google/ExoPlayer · error · IllegalStateException

FileMediaItem isn't supported

Error message

FileMediaItem isn't supported

What it means

DefaultMediaItemConverter.convertToExoPlayerMediaItem rejects androidx.media2 FileMediaItem instances with IllegalStateException. The media2 bridge only knows how to convert URI-addressable items (UriMediaItem); FileMediaItem carries file descriptors/endpoints it has no mapping for, so conversion is explicitly unsupported rather than silently degraded.

Source

Thrown at extensions/media2/src/main/java/com/google/android/exoplayer2/ext/media2/DefaultMediaItemConverter.java:50

/**
 * Default implementation of {@link MediaItemConverter}.
 *
 * <p>Note that {@link #getMetadata} can be overridden to fill in additional metadata when
 * converting {@link MediaItem ExoPlayer MediaItems} to their AndroidX equivalents.
 *
 * @deprecated com.google.android.exoplayer2 is deprecated. Please migrate to androidx.media3 (which
 *     contains the same ExoPlayer code). See <a
 *     href="https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/media/media3/getting-started/migration-guide">the
 *     migration guide</a> for more details, including a script to help with the migration.
 */
@Deprecated
public class DefaultMediaItemConverter implements MediaItemConverter {

  @Override
  public MediaItem convertToExoPlayerMediaItem(androidx.media2.common.MediaItem media2MediaItem) {
    if (media2MediaItem instanceof FileMediaItem) {
      throw new IllegalStateException("FileMediaItem isn't supported");
    }
    if (media2MediaItem instanceof CallbackMediaItem) {
      throw new IllegalStateException("CallbackMediaItem isn't supported");
    }

    @Nullable Uri uri = null;
    @Nullable String mediaId = null;
    @Nullable String title = null;
    if (media2MediaItem instanceof UriMediaItem) {
      UriMediaItem uriMediaItem = (UriMediaItem) media2MediaItem;
      uri = uriMediaItem.getUri();
    }
    @Nullable androidx.media2.common.MediaMetadata metadata = media2MediaItem.getMetadata();
    if (metadata != null) {
      @Nullable String uriString = metadata.getString(METADATA_KEY_MEDIA_URI);
      mediaId = metadata.getString(METADATA_KEY_MEDIA_ID);
      if (uri == null) {
        if (uriString != null) {

View on GitHub (pinned to dd430f7053)

Solutions

1. Replace FileMediaItem with UriMediaItem built from Uri.fromFile(file) (or a file:// URI) so the converter can map it.
2. Better: migrate off the deprecated media2 bridge entirely — convert your data model to ExoPlayer/Media3 MediaItem directly (MediaItem.fromUri / fromFile), since com.google.android.exoplayer2 is deprecated in favor of androidx.media3.
3. If you must keep media2, implement a custom MediaItemConverter that handles FileMediaItem by extracting the file path and producing MediaItem.fromUri.

Example fix

// before
androidx.media2.common.MediaItem item =
    new FileMediaItem.Builder(file).build(); // IllegalStateException in converter

// after
androidx.media2.common.MediaItem item =
    new UriMediaItem.Builder(Uri.fromFile(file)).build(); // convertible

if (media2Item instanceof FileMediaItem) { /* convert manually */ }

static boolean isConvertible(androidx.media2.common.MediaItem item) {
  return item instanceof UriMediaItem; // only UriMediaItem converts cleanly
}

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a media2 androidx.media2.common.FileMediaItem (e.g. created via FileMediaItem.Builder) into SessionPlayer/mediaplayer pipelines backed by ExoPlayer through this converter — i.e. any media2 API surface that funnels MediaItems into an ExoPlayer-based player.

Common situations: Migrating an app from media2 SessionPlayer to ExoPlayer while reusing existing FileMediaItem-creating code; media2 widgets (MediaLibrarySession callbacks) handing back FileMediaItem; assuming 'MediaItem' in media2 and ExoPlayer are interchangeable types.

Related errors

• CallbackMediaItem isn't supported
• Unhandled input format: {inputAudioFormat}

AI-assisted analysis of google/ExoPlayer@dd430f7053 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ebd2baefe899eb84. Report an issue: GitHub.