diff --git a/libraries/test_utils/src/main/java/androidx/media3/test/utils/TestUtil.java b/libraries/test_utils/src/main/java/androidx/media3/test/utils/TestUtil.java
index bdc511ecec..8fd691b18c 100644
--- a/libraries/test_utils/src/main/java/androidx/media3/test/utils/TestUtil.java
+++ b/libraries/test_utils/src/main/java/androidx/media3/test/utils/TestUtil.java
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ import java.lang.reflect.Modifier;
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
 import java.nio.ByteOrder;
 import java.nio.FloatBuffer;
+import java.nio.ShortBuffer;
 import java.util.ArrayDeque;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Arrays;
@@ -175,6 +176,14 @@ public class TestUtil {
     return content;
   }
 
+  /** Gets the underlying data of the {@link ByteBuffer} as a {@code short[]}. */
+  public static short[] createShortArray(ByteBuffer byteBuffer) {
+    ShortBuffer buffer = byteBuffer.asShortBuffer();
+    short[] content = new short[buffer.remaining()];
+    buffer.get(content);
+    return content;
+  }
+
   /** Creates a {@link ByteBuffer} containing the {@code data}. */
   public static ByteBuffer createByteBuffer(float[] data) {
     ByteBuffer buffer =