NOVA is an open source video player for Android that evolved from a fork of the Archos Video Player Community Edition to support new features and ongoing development.
The project addresses the need for a capable, community-maintained video player on Android. It organizes its codebase across multiple repositories managed through a manifest-based build system: the Video UI, media library management, file management, and a C core multimedia engine built on ffmpeg. This modular architecture allows developers to work on specific components independently while maintaining a unified build process. The tool uses prebuilt binaries for ffmpeg, dav1d, and torrentd to reduce compilation time and external dependencies, though developers can trigger full rebuilds when needed.
NOVA suits developers and users seeking an open source alternative to proprietary Android video players with active maintenance and feature development. The project distributes through multiple channels including Google Play, F-Droid, GitHub releases, and other app stores, making it accessible regardless of platform preference. Those building from source will need the Android SDK and NDK, with Docker support available for simplified setup on non-Linux systems.
The project maintains a structured development workflow with GitHub Actions automation for builds and a documented FAQ for common questions. Development activity shows consistent attention to the codebase with organized repository management through the manifest system and deliberate decisions about build optimization, such as committing prebuilt binaries to reduce compilation overhead while preserving the option for full rebuilds when dependencies update.
