@react-native-video/drm

DRM plugin for react-native-video. It adds Widevine (Android) and FairPlay (iOS, visionOS) playback support via the react-native-video plugin system.

Requirements

• react-native-video >= 7.0.0-alpha.3
• react-native-nitro-modules >= 0.35.0

Installation

npm install @react-native-video/drm react-native-video react-native-nitro-modules
# then for iOS
npx pod-install

Notes

• This library uses Nitro Modules; autolinking is supported. No manual native changes are needed besides running CocoaPods on iOS.
• On Expo, use a prebuild workflow (npx expo prebuild) — pure managed apps aren’t supported.

Quick start

Enable the plugin once at app start, then pass DRM params on your video source.

import React from 'react';
import { Platform } from 'react-native';
import { VideoView, useVideoPlayer } from 'react-native-video';
import { enable, isEnabled } from '@react-native-video/drm';

// Enable at startup (required on Android; safe on iOS)
enable();

export default function Player() {
	const player = useVideoPlayer({
		uri: 'https://example.com/stream.m3u8',
		// Request headers used by the media request and (on iOS default flow) the license request
		headers: { Authorization: 'Bearer <token>' },
		drm: {
			// Optional: defaults to platform (fairplay on Apple, widevine on Android)
			type: Platform.select({ ios: 'fairplay', default: 'widevine' }),

			// Android (Widevine)
			licenseUrl: 'https://license.example.com/widevine',
			licenseHeaders: { 'x-custom': 'value' },
			multiSession: true,

			// iOS (FairPlay)
			// For FairPlay provide certificateUrl and (optionally) contentId.
			// When contentId is not provided, the plugin tries to infer it from the skd:// key URL.
			certificateUrl: Platform.OS === 'ios' ? 'https://license.example.com/fps.cer' : undefined,
		},
	});

	return <VideoView player={player} style={{ flex: 1 }} />;
}

API

From @react-native-video/drm:

• enable(): void — registers the plugin. Call once during app startup (Android requires it; iOS tries to auto-enable, but calling is safe).
• disable(): void — unregisters the plugin.
• isEnabled: boolean — plugin registration status.

DRM params (provided via useVideoPlayer({ drm: ... }) or equivalent config in react-native-video):

• type?: 'widevine' | 'fairplay' | string — DRM system. Defaults: Android → widevine, Apple → fairplay.
• licenseUrl?: string — license server URL. Required for both Widevine and FairPlay default flows.
• licenseHeaders?: Record<string, string> — headers for license requests (Android only).
• multiSession?: boolean — allow multiple sessions (Android only).
• certificateUrl?: string — FairPlay application certificate URL (iOS/visionOS).
• contentId?: string — FairPlay content ID (iOS/visionOS). If omitted, inferred from skd:// key URL when possible.
• getLicense?: (payload) => Promise<string> — iOS custom license fetch. Receives { contentId, licenseUrl, keyUrl, spc } and must resolve to a base64-encoded CKC.

Platform notes

• iOS/visionOS
  • FairPlay is not supported on the simulator — test on a real device.
  • Default license flow posts SPC bytes to licenseUrl and uses source.headers (not licenseHeaders). Use getLicense for full control.
  • Provide certificateUrl; set contentId if your server needs it.
• Android
  • Widevine is handled via ExoPlayer (Media3). Use licenseHeaders for request headers and multiSession if needed.

Troubleshooting

• “Failed to fetch certificate/license” — verify URLs are reachable and correct, and that headers/tokens are included. On iOS default flow, set headers in source.headers.
• “Unsupported DRM type” — set drm.type appropriately or omit it to use platform defaults.
• “DRM not working on simulator” — FairPlay does not work on the iOS simulator.

License

MIT