AVRC is a Bluetooth profile that allows remote control of media playback on other devices. Supported functions are play, pause, stop, next, and previous.
It is usually coupled with A2DP so that, for example, wireless headphones use A2DP to stream the music and AVRC to control playback.
Audio/Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)
This profile is designed to provide a standard interface to control TVs, Hi-fi equipment, etc. to allow a single remote control (or other device) to control all of the A/V equipment to which a user has access. It may be used in concert with A2DP or VDP. It is commonly used in car navigation systems to control streaming Bluetooth audio.
It also has the possibility for vendor-dependent extensions.
AVRCP has several versions with significantly increasing functionality:
- 1.0 — Basic remote control commands (play/pause/stop, etc.)
- 1.3 — all of 1.0 plus metadata and media-player state support
- The status of the music source (playing, stopped, etc.)
- Metadata information on the track itself (artist, track name, etc.).
- 1.4 — all of 1.3 plus media browsing capabilities for multiple media players
- Browsing and manipulation of multiple players
- Browsing of media metadata per media player, including a “Now Playing” list
- Basic search capabilities
- Support for Absolute volume
- 1.5 — all of 1.4 plus specification corrections and clarifications to absolute volume control, browsing and other features
- 1.6 — all of 1.5 plus browsing data and track information]
- Number of items that are in a folder without downloading the list
- Support for transmitting cover arts through the BIP over OBEX protocol.
What is the Audio Video Remote Control Profile (AVRCP)?
AVRCP provides the capabilities, using the buttons on the AVRCP supported device, to:
- play music.
- pause music:
- stop music
- skip to the next or previous track
Note: A smartphone that is paired with the AVRCP-supported device must also support the same Bluetooth profile. Some AVRCP-supported devices do not have buttons to support all features.
If a device supports AVRCP, it can control a music player that is installed, for example on a smartphone, only if the music player also supports AVRCP. The majority of music players do support AVRCP. Refer to the online information for your specific music player, computer, smartphone, or tablet to check whether it supports AVRCP.
