Stream Content from a Content Provider
Alexa can play music and other content from external content providers, including Amazon Music, Audible, TuneIn, and audio streaming through Alexa Skills. Access to streaming audio content through the Alexa Voice Service (AVS) is essential to a good user experience with Alexa.
Required AVS interfaces
Implement following AVS interfaces to stream content from an external provider to your device users:
These interfaces control playback and send progress reports to AVS.
Optional developer resources for content streaming
If you are implementing the Multi-Room Music (MRM) SDK on your device, the MRM library classes include functionality to retrieve and decode audio content from Music Service Providers.
If your device uses a Connected Speaker Skill to control music on external audio systems, learn more about the Connected Speakers APIs.
Audio format support
To learn which audio formats to support for codecs, containers, streaming formats, and playlists, see Recommended Media Support.
Add visual content for streaming media
If your device has a display, the Alexa Presentation Language (APL) allows you to render visual content that corresponds to the audio playback. For example, if a user is streaming a particular song, you can show a display card that identifies the song title and artist. To learn more, see Alexa Multimodal API Overview.
Certification
If your device supports access to external streaming content through AVS, music certification is required by Amazon Music, TuneIn, and iHeartRadio. To learn more about music certification, see Product Testing Process.
Last updated: Nov 27, 2023