Version

1.6.0-alpha03

More version details

ExoPlayer: Jank When Transitioning from Image to Video

Issue Summary

When using ExoPlayer, there is a noticeable jank (~200ms delay) when transitioning from an image to a video. This occurs when using MediaItem.setImageDurationMs() to display images in a playlist that includes both images and videos.

This issue is critical for real-time video editing applications that require seamless playback.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use ExoPlayer to play a sequence of images and videos in a ConcatenatingMediaSource2.
2. Observe the playback:
   • Video to Video: Smooth transition.
   • Video to Image: Smooth transition.
   • Image to Video: ~200ms jank (measured by logging playback position difference).

Minimal Repro Repository

A minimal reproduction of this issue can be found here: 🔗 Minimal Repro Repository

Findings

• The issue only occurs when transitioning from an image to a video.
• Removing audio from videos eliminates the jank entirely.
• Using MediaCodec video renderer prewarming does not resolve the issue.
• Converting images to short videos (via the Media3 Transformer library) does not fix the issue.
• The issue occurs consistently, even on different devices.

Expected Behavior

• Image-to-video transitions should be smooth, just like video-to-video transitions.
• The presence of an audio track should not affect playback smoothness.

Request

It would be great if ExoPlayer could handle image-to-video transitions smoothly, even when the videos contain audio.

Would appreciate any insights or potential workarounds! 🚀

Devices that reproduce the issue

Pixel 6 Pro

Devices that do not reproduce the issue

No response

Reproducible in the demo app?

Yes

Reproduction steps

I attached a minimal reproduction repository with all the possible workarounds I could think of, please check that out

Expected result

• Image-to-video transitions should be smooth, just like video-to-video transitions.
• The presence of an audio track should not affect playback smoothness.

Actual result

image-to-video has a jank

Media

Media is in the assets folder of the linked minimal repro library

Bug Report

• You will email the zip file produced by adb bugreport to android-media-github@google.com after filing this issue.