Streaming a video file to an html5 video player with Node.js so that the video controls continue to work?

Question

Tl;Dr - The Question:

What is the right way to handle streaming a video file to an html5 video player with Node.js so that the video controls continue to work?

I think it has to do with the way that the headers are handled. Anyway, here's the background information. The code is a little lengthy, however, it's pretty straightforward.

Streaming small video files to HTML5 video with Node is easy

I learned how to stream small video files to an HTML5 video player very easily. With this setup, the controls work without any work on my part, and the video streams flawlessly. A working copy of the fully working code with sample video is here, for download on Google Docs.

Client:

<html>
  <title>Welcome</title>
    <body>
      <video controls>
        <source src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4"/>
        <source src="movie.webm" type="video/webm"/>
        <source src="movie.ogg" type="video/ogg"/>
        <!-- fallback -->
        Your browser does not support the <code>video</code> element.
    </video>
  </body>
</html>

Server:

// Declare Vars & Read Files

var fs = require('fs'),
    http = require('http'),
    url = require('url'),
    path = require('path');
var movie_webm, movie_mp4, movie_ogg;
// ... [snip] ... (Read index page)
fs.readFile(path.resolve(__dirname,"movie.mp4"), function (err, data) {
    if (err) {
        throw err;
    }
    movie_mp4 = data;
});
// ... [snip] ... (Read two other formats for the video)

// Serve & Stream Video

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
    // ... [snip] ... (Serve client files)
    var total;
    if (reqResource == "/movie.mp4") {
        total = movie_mp4.length;
    }
    // ... [snip] ... handle two other formats for the video
    var range = req.headers.range;
    var positions = range.replace(/bytes=/, "").split("-");
    var start = parseInt(positions[0], 10);
    var end = positions[1] ? parseInt(positions[1], 10) : total - 1;
    var chunksize = (end - start) + 1;
    if (reqResource == "/movie.mp4") {
        res.writeHead(206, {
            "Content-Range": "bytes " + start + "-" + end + "/" + total,
                "Accept-Ranges": "bytes",
                "Content-Length": chunksize,
                "Content-Type": "video/mp4"
        });
        res.end(movie_mp4.slice(start, end + 1), "binary");
    }
    // ... [snip] ... handle two other formats for the video
}).listen(8888);

But this method is limited to files < 1GB in size.

Streaming (any size) video files with `fs.createReadStream`

By utilizing fs.createReadStream(), the server can read the file in a stream rather than reading it all into memory at once. This sounds like the right way to do things, and the syntax is extremely simple:

Server Snippet:

movieStream = fs.createReadStream(pathToFile);
movieStream.on('open', function () {
    res.writeHead(206, {
        "Content-Range": "bytes " + start + "-" + end + "/" + total,
            "Accept-Ranges": "bytes",
            "Content-Length": chunksize,
            "Content-Type": "video/mp4"
    });
    // This just pipes the read stream to the response object (which goes 
    //to the client)
    movieStream.pipe(res);
});

movieStream.on('error', function (err) {
    res.end(err);
});

This streams the video just fine! But the video controls no longer work.

I left that writeHead() code commented, but there in case it helps. Should I remove that to make the code snippet more readable? — WebDeveloper404
where does req.headers.range come from? I keep getting undefined when I try to do the replace method. Thanks. — Chad Watkins

tungd tungd · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-27T01:29:29

The Accept Ranges header (the bit in writeHead()) is required for the HTML5 video controls to work.

I think instead of just blindly send the full file, you should first check the Accept Ranges header in the REQUEST, then read in and send just that bit. fs.createReadStream support start, and end option for that.

So I tried an example and it works. The code is not pretty but it is easy to understand. First we process the range header to get the start/end position. Then we use fs.stat to get the size of the file without reading the whole file into memory. Finally, use fs.createReadStream to send the requested part to the client.

var fs = require("fs"),
    http = require("http"),
    url = require("url"),
    path = require("path");

http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  if (req.url != "/movie.mp4") {
    res.writeHead(200, { "Content-Type": "text/html" });
    res.end('<video src="http://localhost:8888/movie.mp4" controls></video>');
  } else {
    var file = path.resolve(__dirname,"movie.mp4");
    fs.stat(file, function(err, stats) {
      if (err) {
        if (err.code === 'ENOENT') {
          // 404 Error if file not found
          return res.sendStatus(404);
        }
      res.end(err);
      }
      var range = req.headers.range;
      if (!range) {
       // 416 Wrong range
       return res.sendStatus(416);
      }
      var positions = range.replace(/bytes=/, "").split("-");
      var start = parseInt(positions[0], 10);
      var total = stats.size;
      var end = positions[1] ? parseInt(positions[1], 10) : total - 1;
      var chunksize = (end - start) + 1;

      res.writeHead(206, {
        "Content-Range": "bytes " + start + "-" + end + "/" + total,
        "Accept-Ranges": "bytes",
        "Content-Length": chunksize,
        "Content-Type": "video/mp4"
      });

      var stream = fs.createReadStream(file, { start: start, end: end })
        .on("open", function() {
          stream.pipe(res);
        }).on("error", function(err) {
          res.end(err);
        });
    });
  }
}).listen(8888);

Streaming a video file to an html5 video player with Node.js so that the video controls continue to work?

Tl;Dr - The Question:

Streaming small video files to HTML5 video with Node is easy

Streaming (any size) video files with fs.createReadStream

3 Answers

Streaming (any size) video files with `fs.createReadStream`