VLCJ - playing a video from the “res” folder works great in eclipse, but not from the executable JAR file

Question

i have an .MP4 video placed in the "res/media" folder inside my project. I can easily play this video in my application from eclipse using this piece of code:

String url = getClass().getResource("/media/video.mp4").getFile();
url = new File(url).getPath();
showMedia(url);       //the method that plays the video

i had to use this code because using only URL url = getClass().getResource("/media/video.mp4"); makes VLCJ can't access the video using this URL.

When creating the executable JAR file, i get these errors in the console:

libdvdnav: Using dvdnav version 5.0.0
libdvdread: Could not open D:\Desktop\file:\D:\Desktop\app.jar!\media\video.mp4 with libdvdcss.
libdvdread: Can't open D:\Desktop\file:\D:\Desktop\app.jar!\media\video.mp4 for reading
libdvdnav: vm: failed to open/read the DVD
[1644d0ac] filesystem access error: cannot open file D:\Desktop\file:\D:\Desktop\app.jar!\media\video.mp4 (Invalid argument)
[1644d0ac] main access error: File reading failed
[1644d0ac] main access error: VLC could not open the file "D:\Desktop\file:\D:\Desktop\app.jar!\media\video.mp4" (Invalid argument).
[1645643c] main input error: open of `file:///D:/Desktop/file%3A/D%3A/Desktop/app.jar%21/media/video.mp4' failed
[1645643c] main input error: Your input can't be opened
[1645643c] main input error: VLC is unable to open the MRL 'file:///D:/Desktop/file%3A/D%3A/Desktop/app.jar%21/media/video.mp4'. Check the log for details.

The libraries are being successfully loaded, and i can even play any video that is outside my JAR file.

Any suggestions?

And thanks in advance.

Answer 1

A Media Resource Locator (MRL) is not the same as a URL.

The log you posted shows what VLC is trying to open. The informative part is:

[1644d0ac] filesystem access error: cannot open file D:\Desktop\file:\D:\Desktop\app.jar!\media\video.mp4 (Invalid argument)

"D:\Desktop\file:\D:\Desktop\app.jar!\media\video.mp4" is clearly not a valid filename?

So this code is flawed:

String url = getClass().getResource("/media/video.mp4").getFile();

This type of thing, without the .getFile(), is usually used to load resources from the application classpath. That's not the case here though when you try and get the file name.

You should just do something like:

String mrl = new File("res/media/video.mp4").getAbsolutePath();

But that of course depends on what is the "current" directory for your application, and won't work inside a jar file.

On the other hand, VLC can play media contained inside zip (and therefore jar) files, with an MRL that looks a little bit like what you posted. Something like:

zip://file.jar!/res/media/video.mp4