Guides
Practical writing about media playback on Android — written by the people who build PurePlay, tested on real devices, updated when Android changes.
How to play MKV files on Android without ads (2026 guide)
MKV is a container, not a codec — and that is the whole reason some players fail. What is inside the file, which Android devices can decode it, and how to play it cleanly.
FormatsHEVC/H.265 on Android: why 4K videos stutter and how to fix it
Hardware decoding, 10-bit colour, HDR, and the specific settings that turn a stuttering 4K film into smooth playback — or explain why it cannot be smooth.
SubtitlesSubtitles out of sync? A practical fix for SRT and ASS
Why subtitles drift, when a delay offset is enough, and how to repair the timestamps in the file itself so every player agrees.
PlaybackAudio and video out of sync: causes and the 30-second fix
Why sound leads or lags the picture, how audio delay works, and when the problem is the file rather than the player.
MusicFLAC, ALAC and the truth about lossless audio on phones
What lossless actually gets you on a phone, why some apps cannot play it, and how to keep your library in one format.
EngineeringWhat LibVLC actually does inside an Android player
A plain-language tour of the engine behind VLC: demuxing, decoding, rendering, and why it handles so many formats.
PrivacyMedia permissions on Android: what a player should and should not ask for
Scoped storage, the media permission split since Android 13, and how to check whether a video app can see more than it needs.