Google Drive Video Streaming: 5 Answers

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How does Google Drive video streaming work ? Internally how does it
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stream the video, does it use HTTP based streaming or other protocols? I am
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demo server to just get a stream of video and display on the webpage. If
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OK, I've just managed to get this working as follows ‐
In google drive I placed the video file in a publicly shared folder then
rightclick the file and select share > share..
Google then gives me a link to share that looks like
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4BsAbG4atWHQzVfLUU3UnhhZTA/edit?usp=sharing
I've cut what I guessed to be the file ID from the URL ‐
0B4BsAbG4atWHQzVfLUU3UnhhZTA
And added it to metal7's url to create a src attribute for a source tag
<source src="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B4BsAbG4atWHQzVfL
Now I've got a video working with the following html.
<html>
<head>
<title>Video Test</title>
</head>
<body>
<video controls="controls">
<source src="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B4BsAbG4a
</video>
</body>
</html>
A lot of people seem to be suggesting creating an API app in order to get

the file ID, but it looks like you can guess it pretty easy. That said, I'd be
interested to see some proper documentation from google on it ‐ I want to
use this in production, but feel like I need to do more reading to be
confident.
UPDATE
I've done a bit more reading and I'm afraid the video will only play on
browsers that are logged into a google account. I spent a lot of time trying
to get around this ﴾inc building a google drive app with the api﴿, I'm afraid it
looks like there's no way round it.
Don't use google drive to serve up video in html unless you know all your
users will be authenticated with google.
Share Follow edited Jan 3 '14 at 17:52
answered Sep 26 '13 at 14:44

Aidan Ewen
12k 8 60 81
As of Aug. 2014, I can stream video ﴾mp4 or webm﴿ from GDrive to many
devices ﴾Nexus7, MacBook Air, iPad Air, Windows PC﴿ using any modern
browser ﴾Chrome, Firefox, Safari﴿ without being logged into a Google account. I
play the videos in an HTML5 video element. – devdanke Aug 11 '14 at 8:38
@devdanke How can you do that? Can you give some snip code? – Han Tran
Oct 23 '14 at 2:14
1 @devdanke You can do it by just replace your video file id in last of this url
given below; drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=<file‐id>
– Saeed Afzal Mar 6 '15 at 1:55
1 Well, if the video file is bigger than the virus scan limit ﴾~25MB﴿ a warning
about the file not being scanned therefore may contain virus will be returned
instead of the correct video file. This prevents the browser from playing
correctly. – Johnson Steward Aug 3 '17 at 6:59
Add a comment
Use the URL like this:
https://googledrive.com/host/{YOUR_VIDEO_ID}
e.g. https://googledrive.com/host/01bLAblaBla01BlaBLaBlaBLaBLA
It's works with HTML5 ﴾video tag﴿ and other like videojs, and more...
Share Follow edited May 9 '16 at 8:34

answered May 8 '16 at 20:36
seq
187 2 5
@seq ‐ this with audio tag doesn't work for me can you please take a look at
my question here : stackoverflow.com/questions/41904057/… thanks
– Kukula Mula Jan 27 '17 at 22:32
@KukulaMula Did you find a solution to this? – SeaBass Oct 23 '18 at 19:16
Probably Google disabled this opportunity. I had to buy web hosting service. It
was almost two years ago. – seq Oct 24 '18 at 20:25
Add a comment
None of the these solutions work anymore. This works. The viewer does not
need to be logged into their Google account to view the video.
1. Get the shareable link to your video by clicking on the video in your
Google drive, and click on that paper clip‐like icon in the top link
2. Turn link sharing on
3. Open the link
4. In the video, click on the three dots icon on the upper right, and then
click on 'Embed item'. You'll then have the code you can put into your
HTML. It'll look something like this:
<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/<video id>/preview"
width="640" height="480"></iframe>
Share Follow answered Sep 12 '19 at 15:49

user2233706
3,739 3 27 52
Add a comment
1
Internally when viewed in Google Drive's web page viewer, Google Drive
streams videos over HTTPS/443. There is only one connection made for the
video itself and that connection is kept open as long as the video is being
streamed from Google Drive to the client.
Google Drive uses an HTTP CONNECT call. Headers look like this:
CONNECT r3‐‐‐sn‐p5qlsu68.c.docs.google.com:443 HTTP/1.1
Host: r3‐‐‐sn‐p5qlsu68.c.docs.google.com
Proxy‐Connection: keep‐alive
User‐Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, lik
Share Follow edited Aug 28 '13 at 10:33
answered Aug 28 '13 at 4:26

