I noticed that Google Drive shows videos using Flash technology when you view them in the browser. I’m working on a web project where I need to display videos stored in Google Drive using a standard HTML5 video element instead of Flash.
Is there a way to use the Google Drive API to get a direct streaming URL for video files? I want to be able to point my HTML5 video player directly to the video content without having to rely on Flash or Google’s default video viewer.
Has anyone successfully implemented this kind of video streaming setup? I’m looking for a solution that would let me embed videos from Google Drive into my own website using modern HTML5 video tags.
tried both methods last month - ran into problems with each. the alt=media approach works but google’s rate limiting hits fast. I switched to exportLinks for mp4 format and got much better html5 playback. don’t forget to catch those 403 errors when you hit quota limits. i had to add exponential backoff or videos would randomly break.
I’ve been doing Google Drive video integration for two years - there’s an easier way than what benmoore suggested. Skip webContentLink and use the files.get endpoint with alt=media instead. You’ll get a streaming URL that actually works well with HTML5 video.
Make sure your video files have the correct MIME type in Drive or browsers won’t play them. Google Drive throttles video streaming pretty hard, so you’ll need caching for high traffic. Might be better off with Cloud Storage if you’re expecting lots of users.
Auth tokens work but they mess with video seeking since browsers make extra range requests.
You can achieve this using the Google Drive API by utilizing the webContentLink property. When you retrieve a video file, the response provides a webContentLink that allows direct access. However, ensure you include the proper authentication headers for the HTML5 video element to function correctly. In a recent project with React, I found it necessary to either append the access token as a parameter or include it in the Authorization header. Keep in mind that managing CORS and confirming the video file’s sharing settings is crucial; it must be public or configured with the appropriate OAuth scopes. Also, be cautious with large video files, as they may not stream efficiently; considering chunked requests could help with that.