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Getting Started with Apple FairPlay Streaming Using Axinom DRM

This article provides a general overview and describes the initial steps of integrating with Axinom DRM to use Apple FairPlay Streaming (FPS).

Overview​

To get started using Apple FairPlay Streaming with Axinom DRM, you need to:

  1. Register as an FPS development team with Apple to apply for the FPS Deployment Package (https://developer.apple.com/streaming/fps/)
  2. Obtain a customer-specific FPS data set
  3. Share this data with Axinom to enable FPS communication between your FPS Playback Application and Axinom DRM License Services.
important

Apple released a major new SDK 5.x update in October 2024, introducing support for 2048-bit certificates as the primary benefit. As of December 2024, Axinom continues to use the SDK v4.x workflow, which remains fully supported by Apple and compatible with current and future Apple devices.

This means you should choose the "SDK 4.x" option when generating a new FairPlay certificate to ensure compatibility with Axinom FairPlay DRM.

Axinom will announce once support for the SDK 5.x workflow is added.

note

In an evaluation environment, Axinom’s own test FPS Data Set can be used to speed up initial playback trials. This is used automatically when Axinom’s test FairPlay certificate is utilized on the player-side. This certificate is available here. For production purposes you must obtain your own FPS certificate. You must not use Axinom’s test certificate for production purposes, because there can be downtimes with the Axinom’s test certificate. So if you acquire your own production FPS certificate, there won’t be such downtimes.

warning

The test certificate is only being used by evaluation users who have not yet applied for their own Production certificates from Apple, or who run a separate test environment where the use of a Test certificate is preferred. The test certificate validity period is typically three months. Then it expires and must be renewed. Unfortunately, Apple does not provide the possibility to apply for a new certificate before the current one expires. That’s why we have put a process in place to request a new certificate shortly after expiration. This way the time between expiration and renewal is minimized. So there can be situations where our test certificate is unavailable. So we recommend obtaining your own fairplay certificate by contacting Apple to minimize the interruptions.

Also, some communication protocol and content preparation-related restrictions apply, which are discussed below.

Integration Steps​

Obtain Apple FPS Deployment Package and FPS Data Set​

As a licensed content owner, you need to register your development team with Apple to receive an Application Certificate (AC), a Application Certificate Private Key (PK), and an Application Secret Key (ASK) - collectively called FPS Data Set - and further instructions on how to fully integrate your application with FPS. The FPS Data Set shall be shared with Axinom to facilitate secure FPS communication between your apps and Axinom DRM License Service.

  1. Sign up with Apple Developer Program

    The registration of an Apple development team is required to apply for the FPS Deployment Package.
    For more information, visit the Apple site.

  2. Apply for an FPS Deployment Package

    Once registered, the Team Agent of the development team can apply for the FPS deployment package. The package includes further instructions on how to complete the deployment process, including the generation of the AC, PK, and ASK.

    When prompted, confirm that the FPS Key Security Module (KSM) has already been implemented and tested and that you are requesting the final FPS package.The functionality of KSM is implemented by Axinom.

    You will be asked to select Fairplay Streaming SDK Version. Please select 4.x option from the selection.

    sdk-selection

    You can find the application form here.

    If you don’t get any response from Apple after a week of the above form submission, we would recommend you write an email to fpsrequest@apple.com mentioning your query.

  3. Obtain an FPS Data Set

    You will receive a PDF with detailed instructions on how to obtain the Application Certificate (AC), Private Key (PK), and Application Secret Key (ASK).

    Steps:

    1. Generate a Private Key (PK) and Certificate Signing Request (CSR) following Apple's guidelines, as provided in the shared PDF.

      • You can use the below command to generate an password protected pem file/ private key:
      openssl genrsa -aes256 -out privatekey.pem 1024

    2. Submit your CSR via the Apple portal. As a result, you will receive a Certificate and an Application Secret Key (ASK). Please note that the ASK will only be displayed once, so make sure to store it securely.

    The final FPS Data Set includes the following:

    • FPS Application Certificate (AC)

    • FPS Application Certificate Private Key (PK) in PEM format

    • 16-byte FPS Application Secret Key (ASK) (represented by 32 hex characters).

  4. Share FPS Data Set with Axinom

    The PK, ASK, and AC are required by Axinom DRM to communicate with your FPS Playback Applications. Axinom provides a FairPlay Data Set upload tool and a Management API endpoint to securely share and manage these data. If you have more than one environment, you have to provide an FTP Data Set for each environment separately, although you can use the same FPS Data Set for each environment.

Share FPS Data Set with Axinom​

To share your FPS data with Axinom, you have two options: you can either use the FairPlay Data Set Upload Tool or utilize the Management API.

Please read Sharing FPS data set with Axinom for more details.

Prepare FPS Content for Axinom DRM​

Axinom DRM expects the FairPlay Asset IDs of FPS content to be represented by a UTF-8 string in the format.

Please read Prepare FPS Content for Axinom DRM for more details.

Prepare an FPS Playback Application for Axinom DRM​

Axinom DRM expects license requests made by the FPS Playback Application to be in binary format and without any additional prefixes and suffixes. The application should also expect license responses from Axinom DRM to be in binary format.

Apple’s reference FPS playback application may, by default, send and expect to receive Base64 encoded data with added prefixes when communicating with license services. This behavior must be adjusted.

Other playback application integration steps follow the general Axinom DRM player integration guidelines.

Complete Integration​

To complete integration with Axinom DRM, please refer to the Native iOS Player page.