diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/video_player/video_player/CHANGELOG.md
index 58fa0844bbe7..501651126f1b 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 2.3.0
+
+* Adds `allowBackgroundPlayback` to `VideoPlayerOptions`.
+
 ## 2.2.13
 
 * Fixes persisting of hasError even after successful initialize.
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player/example/pubspec.yaml b/packages/video_player/video_player/example/pubspec.yaml
index eef6eb7ab63b..e5a18875a1c2 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/example/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/example/pubspec.yaml
@@ -17,6 +17,11 @@ dependencies:
     # the parent directory to use the current plugin's version.
     path: ../
 
+dependency_overrides:
+  video_player_platform_interface:
+    path:
+      ../../video_player_platform_interface
+
 dev_dependencies:
   flutter_test:
     sdk: flutter
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart b/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart
index 3d4e1c6aa599..e7b2e4deb5a4 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ class VideoPlayerController extends ValueNotifier<VideoPlayerValue> {
   bool _isDisposed = false;
   Completer<void>? _creatingCompleter;
   StreamSubscription<dynamic>? _eventSubscription;
-  late _VideoAppLifeCycleObserver _lifeCycleObserver;
+  _VideoAppLifeCycleObserver? _lifeCycleObserver;
 
   /// The id of a texture that hasn't been initialized.
   @visibleForTesting
@@ -299,8 +299,12 @@ class VideoPlayerController extends ValueNotifier<VideoPlayerValue> {
 
   /// Attempts to open the given [dataSource] and load metadata about the video.
   Future<void> initialize() async {
-    _lifeCycleObserver = _VideoAppLifeCycleObserver(this);
-    _lifeCycleObserver.initialize();
+    final allowBackgroundPlayback =
+        videoPlayerOptions?.allowBackgroundPlayback ?? false;
+    if (!allowBackgroundPlayback) {
+      _lifeCycleObserver = _VideoAppLifeCycleObserver(this);
+    }
+    _lifeCycleObserver?.initialize();
     _creatingCompleter = Completer<void>();
 
     late DataSource dataSourceDescription;
@@ -415,7 +419,7 @@ class VideoPlayerController extends ValueNotifier<VideoPlayerValue> {
         await _eventSubscription?.cancel();
         await _videoPlayerPlatform.dispose(_textureId);
       }
-      _lifeCycleObserver.dispose();
+      _lifeCycleObserver?.dispose();
     }
     _isDisposed = true;
     super.dispose();
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player/pubspec.yaml b/packages/video_player/video_player/pubspec.yaml
index 98c9b950871b..db884297b611 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/pubspec.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@ description: Flutter plugin for displaying inline video with other Flutter
   widgets on Android, iOS, and web.
 repository: https://github.com/flutter/plugins/tree/master/packages/video_player/video_player
 issue_tracker: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22p%3A+video_player%22
-version: 2.2.13
+
+version: 2.3.0
 
 environment:
   sdk: ">=2.14.0 <3.0.0"
@@ -23,10 +24,17 @@ flutter:
 dependencies:
   flutter:
     sdk: flutter
-  video_player_platform_interface: ">=4.2.0 <6.0.0"
+  video_player_platform_interface:
+    path:
+      ../video_player_platform_interface
   video_player_web: ^2.0.0
   html: ^0.15.0
 
+dependency_overrides:
+  video_player_platform_interface:
+    path:
+      ../video_player_platform_interface
+
 dev_dependencies:
   flutter_test:
     sdk: flutter
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player/test/video_player_test.dart b/packages/video_player/video_player/test/video_player_test.dart
index 08eecb618f41..82e0005799d8 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/test/video_player_test.dart
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/test/video_player_test.dart
@@ -95,6 +95,22 @@ class _FakeClosedCaptionFile extends ClosedCaptionFile {
 }
 
 void main() {
+  void verifyAppLifeCycle(
+    VideoPlayerController controller, {
+    required bool isObserving,
+  }) {
+    final wasPlayingBeforePause = controller.value.isPlaying;
+    WidgetsBinding.instance!
+        .handleAppLifecycleStateChanged(AppLifecycleState.paused);
+    expect(
+      controller.value.isPlaying,
+      isObserving ? false : wasPlayingBeforePause,
+    );
+    WidgetsBinding.instance!
+        .handleAppLifecycleStateChanged(AppLifecycleState.resumed);
+    expect(controller.value.isPlaying, wasPlayingBeforePause);
+  }
+
   testWidgets('update texture', (WidgetTester tester) async {
     final FakeController controller = FakeController();
     await tester.pumpWidget(VideoPlayer(controller));
@@ -189,6 +205,15 @@ void main() {
     });
 
     group('initialize', () {
+      test('started app lifecycle observing', () async {
+        final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.network(
+          'https://127.0.0.1',
+        );
+        await controller.initialize();
+        await controller.play();
+        verifyAppLifeCycle(controller, isObserving: true);
+      });
+
       test('asset', () async {
         final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.asset(
           'a.avi',
@@ -810,6 +835,30 @@ void main() {
     });
   });
 
+  group('VideoPlayerOptions', () {
+    test('setMixWithOthers', () async {
+      final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.file(
+          File(''),
+          videoPlayerOptions: VideoPlayerOptions(mixWithOthers: true));
+      await controller.initialize();
+      expect(controller.videoPlayerOptions!.mixWithOthers, true);
+    });
+
+    [true, false].forEach((allowBackgroundPlayback) {
+      test('allowBackgroundPlayback is $allowBackgroundPlayback', () async {
+        final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.file(
+          File(''),
+          videoPlayerOptions: VideoPlayerOptions(
+            allowBackgroundPlayback: allowBackgroundPlayback,
+          ),
+        );
+        await controller.initialize();
+        await controller.play();
+        verifyAppLifeCycle(controller, isObserving: !allowBackgroundPlayback);
+      });
+    });
+  });
+
   test('VideoProgressColors', () {
     const Color playedColor = Color.fromRGBO(0, 0, 255, 0.75);
     const Color bufferedColor = Color.fromRGBO(0, 255, 0, 0.5);
@@ -824,14 +873,6 @@ void main() {
     expect(colors.bufferedColor, bufferedColor);
     expect(colors.backgroundColor, backgroundColor);
   });
-
-  test('setMixWithOthers', () async {
-    final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.file(
-        File(''),
-        videoPlayerOptions: VideoPlayerOptions(mixWithOthers: true));
-    await controller.initialize();
-    expect(controller.videoPlayerOptions!.mixWithOthers, true);
-  });
 }
 
 class FakeVideoPlayerPlatform extends VideoPlayerPlatform {
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/CHANGELOG.md
index bf51960bcb40..cf2ffda1b2fb 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 5.1.0
+
+* Adds `allowBackgroundPlayback` to `VideoPlayerOptions`.
+
 ## 5.0.1
 
 * Update to use the `verify` method introduced in platform_plugin_interface 2.1.0.
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/lib/video_player_platform_interface.dart b/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/lib/video_player_platform_interface.dart
index 451537ad1f12..e87185ac481b 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/lib/video_player_platform_interface.dart
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/lib/video_player_platform_interface.dart
@@ -329,6 +329,10 @@ class DurationRange {
 
 /// [VideoPlayerOptions] can be optionally used to set additional player settings
 class VideoPlayerOptions {
+  /// Set this to true to keep playing video in background, when app goes in background.
+  /// The default value is false.
+  final bool allowBackgroundPlayback;
+
   /// Set this to true to mix the video players audio with other audio sources.
   /// The default value is false
   ///
@@ -337,5 +341,8 @@ class VideoPlayerOptions {
   final bool mixWithOthers;
 
   /// set additional optional player settings
-  VideoPlayerOptions({this.mixWithOthers = false});
+  VideoPlayerOptions({
+    this.mixWithOthers = false,
+    this.allowBackgroundPlayback = false,
+  });
 }
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/pubspec.yaml b/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/pubspec.yaml
index 986ca913be62..9fedc5b09756 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player_platform_interface/pubspec.yaml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ repository: https://github.com/flutter/plugins/tree/master/packages/video_player
 issue_tracker: https://github.com/flutter/flutter/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22p%3A+video_player%22
 # NOTE: We strongly prefer non-breaking changes, even at the expense of a
 # less-clean API. See https://flutter.dev/go/platform-interface-breaking-changes
-version: 5.0.1
+version: 5.1.0
 
 environment:
   sdk: ">=2.12.0 <3.0.0"