How to Build an Android App to Compress Video?

Last Updated : 28 Jan, 2022

Nowadays we see many applications are made to compress videos and other files so that users can save memory as well as maintain the quality of that file. In this article, we are going to see how we can compress videos in the android studio and can make our own video compressing application.

What we are going to build in this article?

Below is a sample video of a video compressor that we are going to build in this article. Note that we are going to implement this project using the Java language.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a new project

Open a new project.
We will be working on Empty Activity with language as Java. Leave all other options unchanged.
You can change the name of the project at your convenience.
There will be two default files named activity_main.xml and MainActivity.java.

If you don’t know how to create a new project in Android Studio then you can refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio?

Step 2: Adding required dependencies

Open Gradle Scripts > build.gradle(module). and use the following dependencies in it-

implementation 'com.iceteck.silicompressorr:silicompressor:2.2.4'
implementation 'com.googlecode.mp4parser:isoparser:1.1.22'

Click on sync now to save the changes.

Step 3: Adding required permissions

Open the AndroidManifest.xml file and add the following permissions to it-

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

Step 4: Working with xml files

Navigate to the app > res > layout > activity_main.xml and add the below code to that file. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file.

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"
    xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent"
    android:orientation="vertical"
    android:padding="16dp"
    android:gravity="center_horizontal"
    tools:context=".MainActivity">

    <Button
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/bt_select"
        android:text="Select Video"/>

    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:clipToPadding="false"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true">
      
        <VideoView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="180dp"
            android:id="@+id/video_view1"
            android:visibility="gone"/>

    </RelativeLayout>

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/TextView1"
        android:text="Original Video"
        android:textSize="20sp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:visibility="gone"
        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"/>
        
    <RelativeLayout
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:clipToPadding="false"
        android:fitsSystemWindows="true">
      
        <VideoView
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="180dp"
            android:id="@+id/Video_view2"
            android:visibility="gone"
            android:layout_marginTop="32dp"/>

  </RelativeLayout>

    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/text_view2"
        android:text="Compressed Video"
        android:textSize="20sp"
        android:textStyle="bold"
        android:visibility="gone"
        android:layout_marginTop="8dp"/>
  
    <TextView
        android:layout_width="wrap_content"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:id="@+id/TextView3"
        android:textSize="16sp"
        android:visibility="gone"
        android:layout_marginTop="4dp"/>
  
</LinearLayout>

Step 5: Working with java files

Go to the MainActivity.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.