Cannot Stream Video (Direct Link Problem)

[RexNguyen]

Hi there, I'm currently trying to stream a video from Dropbox on my web app using Video.JS but I think I have a problem with getting the direct link from Dropbox. The video keeps loading forever.

 

Original link:

[removed]

Direct links I tried:

[removed]
 

[removed]

I tried to load it up using this videojs demo website to load the link up but it keeps loading.

Please advise, thank you so much.

[Hannah]

Hi there, @RexNguyen, thanks for your post.

I removed your links, to keep your account from having traffic issues.

Can you take a look at this thread and let me know if you can find any useful info?

Thanks.

[RexNguyen]

@Hannah Thanks for your answer, Hannah. Unfortunately, it's still not working. Actually, those links you removed are actually in that structure too. I tried to modify the link following this structure:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/<token>/path.jpg?rlkey=<token>&raw=1

To be sure the redirect works, I tried putting that link in n8n to do a HTTP Request and Follow Redirects. It does recognize the data file but the video still not being able to play. Not in n8n or in any web app I tried.

Could you please help? Thanks so much.

[RexNguyen]

@Hannah To update my issue, It seems like only Chrome can show the video directly, I have tried Firefox and Vivaldi without any uBlock or adblock.

Firefox: corrupt file error

Vivaldi: black screen, although show the correct timecode.

I thought it was adblock but it seems like the browser is an issue. Please advise. Thank you!

[Здравко · Accepted solution]

Hi @RexNguyen,

There is other thing that my be relevant to your issue. What is your video encoding? 🧐 Is it by any chance H265? 🤔 (or some other non free)...

[RexNguyen]

Oh! Thanks alot @Здравко . haha. 😄 I guess that was the issue. I exported a new video in H264 to test and it seems to work. I saw the old file have .mp4 so I haven't thought about the encoding.

One more question if you don't mind. I will my team to only use common video encoding. But just in case, can we do anything in our web app to help it runs uncommon ones like H265? or there is nothing we can do since this is a browser issue. Again, thanks a lot! 😁

[Здравко]

The direct answer of you question is No. You cannot do anything.

Just for clarification: The issue is not a technical issue related to one or another browser. The issue is ToS (i.e. legal) issue related to how the rights are granted. In general for H265 usage for individuals and free software are free of charge (I don't cite literally here). It's strange why H265 copyright owner treat Firefox (for instance) as non free! 🤷 I don't know.

This is the actual issue. Only browser that pay their fee can use H265 (contrary to the H265 ToS).

If you have some idea about what that means, please share it.

[RexNguyen]

@Здравко Thank you for your clarification. It appears that legal and patent issues cause each browser to handle things differently. For now, it seems best to stick with the more common encoding.