I’m working on a project where I need to accomplish several tasks with Google Drive videos. First, I want to get a list of all my video files stored in my Google Drive account. Then I need to show this list on a webpage so users can see what videos are available.
After that, I want to get the direct URL for a specific video file so I can stream it. The final step would be to use an HTML5 video player to actually play the video on my website.
I’ve been reading different posts online and some people are saying this might not be possible due to Google Drive restrictions. Can someone confirm if this is actually doable or if there are limitations that would prevent this workflow?
Any help or guidance would be really appreciated. Thanks!
I actually implemented something similar about six months ago and ran into the same authentication headaches everyone mentions. What worked for me was using the Drive API to get file metadata and thumbnails for the listing part, but then I had to build a backend endpoint that handles the actual file serving. The key insight is that you cannot rely on direct URLs from Google Drive for consistent streaming because of the token expiration issues. My solution involved creating a proxy endpoint on my server that authenticates with Google Drive, fetches the video data, and streams it to the frontend. This adds some server overhead but gives you much more control over the streaming experience. The HTML5 player works fine once you have a stable endpoint. Just be aware that this approach requires proper error handling for cases where Drive API rate limits kick in.
Been down this road myself and hit some walls. While you can definitely list video files through the Drive API using the files.list endpoint with mimeType filters, the streaming part gets tricky. Google Drive does provide download URLs but they expire and require authentication tokens, which makes direct streaming complicated for web players. The webContentLink works for some cases but has bandwidth limitations and isn’t really designed for streaming. Most developers end up downloading the files to their own server or using a proper video hosting service instead. If you really need to stick with Drive, consider using the export functionality for smaller files or implementing a progressive download approach rather than true streaming.
totally get ya! googles kinda strict with access. you can list files, but streaming has restrictions. i switched to a different solution too, found it easier for handling vids. hope that helps!