How to block downloads from my server

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I have a server, and inside it I store videos that are displayed through. However, if people get the video link from Inspect Element they can download the video. Is there any way I block downloading files? Just viewing the video.

php

  • In the end no matter what method you use, if the user really wants to save the video, he just shoots the screen. That’s all time thrown away.

1 answer

5


TL;DR

Yes, it is possible.

Manners

One of the most efficient ways is to use DRM for the protection of videos.

As there is no precise description of what is the DRM (Digital Rights Management), some people separate it into 4 elements.

  1. Manageable digital rights
  2. Encryption
  3. License management
  4. Player

Manageable digital rights

Manageable digital rights allow extensive negotiation of your content, this includes purchases, rentals etc. Be via streamming or even downloads (As is the case with platforms that already offer videos offline). With them you can determine who has authorization to access certain content.

Encryption

This is where the technology of DRM do to protect your content. This encryption may occur before or during the streamming. And, of course, before the download.

This way only those who have the access key will be able to view the content.

License Management

In this area the DRM are in charge of verifying the user’s access keys and devices.

Player

In this element, the player is responsible for communicating with the server responsible for managing the keys.

Some browsers use the API Javascript Media Source Extensions MSE and the extension Encrypted Media Extensions EME

Media Source Extensions (MSE)

This API is responsible for managing the flow for segment transmission¹. To MSE will support you for a adaptive transmission², Splicing Adaptive, Time Change, Performance Control and Download Size.

The operation is very simple:

  1. Data is requested via request;
  2. After that they are sent to the Response.Arraybuffer();
  3. Which, in turn, sends to the Mediasource.Sourcebuffer();
  4. Finally it runs on tag audio or video of HTML5.

"Fluxo de dados básicos do MSE: Requisição > Envio para Response > Tratamento com MediaSource > Execução com as tag audio ou vídeo"


Encrypted Media Extensions (EME)

To EME is an extension recommended by W3C, Her proposal, roughly speaking, is to extend the Htmlmediaelement to provide some Apis to control the reproduction of encrypted content.

For technical information I recommend gives a read on the proposal Encrypted Media Extensions

How does the DRM

The operation can be summarized in the steps below (for protection before the streaming):

Abridged:

  1. File conversion (ffmpeg and mp4box are examples of tools)
  2. Check the access keys
  3. Generates the necessary license
  4. Run segments with the generated license in the player.

Detailed:

Funcionamento do DRM

How these videos are divided into segments?

Usually people use the HTTP Live Streaming of Apple or MPEG-DASH. In this option you can use the Bento4 for that function.

It is worth investing in DRM?

It depends on your content. If you really want it, it’s worth it.

As I was writing this reply, a user commented on the user filming the content. Is this really going to happen? The answer is simple, it will happen.

However, in a post about Video Technologies, Wesley William cited the fact that the people were there until he could record. But will the people really be willing to record and play on the net? In the case of School Of Net, I believe that the pinch has greatly diminished.

One comment refers to this. The user informed that before the protection could download, after it, it was no longer possible.

Alternatives

An alternative is to use watermark in videos (example, can be generated automatically with ffmpeg, but there is a data processing cost to do this.

Links Úteis

Links that were not cited from the answer and that I find interesting to read

Note 1: These segments are multiple "pieces" of the video. This improves loading performance. Technical information can be found in that article.

Note 2: Adaptive transmission is the way the player will adapt depending on the device or network. That is, if the connection is bad, the video quality is affected.

  • There is another way to do this too, for free. You can inform the server to allow access to a particular file only if the useragent is the same as "Playerdrm" or you can check if the request has ended header. This will only work for those who do not understand how the web works, depending on your target audience, can test. If necessary I can add another answer.

  • +1. I think like this: If the content is relevant to being stored or distributed, no matter the protection, the user will find a way. Otherwise, if the interest is minimal in saving the video and the user can’t, he won’t even waste time trying to record, then in theory it would be effective, but if his interest is so low, I see no reason to waste a lot of time doing all this implementation.

  • @Raizant as I do not know the content of it I will take some platforms I know. Alura, for example, put 15 videos-classes 12 mins/ each. Very few people would be willing to record content just to play online. They have dozens of courses. That would be very tiring. The content may be interesting, but soon, the guy will get tired of doing it. Now he has to ask himself about the costs, if it really goes down to the content of it. Even, he can choose to use services such as https://safestream.com/#video that adds a watermark c/ Infos in the video.

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