Why exactly doesn't HTML5 Media Source video work on IOS?

Question

It seems both (HLS and MPEG-DASH) use the same the Media Source Extension API. So why does HLS video only work on IOS. Why doesn't MPEG-DASH work on IOS? What is the core difference making this "http://nickdesaulniers.github.io/netfix/demo/bufferAll.html" video not work on IOS? Where is the problem? Is it the new MediaSource, .addSourceBuffer, .appendBuffer, .endOfStream() or .mp4 file.

Diandrous

Answer 1

Only apple can answer that, and so far they have not commented.

EDIT: iPadOS 13 will/does support MSE. iOS 14.5 (iPhone) still doesn't not.

Motel

There is nothing to debug. It is a fact that apple does not support MSE in iOS. The extension hence API simply doesn’t exist in the browser. – Motel

The thing is i want to make a HLS video player from scratch. And i can’t find a specific source showing beginning steps of how to make a HLS video player. As in I made a DASH type video player using this nickdesaulniers.github.io/netfix/demo/bufferAll.html. It clearly shows how the video is retrieved and appended into the player. I can’t find a similar source like this for making a HLS player. What should i do? Do i have no choice but to use a pre made hls.js (its just i don’t know how to customise it then for my specific needs, its so long)? – Diandrous

It doesn’t matter what you want to do. There is no way to do that on safari on iOS. The ONLY way to play video in safari on iOS is to set the src filed in the video tag to the m3u8 or mp4 file. – Motel

I want to make a web video playe for IOS which can switch the video’s type (2d or 3d), video quality (2160p to 144p), video fps (60fps to 30fps), audio and subtitles (English to french). I have a video file and i have converted the video into different video files of all the above switching types. Wait ill upload my project. So can m3u8 switch things like this? – Diandrous

This is an new question. Please make a new post. – Motel

New question: #53037152 – Diandrous

What do you think of the new post? – Diandrous

szatmary - Can you help me with this question? : #53587096 – Diandrous

Answer 2

New information: Our iPhone, 16.5.1, has support for MediaSource, tucked behind an experimental flag. Default setting is 'off'.

When turned on, it seems to work about the same as the iPad.

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Edit: Oct 2023

Beta iOS 17 is out and Apple has pulled MediaSource from Safari. In its place, there is an implementation for a new proposed alternative standard API called Managed Media Source (MMS). The alternate API can better manage battery life that the previous Media Source Extension (MSE) API.

Hepburn

MediaSource class exists, yes, but it seems like MediaSource.isTypeSupported returns false for all values: cconcolato.github.io/media-mime-support (tested on iOS 16.6) – Artina