Audio and Video Not Working in WebView

Vega Open Beta Bug Reports
1

:backhand_index_pointing_right: Bug Description

1. Summary

On Amazon Fire TV, inside WebView, Video, HTML5 audio and Web Audio API playback do not work.
The playback call (video.play(), audio.play() or AudioContext.start()) resolves without throwing any error, but no sound or video is played.

App Name: N/A
App Link on Amazon Appstore: N/A

Bug Severity
Select one that applies

  • Impacts operation of app
  • Blocks current development
  • Improvement suggestion
  • Issue with documentation (If selected, please share the doc link and describe the issue)
  • Other

2. Steps to Reproduce

  1. Load a simple HTML page inside a WebView on Fire TV.
  2. Attempt to play any audio or video element.
  3. Observe the behavior when playback is triggered automatically or programmatically via JavaScript (audio.play() / video.play()).

3. Observed Behavior

  1. No audio or video is played.
  2. No errors or exceptions are thrown in the console.

4. Expected Behavior

  1. Audio and video should play.

4.a Possible Root Cause & Temporary Workaround

N/A

5. Logs or crash report

N/A

6. Environment

  • SDK Version: 0.21.4726

  • App State: Foreground

  • OS Information

    NAME="OS"
OE_VERSION="4.0.0"
OS_MAJOR_VERSION="1"
OS_MINOR_VERSION="1"
RELEASE_ID="10"
OS_VERSION="1.1"
BRANCH_CODE="TV Ship"
BUILD_DESC="OS 1.1 (TV Ship/505)"
BUILD_FINGERPRINT="4.0.173341.0(3072cab629675a74)/505N:user/release-keys"
BUILD_VARIANT="user"
BUILD_TAGS="release-keys"
BUILD_DATE="Thu Oct 23 21:31:39 UTC 2025"
BUILD_TIMESTAMP="1761255099"
VERSION_NUMBER="1001010050520"

7. Example Code Snippet / Screenshots / Screengrabs

import * as React from 'react';
import {useRef} from 'react';
import {View, StyleSheet} from 'react-native';
import {WebView} from '@amazon-devices/webview';

export const App = () => {
  const webRef = useRef(null);
  return (
    <View style={styles.container}>
      <WebView
        ref={webRef}
        style={styles.webview}
        source={{uri: APP_URL}}
        allowSystemKeyEvents={true}
        allowsDefaultMediaControl={true}
        domStorageEnabled={true}
        javaScriptEnabled={true}
        hasTVPreferredFocus={true}
        mediaPlaybackRequiresUserAction={false}
        mixedContentMode="always"
      />
    </View>
  );
};

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  container: {
    flex: 1,
  },
  webview: {
    backgroundColor: '#000000',
  },
});

[wants]

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.webview.renderer_service"

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.media.server"

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.audio.stream"

const a = new Audio('https://www.w3schools.com/html/horse.mp3');
try {
  await a.play();
  console.log('Audio started');
} catch (err) {
  console.error('Play error:', err);
}

:backhand_index_pointing_right: Additional Context

This is probably a similar issue to the one reported in this ticket: WebView video not playing on Fire TV Stick 4K Max (works on Android devices)

The video appears to pause immediately after starting and cannot be unpaused.

1 Like
3

Hi @8bitsten ,

Thank you for the detailed bug report on the WebView audio/video playback issue.

Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update as soon as we have more information.

Thanks for helping us improve the Vega platform.

Warm regards,
Aishwarya

4

Hi @8bitsten,

Our team has investigated this issue and identified the root cause. The problem was due to missing permissions in app’s manifest file. We’ve tested the fix and can confirm that audio and video now work correctly in WebView on Fire TV.

Solution: Add Missing Services and Privileges

Please update your manifest.toml file to include these additional services and privileges:

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.mediametrics.service"  # Required for metrics service

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.gipc.uuid.*"

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.media.playersession.service"

[[wants.privilege]]
id = "com.amazon.devconf.privilege.accessibility"  # Required for captions

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.mediabuffer.service"

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.mediatransform.service"

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.audio.control"

[[wants.service]]
id = "com.amazon.audio.system"

Also add this to your [offers] section:

[offers]
[[offers.service]]
id = "com.amazon.gipc.uuid.*"

Next Steps:

  1. Update your manifest.toml with the above permissions
  2. Rebuild and test your app
  3. The audio and video playback should now work as expected

We’ve verified this fix resolves the issue where video.play() and audio.play() calls were resolving without errors but producing no output.

Thanks for helping us improve the Vega platform, and please let us know if you need any clarification on these changes.

Best regards,
Aishwarya

5

Hello @amen ,

Thank you for your quick response. Your solution helped partially, but not completely.

  1. The AudioContext doesn’t work at all. It behaves very strangely — when I try to play a sound using the AudioContext, nothing is heard. However, if I play a sound through an HTMLAudioElement, then both the Audio element and the AudioContext sounds start playing correctly. For example, if I let background music play through an Audio element and then play sounds through the AudioContext on top of it, they work fine. It also works temporarily if I start playback via an Audio element and then pause it — for a short time afterward, the AudioContext audio continues to work.

  2. The solution for Audio and Video elements works, but after some time (e.g. when playing multiple audio elements and then switching to video), both audio and video playback stop working — the video turns into a black screen and the sound stops completely. Only restarting the app helps. I can’t pinpoint exactly when this happens.
    Do you have any idea what might be causing this?

Best regards.

6

Hi @8bitsten ,

Thanks for the update! This AudioContext behavior is very interesting. To help debug this further, could you share:

  1. AudioContext code snippet - How you’re initializing and using AudioContext

  2. Audio element code - The working HTMLAudioElement implementation

  3. Sequence of events - Step-by-step what triggers the black screen/audio failure

  4. Memory/resource monitoring - Any console warnings about memory or resource limits

Thanks!

7

Hi @amen , I’ve encountered a similar issue (mentioned in Additional Context) on Amazon Fire TV when using React Native.

I originally posted it in the Fire Devices and App Store section, but haven’t received any replies yet. WebView video not playing on Fire TV Stick 4K Max (works on Android devices)

Since this thread discusses what looks like the same problem, could someone from the Amazon team please also review my report? It might help confirm whether the issue affects React Native on Fire OS as well.

Here’s the link to my post for reference: WebView video not playing on Fire TV Stick 4K Max (works on Android devices)

Thanks a lot for taking a look!

8

Hi @O_Karas ,

Thanks for checking in. The team is reviewing the issue and will provide updates on your original post so everything stays in one place. You can expect the follow-up there.

Thanks!