How to show seekbar with media player

What is a SeekBar? Well according to android.developers.com, A SeekBar is an extension of ProgressBar that adds a draggable thumb. The user can touch the thumb and drag left or right to set the current progress level or use the arrow keys. Placing focusable widgets to the left or right of a SeekBar is discouraged. You must have seen a bar with your media player (audio or video). It helps you to navigate to a certain time of the audio or video you are using.

We are going to check that how we can achieve this in Android.

If you are not aware of the media player class then you can follow the below provided links to learn how to play the audios in your android app.

Playing Audio file online and offline

Let us begin with adding seek bar with your media player object.

public MediaPlayer mMediaPlayer;

1	public MediaPlayer mMediaPlayer;

We are gonna assume that you have you already have a Mediaplayer object initialized with your media. Now we will have to set the max value for the seek bar with the duration of the media file

yourSeekbar.setMax(mMediaPlayer.getDuration());

1	yourSeekbar.setMax(mMediaPlayer.getDuration());

and we need a handler which will constantly update the seek bar according to the media player object with the help of a Runnable. We are using this because only the main thread can update the UI.

private Handler mSeekbarUpdateHandler = new Handler();
private Runnable mUpdateSeekbar = new Runnable() {
    @Override
    public void run() {
        yourSeekbar.setProgress(mMediaPlayer.getCurrentPosition());
        mSeekbarUpdateHandler.postDelayed(this, 50);
    }
};

private Handler mSeekbarUpdateHandler = new Handler();

private Runnable mUpdateSeekbar = new Runnable() {

@Override

public void run() {

yourSeekbar.setProgress(mMediaPlayer.getCurrentPosition());

mSeekbarUpdateHandler.postDelayed(this, 50);

}

};

the above handler updates the seek after every 50ms. You can change this time according to your requirement.

Now we have to call this handler when the audio starts to play. The below code segment shows how to do this.

mSeekbarUpdateHandler.postDelayed(mUpdateSeekbar, 0);

1	mSeekbarUpdateHandler.postDelayed(mUpdateSeekbar, 0);

and on pause, you can remove the callback.

mSeekbarUpdateHandler.removeCallbacks(mUpdateSeekbar);

1	mSeekbarUpdateHandler.removeCallbacks(mUpdateSeekbar);

The above process connects the seek bar to the media player but it will not seek the media player yet. For this, you will have to set an OnSeekBarChangeListener which will use the MediaPlayer’s seekTo function and seek the media file to a particular time.

yourSeekbar.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(new SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener() {
                @Override
                public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar seekBar, int progress, boolean fromUser) {
                     if (fromUser)
                         mMediaPlayer.seekTo(progress);
                }

                @Override
                public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {

                }

                @Override
                public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {

                }
            };

yourSeekbar.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(new SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener() {

@Override

public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar seekBar, int progress, boolean fromUser) {

if (fromUser)

mMediaPlayer.seekTo(progress);

}

@Override

public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {

}

@Override

public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {

}

};

this will seek to the position where ever the seek bar pointer is. The check fromUser is must otherwise it will keep seeking the media player on every second and the media output will come with some disturbance or lag.

That’s all you need to do to get a smoothly working SeekBar.

Thank you very much. This is Vedesh Kumar signing off.

Vedesh Kumar 26 October 2017

. . .

30 comments

Noor Eldali Jul 23, 2018 at 12:15 pm

Thank you so much 🙂 this is the only code that worked with me

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Jan 28, 2019 at 9:38 am
We are glad that the blog helped you.

Reply
Prashantgosai26 Apr 24, 2019 at 6:02 pm
Yes @Noor Eldali
This code work perfectatly (Work also in kotlin)

Reply

Bri Sep 20, 2018 at 2:23 am

This was super helpful thank you so much!

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Jan 28, 2019 at 9:39 am
Happy to help Bri.

Reply

Arman Sep 23, 2018 at 10:25 pm

This is really very helpful. Thank you 🙂

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Jan 28, 2019 at 9:39 am
Welcome, Arman.

Reply

Saurabh Nov 22, 2018 at 6:35 pm

This is Not Working For me

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Jan 28, 2019 at 9:55 am
Hello Sourabh, Can you please explain the issue a bit? Or you can share your code (If there is no issue).

Reply

iniaski Jan 31, 2019 at 6:47 pm

thanks a lot, works fine !!!!

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Jan 31, 2019 at 6:51 pm
You’re Welcome Iniaski… 😀

Reply

Programmer Mar 9, 2019 at 11:18 pm

i have a problem that the song finished before the progress bar
is there a solution pleaze thanks 🙂

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Mar 29, 2019 at 4:52 pm
This should not happen as we have used the audio duration as the max value using the line “yourSeekbar.setMax(mMediaPlayer.getDuration());”

Will it be possible for you to post your code here? So that we can have a look.

Reply

Prashant Kumar Apr 19, 2019 at 1:22 pm

Attempt to invoke virtual method ‘boolean android.os.Handler.postDelayed(java.lang.Runnable, long)’ on a null object reference

i am getting such error

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Apr 22, 2019 at 4:48 pm
Have you initialized your mSeekbarUpdateHandler? Because the exception clearly says that the mSeekbarUpdateHandler in not initialized. If yes then can show me the code snippet where you have used it?

Reply

reza motahari Sep 16, 2019 at 12:12 pm

I wrote the codes, but the program crashes when I play the sound:

java.lang.NullPointerException: Attempt to invoke virtual method ‘void android.widget.SeekBar.setProgress(int)’ on a null object reference
at com.example.video69.Activityfiles$1.run(Activityfiles.java:43)
at android.os.Handler.handleCallback(Handler.java:739)
at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:95)
at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:148)
at android.app.ActivityThread.main(ActivityThread.java:5525)
at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Native Method)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit$MethodAndArgsCaller.run(ZygoteInit.java:730)
at com.android.internal.os.ZygoteInit.main(ZygoteInit.java:620)

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Sep 24, 2019 at 9:20 pm
It looks like you have not initialized yourSeekbar variable. Please check that.

Reply

mayar Sep 24, 2019 at 9:14 pm

not working for me , seek bar does not run

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Sep 24, 2019 at 9:16 pm
Can you share some more information about the issue?

Reply

Gyan Jyoti Das Dec 5, 2019 at 12:29 am

Audio is not playing smoothly

Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Dec 5, 2019 at 9:42 am
Can you elaborate on the issue more? Or show us your code.

Reply
- Gyan Jyoti Das Dec 5, 2019 at 10:23 am
  import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
  
  import android.media.AudioManager;
  import android.media.MediaPlayer;
  import android.os.Bundle;
  import android.os.Handler;
  import android.util.Log;
  import android.view.View;
  import android.widget.SeekBar;
  
  import java.util.Timer;
  import java.util.TimerTask;
  
  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {
  
  MediaPlayer mediaPlayer;
  AudioManager audioManager;
  Handler mSeekbarUpdateHandler;
  Runnable mUpdateSeekbar;
  
  public void play(View view){
  mediaPlayer.start();
  mSeekbarUpdateHandler.postDelayed(mUpdateSeekbar, 0);
  }
  public void pause(View view){
  mediaPlayer.pause();
  mSeekbarUpdateHandler.removeCallbacks(mUpdateSeekbar);
  }
  
  @Override
  protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
  super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
  setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);
  
  audioManager = (AudioManager) getSystemService(AUDIO_SERVICE);
  int maxVolume = audioManager.getStreamMaxVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
  int currentVolume = audioManager.getStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC);
  mediaPlayer = MediaPlayer.create(this, R.raw.demosong);
  SeekBar volumeControl = (SeekBar) findViewById(R.id.volumeSeekBar);
  
  final SeekBar songControl = (SeekBar) findViewById(R.id.songSeekBar);
  songControl.setMax(mediaPlayer.getDuration());
  
  volumeControl.setMax(maxVolume);
  volumeControl.setProgress(currentVolume);
  
  volumeControl.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(new SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener() {
  @Override
  public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar seekBar, int i, boolean b) {
  audioManager.setStreamVolume(AudioManager.STREAM_MUSIC, i,0);
  }
  
  @Override
  public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
  
  }
  
  @Override
  public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
  
  }
  });
  
  songControl.setOnSeekBarChangeListener(new SeekBar.OnSeekBarChangeListener() {
  @Override
  public void onProgressChanged(SeekBar seekBar, int i, boolean b) {
  mediaPlayer.seekTo(i);
  }
  
  @Override
  public void onStartTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
  
  }
  
  @Override
  public void onStopTrackingTouch(SeekBar seekBar) {
  
  }
  });
  
  mSeekbarUpdateHandler = new Handler();
  mUpdateSeekbar = new Runnable() {
  @Override
  public void run() {
  songControl.setProgress(mediaPlayer .getCurrentPosition());
  mSeekbarUpdateHandler.postDelayed(this, 50);
  }
  };
  
  }
  }
  
  Reply
  - Gyan Jyoti Das Dec 5, 2019 at 10:28 am
    audio get stuck while playing
    
    Reply
    - Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Dec 5, 2019 at 11:10 am
      You can use prepareAsync() instead of prepare(). It should work fine.
      
      Reply
  - Vedesh Kumar (Moderator) Dec 5, 2019 at 10:30 am
    You should use mediaplayer on different thread rather then UI thread. It will play smooth then.
    
    Reply

Omar Adel Aug 7, 2020 at 5:37 pm

Thank you sooooo much

Aziz Fasih Dec 31, 2020 at 12:34 pm

Thanks, brother its help me to resolve the issue in my app.

anchit (Moderator) Sep 25, 2021 at 7:06 pm
Thanks

Reply

Owais Ali May 23, 2021 at 3:25 pm

my seek bar behave abnormaly on to many touches other wise itwork smoothly any solution

anchit (Moderator) Sep 25, 2021 at 7:07 pm
could you please elaborate on the abnormal behaviour ?

Reply

How to show seekbar with media player

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