react-native-video (v6 & v7)

Overview

react-native-video plays video/audio on iOS (AVPlayer), Android (ExoPlayer/Media3), and web (video.js). v6 and v7 are different APIs: v6 is one imperative <Video> component; v7 is a player-object model (useVideoPlayer + VideoView). Work out the version first, then read the matching reference file.

Step 0 — Detect the version FIRST (the most common mistake)

Before giving ANY API advice, find the major version — the surface is fundamentally different:

# easiest: the app's own package.json
cat package.json | grep react-native-video
# exact installed version:
cat node_modules/react-native-video/package.json | grep '"version"'

• v6.x → imperative <Video source paused .../>; control via props + a ref (ref.seek()). Read references/v6/.
• v7.x (incl. 7.0.0-beta.*) → const player = useVideoPlayer(source) + <VideoView player={player} />; control via the player instance (player.seekTo()), events via useEvent. Read references/v7/.