Decoder init failed: c2.amlogic.avc.decoder.secure on Android - ExoPlayer

[AmiraAllouche]

Version

Media3 1.8.0

More version details

We’re experiencing an issue for a specific user on an Android device using ExoPlayer where playback crashes with a decoder failure related to Decoder init failed: c2.amlogic.avc.decoder.secure:

08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): Playback error
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): androidx.media3.exoplayer.ExoPlaybackException: MediaCodecVideoRenderer error, index=0, format=Format(c2N0eEIvaSSb4NUsbG9yaT12aWRlbyUzRDY0MDAwMDAmcmVmdD0wJnNkdXI9MjAwMCZ0c2NhPTYwMCZpdHQ9SEQ, null, video/mp4, video/avc, avc1.64002A, 6400000, und, [1920, 1080, 50.0, ColorInfo(BT709, Limited range, SDR SMPTE 170M, false, 8bit Luma, 8bit Chroma)], [-1, -1]), format_supported=YES
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.BaseRenderer.createRendererException(SourceFile:10)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.BaseRenderer.createRendererException(SourceFile:1)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.maybeInitCodecOrBypass(Unknown Source:102)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.onInputFormatChanged(Unknown Source:75)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.video.MediaCodecVideoRenderer.onInputFormatChanged(Unknown Source:0)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.readSourceOmittingSampleData(Unknown Source:21)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.render(Unknown Source:34)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.video.MediaCodecVideoRenderer.render(Unknown Source:18)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.RendererHolder.render(Unknown Source:10)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.ExoPlayerImplInternal.doSomeWork(Unknown Source:104)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.ExoPlayerImplInternal.handleMessage(Unknown Source:369)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at J1.b.run(Unknown Source:18)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): Caused by: androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer$DecoderInitializationException: Decoder init failed: c2.amlogic.avc.decoder.secure, Format(c2N0eEIvaSSb4NUsbG9yaT12aWRlbyUzRDY0MDAwMDAmcmVmdD0wJnNkdXI9MjAwMCZ0c2NhPTYwMCZpdHQ9SEQ, null, video/mp4, video/avc, avc1.64002A, 6400000, und, [1920, 1080, 50.0, ColorInfo(BT709, Limited range, SDR SMPTE 170M, false, 8bit Luma, 8bit Chroma)], [-1, -1])
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.maybeInitCodecWithFallback(Unknown Source:142)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.maybeInitCodecOrBypass(Unknown Source:82)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): ... 12 more
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): Caused by: android.media.MediaCodec$CodecException: Failed to initialize c2.amlogic.avc.decoder.secure, error 0xfffffff4 (NO_MEMORY)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.native_setup(Native Method)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.(MediaCodec.java:2094)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.(MediaCodec.java:2072)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.createByCodecName(MediaCodec.java:2042)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.AsynchronousMediaCodecAdapter$Factory.createAdapter(SourceFile:4)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.DefaultMediaCodecAdapterFactory.createAdapter(Unknown Source:83)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.initCodec(Unknown Source:77)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.maybeInitCodecWithFallback(Unknown Source:110)
08-13 17:30:06.241 E/ExoPlayerImplInternal(21851): ... 13 more

Devices that reproduce the issue

Chromecast Android 12

Devices that do not reproduce the issue

No response

Reproducible in the demo app?

Not tested

Reproduction steps

When launching the b.tv app, and in obtaining the live media content.

Expected result

The media plays successfully

Actual result

Playback crashes with the following traces:
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): Video codec error
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer$DecoderInitializationException: Decoder init failed: c2.amlogic.avc.decoder.secure, Format(c2N0eEIvaSSb4NUsbG9yaT12aWRlbyUzRDY0MDAwMDAmcmVmdD0wJnNkdXI9MjAwMCZ0c2NhPTYwMCZpdHQ9SEQ, null, video/mp4, video/avc, avc1.64002A, 6400000, und, [1920, 1080, 50.0, ColorInfo(BT709, Limited range, SDR SMPTE 170M, false, 8bit Luma, 8bit Chroma)], [-1, -1])
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.maybeInitCodecWithFallback(Unknown Source:142)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.maybeInitCodecOrBypass(Unknown Source:82)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.onInputFormatChanged(Unknown Source:75)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.video.MediaCodecVideoRenderer.onInputFormatChanged(Unknown Source:0)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.readSourceOmittingSampleData(Unknown Source:21)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.render(Unknown Source:34)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.video.MediaCodecVideoRenderer.render(Unknown Source:18)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.RendererHolder.render(Unknown Source:10)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.ExoPlayerImplInternal.doSomeWork(Unknown Source:104)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.ExoPlayerImplInternal.handleMessage(Unknown Source:369)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at android.os.Handler.dispatchMessage(Handler.java:102)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at android.os.Looper.loopOnce(Looper.java:205)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at android.os.Looper.loop(Looper.java:294)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at J1.b.run(Unknown Source:18)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): Caused by: android.media.MediaCodec$CodecException: Failed to initialize c2.amlogic.avc.decoder.secure, error 0xfffffff4 (NO_MEMORY)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.native_setup(Native Method)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.(MediaCodec.java:2094)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.(MediaCodec.java:2072)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at android.media.MediaCodec.createByCodecName(MediaCodec.java:2042)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.AsynchronousMediaCodecAdapter$Factory.createAdapter(SourceFile:4)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.DefaultMediaCodecAdapterFactory.createAdapter(Unknown Source:83)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.initCodec(Unknown Source:77)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): at androidx.media3.exoplayer.mediacodec.MediaCodecRenderer.maybeInitCodecWithFallback(Unknown Source:110)
08-13 17:30:06.235 E/MediaCodecVideoRenderer(21851): ... 13 more

Media

Bug Report

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

[microkatz]

Hi @AmiraAllouche

The stack trace indicates that the device's hardware secure decoder (c2.amlogic.avc.decoder.secure) is failing to initialize at the OS/hardware level with a NO_MEMORY error. This is a known device-specific behavior on some Amlogic-based devices (like Chromecast) rather than an ExoPlayer/Media3 bug.

This usually happens when the hardware runs out of secure memory, which is commonly caused by:

1. Attempting to run multiple secure decoders concurrently (which many of these devices do not support).
2. Another app in the background, or a previous playback session, failing to properly release its MediaCodec resources.
3. General memory pressure on the device.

To help us investigate if there is anything Media3 can do to handle this more gracefully, could you please provide:

1. The adb bugreport that was requested in the issue template. You can email it to android-media-github@google.com with the subject "Issue # 3379".
2. A link to the media content/stream that reproduces this issue, if you are able to share one.
3. Information on whether your app might be trying to play multiple DRM streams at the same time, or if this happens reliably on the very first playback after a fresh device reboot.

In the meantime, ensuring that you properly call player.release() when playback finishes or when your app goes into the background can often help mitigate this issue.