To force loading from jniLibs :
— Your VLC Android engineer
#!/bin/bash export ANDROID_NDK=/path/to/ndk export VLC_BUILD_DIR=build-arm64 ./compile.sh -a arm64 -l --release --enable-external-codecs --enable-mediacodec --enable-avcodec --enable-avformat kmp external codec libvlcjni.so cpu arm64-v8a
If you’ve ever built VLC for Android or used the libvlcjni.so library in a project, you know it’s a powerful media engine. But the default build often omits certain proprietary or patent-encumbered codecs (like H.264, AAC, or AC-3). To fully utilize the CPU/GPU of modern ARM64-v8a devices, you need to integrate external codecs correctly.
adb logcat | grep -E "avcodec|mediacodec|vlc" Expected output: To force loading from jniLibs : — Your
System.loadLibrary("avcodec") System.loadLibrary("avformat") System.loadLibrary("vlcjni") Set environment variable for plugin path (if needed):
val args = arrayOf( "--codec=mediacodec,avcodec", // try hardware first, then external FFmpeg "--avcodec-fast", "--avcodec-hw=any" ) val libVLC = LibVLC(this, args) val mediaPlayer = MediaPlayer(libVLC) // try hardware first
// In C++ init or via JNI setenv("VLC_PLUGIN_PATH", "/data/app/.../lib/arm64/plugins", 1) Check logs for successful external codec usage:
mediacodec: found decoder OMX.qcom.video.decoder.avc avcodec: using external libavcodec.so for H264 main: using video decoder module "mediacodec" If you see avcodec fallback, it’s working. To external codec over system one: