diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player/CHANGELOG.md b/packages/video_player/video_player/CHANGELOG.md
index ee0accb22c79..a44f0e352e66 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`.
+
 ## 2.2.19
 
 * Internal code cleanup for stricter analysis options.
diff --git a/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart b/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart
index 672ba2efcde3..b77c530b5831 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/lib/video_player.dart
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ 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
@@ -309,8 +309,12 @@ 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 bool allowBackgroundPlayback =
+        videoPlayerOptions?.allowBackgroundPlayback ?? false;
+    if (!allowBackgroundPlayback) {
+      _lifeCycleObserver = _VideoAppLifeCycleObserver(this);
+    }
+    _lifeCycleObserver?.initialize();
     _creatingCompleter = Completer<void>();
 
     late DataSource dataSourceDescription;
@@ -423,7 +427,7 @@ 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 2f6e28919d00..d58de120541b 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/pubspec.yaml
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/pubspec.yaml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ description: Flutter plugin for displaying inline video with other Flutter
   widgets on Android, iOS, and web.
 repository: https://github.com/flutter/plugins/tree/main/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: 2.2.19
+version: 2.3.0
 
 environment:
   sdk: ">=2.14.0 <3.0.0"
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ dependencies:
   html: ^0.15.0
   video_player_android: ^2.2.17
   video_player_avfoundation: ^2.2.17
-  video_player_platform_interface: ">=4.2.0 <6.0.0"
+  video_player_platform_interface: ^5.1.0
   video_player_web: ^2.0.0
 
 dev_dependencies:
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 07afd0f65402..5e31e22c7010 100644
--- a/packages/video_player/video_player/test/video_player_test.dart
+++ b/packages/video_player/video_player/test/video_player_test.dart
@@ -98,6 +98,19 @@ class _FakeClosedCaptionFile extends ClosedCaptionFile {
 }
 
 void main() {
+  void _verifyPlayStateRespondsToLifecycle(
+    VideoPlayerController controller, {
+    required bool shouldPlayInBackground,
+  }) {
+    expect(controller.value.isPlaying, true);
+    _ambiguate(WidgetsBinding.instance)!
+        .handleAppLifecycleStateChanged(AppLifecycleState.paused);
+    expect(controller.value.isPlaying, shouldPlayInBackground);
+    _ambiguate(WidgetsBinding.instance)!
+        .handleAppLifecycleStateChanged(AppLifecycleState.resumed);
+    expect(controller.value.isPlaying, true);
+  }
+
   testWidgets('update texture', (WidgetTester tester) async {
     final FakeController controller = FakeController();
     await tester.pumpWidget(VideoPlayer(controller));
@@ -194,6 +207,16 @@ 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();
+        _verifyPlayStateRespondsToLifecycle(controller,
+            shouldPlayInBackground: false);
+      });
+
       test('asset', () async {
         final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.asset(
           'a.avi',
@@ -900,6 +923,46 @@ 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);
+    });
+
+    test('true allowBackgroundPlayback continues playback', () async {
+      final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.file(
+        File(''),
+        videoPlayerOptions: VideoPlayerOptions(
+          allowBackgroundPlayback: true,
+        ),
+      );
+      await controller.initialize();
+      await controller.play();
+      _verifyPlayStateRespondsToLifecycle(
+        controller,
+        shouldPlayInBackground: true,
+      );
+    });
+
+    test('false allowBackgroundPlayback pauses playback', () async {
+      final VideoPlayerController controller = VideoPlayerController.file(
+        File(''),
+        videoPlayerOptions: VideoPlayerOptions(
+          allowBackgroundPlayback: false,
+        ),
+      );
+      await controller.initialize();
+      await controller.play();
+      _verifyPlayStateRespondsToLifecycle(
+        controller,
+        shouldPlayInBackground: false,
+      );
+    });
+  });
+
   test('VideoProgressColors', () {
     const Color playedColor = Color.fromRGBO(0, 0, 255, 0.75);
     const Color bufferedColor = Color.fromRGBO(0, 255, 0, 0.5);
@@ -914,14 +977,6 @@ 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 {
@@ -1010,3 +1065,9 @@ class FakeVideoPlayerPlatform extends VideoPlayerPlatform {
     calls.add('setMixWithOthers');
   }
 }
+
+/// This allows a value of type T or T? to be treated as a value of type T?.
+///
+/// We use this so that APIs that have become non-nullable can still be used
+/// with `!` and `?` on the stable branch.
+T? _ambiguate<T>(T? value) => value;