- Qt 6.8
- Qt Multimedia
- Multimedia Overview
- Qt 6.8.1 Reference Documentation

# Multimedia Overview

Multimedia support in Qt is provided by the Qt Multimedia module. The Qt Multimedia module provides a rich feature set that enables you to easily take advantage of a platform's multimedia capabilities, such as media playback and the use of camera devices.

## Features

Here are some things you can do with the Qt Multimedia APIs:

- Access raw audio devices for input and output.
- Play low latency sound effects.
- Play 3D spatial audio.
- Play media files in playlists (such as compressed audio or video files).
- Record audio and compress it.
- Use a camera, including viewfinder, image capture, and movie recording
- Decode audio media files into memory for processing.

## Multimedia Components

The Qt Multimedia APIs are categorized into three main components. More information specific to each component is available in the overview pages. You can also take a look at some recipes.

- Audio Overview
- Video Overview
- Camera Overview
- Spatial Audio Overview (Technology Preview)

## Multimedia Recipes

For some quick recipes, see this table:

Use case | Examples | QML Types | C++ Classes
--- | --- | --- | ---
Playing a sound effect |  | SoundEffect | QSoundEffect
Playing 3D sound | audiopanning | SpatialSound, AudioEngine | QSpatialSound, QAudioEngine
Playing encoded audio (MP3, AAC etc) | player | MediaPlayer | QMediaPlayer
Playing raw audio data with low latency | audiooutput |  | QAudioSink
Accessing raw audio input data | spectrum, audiosource |  | QAudioSource
Recording encoded audio data | audiorecorder | CaptureSession, AudioInput, MediaRecorder | QMediaCaptureSession, QAudioInput, QMediaRecorder
Discovering audio and video devices | audiodevices | MediaDevices, audioDevice, cameraDevice | QMediaDevices, QAudioDevice, QCameraDevice
Video Playback | player, mediaplayer | MediaPlayer, VideoOutput, Video | QMediaPlayer, QVideoWidget, QGraphicsVideoItem
Capturing audio and video | camera, recorder | CaptureSession, Camera, AudioInput VideoOutput | QMediaCaptureSession, QCamera, QAudioInput, QVideoWidget
Capturing photos | camera, recorder | CaptureSession, Camera, ImageCapture | QMediaCaptureSession, QCamera, QImageCapture
Capturing movies | camera, recorder | CaptureSession, Camera, MediaRecorder | QMediaCaptureSession, QCamera, QMediaRecorder

## Limitations

The Qt Multimedia APIs build upon the multimedia framework of the underlying platform. This can mean that support for various codecs, or containers will vary between machines. This support depends on what the end user has installed. See Supported Media Formats for more detail.

Note: Qt Multimedia APIs depend on functionality provided by QCoreApplication, and multimedia objects created using the Qt Multimedia APIs can only be used during the lifetime of this application object. It is therefore important to create a QCoreApplication, QGuiApplication, or QApplication before accessing any of the Qt Multimedia APIs. If the application object is recreated, make sure that any Qt Multimedia objects are also recreated.

## Changes from Previous Versions

If you previously used Qt Multimedia in Qt 5, see Changes to Qt Multimedia for more information on what has changed, and what you might need to change when porting code to Qt 6.

## Reference Documentation

- C++ Classes
- QML Types