code. I support your answer for brevity and user convenience standpoint! Thanks! – Balladmonger

Answer 5

To play your bundle audio file using below code if you generate the system sound ID

for(int i = 0 ;i< 5;i++)
{
    SystemSoundID   soundFileObject;
    NSString *audioFileName = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"Alarm%d",i+1];

    NSURL *tapSound   = [[NSBundle mainBundle] URLForResource: audioFileName
                                            withExtension: @"caf"];

    // Store the URL as a CFURLRef instance
    CFURLRef soundFileURLRef = (__bridge CFURLRef) tapSound;

    // Create a system sound object representing the sound file.
    AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID (

                                  soundFileURLRef,
                                  &soundFileObject
                                  );
    [alarmToneIdList addObject:[NSNumber numberWithUnsignedLong:soundFileObject]];
}

You can play the sound by using below code

AudioServicesPlaySystemSound([[alarmToneIdList objectAtIndex:row]unsignedLongValue]);

To achieve this below framework need to add in your Xcode

AudioToolbox

Finally below header files are needs to be import in controller

#import AudioToolbox/AudioToolbox.h
#import AudioToolbox/AudioServices.h

Emendate

Answer 6

Updated for Swift 4 Playing from main bundle - iOS 11 only

import AVFoundation

var player: AVAudioPlayer?

The following code loads the sound file and plays it, returning an error if necessary.

guard let url = Bundle.main.url(forResource: "test", withExtension: "m4a") else { return }

    do {
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setCategory(AVAudioSessionCategoryPlayback)
        try AVAudioSession.sharedInstance().setActive(true)

    guard let player = player else { return }

    player.play()

    } catch let error {
        // Prints a readable error
        print(error.localizedDescription)
    }

Immethodical

Answer 7

Swift 4.2

var soundFilePath = "\(Bundle.main.resourcePath ?? "")/test.m4a"
var soundFileURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: soundFilePath)

var player = try? AVAudioPlayer(contentsOf: soundFileURL)
player?.numberOfLoops = -1 //Infinite

player?.play()

Haydenhaydn