Samuel Neff
68.7k 16 126 171
2 We can access the video like this in HTML5‐ <source

src="drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=<file‐id>"
type='video/webm' /> . The file‐id is available from Google Drive when we click
on share video. The file should be shared in order to access the stream.
– metal7 Aug 28 '13 at 4:55
@metal7 hi do you know a way to get this to work if the file is "too big for a
virus scan"? – bluejayke Jan 14 '19 at 5:34
Also I was able to rerieve a link like r5‐‐‐sn‐a5meknel.c.docs.google.com/… but

when I try to open it in another browser I get a 403 error, any ideas?
– bluejayke Mar 27 '19 at 10:42
Add a comment
I did some tests myself, and the video is streamable ﴾over HTTP﴿ to public
clients so long as the file is shared publicly on Google Drive.
The get the file to play using regular HTTP streaming, you can use the
HTML5 video tag like so:
<video controls="controls">
<!‐‐ Safari ‐‐>
<source src="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B0JMGMGgxp9WM
<!‐‐ Chrome and FF ‐‐>
<source src="https://drive.google.com/uc?export=download&id=0B0JMGMGgxp9WM
</video>
This method is explained further over on: http://sourcey.com/html5‐video‐

streaming‐from‐google‐drive/
Share Follow answered May 4 '14 at 14:51

Kamo
222 2 4
1 I don't think this method is working anymore unfortunately. On their webpage

you linked to, the video doesn't play. And when I test with my own video, its
not working for me in chrome. – bmiskie Feb 12 '18 at 21:37
Any solution to this? – SeaBass Oct 23 '18 at 19:15
Add a comment
Highly active question. Earn 10 reputation ﴾not counting the association bonus﴿
in order to answer this question. The reputation requirement helps protect this
question from spam and non‐answer activity.
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged
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5 Answers Active Oldest Votes

OK, I've just managed to get this working as follows ‐

Google then gives me a link to share that looks like

I've cut what I guessed to be the file ID from the URL ‐

Now I've got a video working with the following html.

A lot of people seem to be suggesting creating an API app in order to get

Share Follow edited Jan 3 '14 at 17:52

answered Sep 26 '13 at 14:44

Use the URL like this:

Share Follow edited May 9 '16 at 8:34

Share Follow answered Sep 12 '19 at 15:49

Share Follow edited Aug 28 '13 at 10:33

answered Aug 28 '13 at 4:26

2 We can access the video like this in HTML5‐ <source

Also I was able to rerieve a link like r5‐‐‐sn‐a5meknel.c.docs.google.com/… but

This method is explained further over on: http://sourcey.com/html5‐video‐

Share Follow answered May 4 '14 at 14:51

1 I don't think this method is working anymore unfortunately. On their webpage

Any solution to this? – SeaBass Oct 23 '18 at 19:15

The Overflow Blog

Podcast 377: You don’t need a math PhD

GitLab launches Collective on Stack

Unpinning the accepted answer from the

Outdated Answers: We’re adding an

Looking for a job?

Remote Full Stack Developer

Software Engineer ﴾Frontend﴿ ‐

Senior Full Stack Engineer ‐

Senior Software Engineer

Be one of the first applicants

Senior Software Engineer ﴾Go﴿

100% Remote | Senior React, React

View more jobs on Stack Overflow

1 Google Drive Video Embedding in <video>

1 Stream Encrypted Media Google Drive

1 403 Forbidden when playing Google Drive

0 how Google drive playback video stream

27 Video Streaming and Android

107 TCP vs UDP on video stream

6 PHP Streaming video handler

4 kivy video streaming

5 Google Drive as a video hosting/streaming

49 Streaming live camera video from iOS

106 Streaming a video file to an html5 video

0 Video Streaming Protocols Comparison

1 Google Drive Video Embedding in <video>

Hot Network Questions

how does android emulator emulate the RAM?

Do I have to apply more force than gravity to lift

Math behind applying elastic net penalties to

Usage of minipage in a single column of a two

What is the opposite of deus ex machina?

How batteries create voltage?

Chipped material in all electrical boxes a cause for

Is the new Texas law on social media invalid on

The difference between "echo" and "export" an

How can one know where two diagonal lines

Enduring Angel ‐ when does the "you lose the

Why is the 777 fuel burn rate graph U shaped and

What is a Risk, and how does it differ/relate to an

Can an ethernet cable look OK to a cheap cable