Migrating from expo-av to expo-video

Imports

// Before
import { Video, ResizeMode } from 'expo-av';

// After
import { useVideoPlayer, VideoView, VideoSource } from 'expo-video';
import { useEvent, useEventListener } from 'expo';

Video Playback

Before (expo-av)

const videoRef = useRef<Video>(null);
const [status, setStatus] = useState({});

<Video
  ref={videoRef}
  source={{ uri: 'https://example.com/video.mp4' }}
  style={{ width: 350, height: 200 }}
  resizeMode={ResizeMode.CONTAIN}
  isLooping
  onPlaybackStatusUpdate={setStatus}
/>

// Control
videoRef.current?.playAsync();
videoRef.current?.pauseAsync();

After (expo-video)

const player = useVideoPlayer('https://example.com/video.mp4', player => {
  player.loop = true;
});

const { isPlaying } = useEvent(player, 'playingChange', { isPlaying: player.playing });

<VideoView
  player={player}
  style={{ width: 350, height: 200 }}
  contentFit="contain"
/>

// Control
player.play();
player.pause();

Status Updates

Before (expo-av)

<Video
  onPlaybackStatusUpdate={status => {
    if (status.isLoaded) {
      console.log(status.positionMillis, status.durationMillis, status.isPlaying);
      if (status.didJustFinish) console.log('finished');
    }
  }}
/>

After (expo-video)

// Reactive state
const { isPlaying } = useEvent(player, 'playingChange', { isPlaying: player.playing });

// Side effects
useEventListener(player, 'playToEnd', () => console.log('finished'));

// Direct access
console.log(player.currentTime, player.duration, player.playing);

Local Files

Before (expo-av)

<Video source={require('./video.mp4')} />

After (expo-video)

const player = useVideoPlayer({ assetId: require('./video.mp4') });

Fullscreen and PiP

<VideoView
  player={player}
  allowsFullscreen
  allowsPictureInPicture
  onFullscreenEnter={() => {}}
  onFullscreenExit={() => {}}
/>

For PiP and background playback, add to app.json:

{
  "expo": {
    "plugins": [
      ["expo-video", { "supportsBackgroundPlayback": true, "supportsPictureInPicture": true }]
    ]
  }
}

API Mapping

Key Differences

• Separate player and view: Player logic decoupled from the view—one player can be used across multiple views
• Time in seconds: Uses seconds, not milliseconds
• Event system: Uses useEvent/useEventListener from expo instead of callback props
• Video preloading: Create a player without mounting a VideoView to preload for faster transitions
• Built-in caching: Set useCaching: true in VideoSource for persistent offline caching

Known Issues

• Uninstall expo-av first: On Android, having both expo-av and expo-video installed can cause VideoView to show a black screen. Uninstall expo-av before installing expo-video
• Android: Reusing players: Mounting the same player in multiple VideoViews simultaneously can cause black screens on Android (works on iOS)
• Android: currentTime in setup: Setting player.currentTime in the useVideoPlayer setup callback may not work on Android—set it after mount instead
• Changing source: Use player.replace(newSource) to change videos without recreating the player

API Reference

https://docs.expo.dev/versions/latest/sdk/video/