HLS Support for online streaming audio #505
Description
Feature Request
Hello team,
Thank you for your work on this fantastic library. I’d like to propose support for HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) as a new feature—specifically for online audio streaming use cases.
Use Case:
We’re building a React Native app that streams long-form audio content (e.g., talks, guided meditations, live events) hosted on HLS endpoints (e.g., .m3u8). While HLS is widely supported on web and native platforms, current support in the library for audio-only HLS streams appears to be limited or non-existent.
Adding native HLS support would allow seamless playback of adaptive audio streams and help us:
• Handle unstable network conditions more gracefully via adaptive bitrate streaming.
• Offer live and scheduled streaming features.
• Improve user experience through buffer management and reduced loading delays.
Feature Request:
• Enable support for .m3u8 audio streams, ideally with fallback to progressive MP3 if needed.
• Include optional configuration for buffer settings, initial quality selection, and reconnect behavior.
• Expose metadata and playback states (e.g., onBuffering, onStreamError) relevant to live audio.
Why It Matters:
• HLS is now a de facto standard for streaming audio at scale.
• Several production-ready services like AWS MediaConvert, Wowza, and Akamai offer HLS out of the box.
• Adding HLS support would make the library more versatile and aligned with modern streaming needs, especially in low-bandwidth environments.
Looking forward to your thoughts—and happy to contribute if there’s an opportunity.