Skip to main content
Storage • 2 mins read

Example: Video Hosting

Video Hosting

Host and stream videos from Hippius S3. The S3 API supports range requests, so browsers can seek through videos without downloading the entire file.

How It Works​

  1. Upload your video to Hippius S3
  2. Generate a presigned URL (or use a public bucket)
  3. Point an HTML5 <video> tag at the URL
  4. The browser handles seeking and buffering via HTTP range requests

Upload a Video​

aws s3 cp my-video.mp4 s3://my-videos/ \
  --profile hippius --endpoint-url https://s3.hippius.com

Or with Python:

import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
import boto3
from botocore.config import Config

load_dotenv()

s3 = boto3.client(
    "s3",
    endpoint_url="https://s3.hippius.com",
    aws_access_key_id=os.environ["HIPPIUS_ACCESS_KEY"],
    aws_secret_access_key=os.environ["HIPPIUS_SECRET_KEY"],
    region_name="decentralized",
    config=Config(signature_version="s3v4", s3={"addressing_style": "path"}),
)

s3.upload_file("my-video.mp4", "my-videos", "my-video.mp4")
print("Uploaded.")

Option A: Public Bucket​

Make the bucket public and reference the video directly:

aws s3api put-bucket-acl --bucket my-videos --acl public-read \
  --profile hippius --endpoint-url https://s3.hippius.com
<video controls width="720">
  <source src="https://s3.hippius.com/my-videos/my-video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>

Option B: Presigned URL​

Keep the bucket private and generate a time-limited URL:

url = s3.generate_presigned_url(
    "get_object",
    Params={"Bucket": "my-videos", "Key": "my-video.mp4"},
    ExpiresIn=3600,
)
<video controls width="720">
  <source src="PRESIGNED_URL_HERE" type="video/mp4">
</video>

Complete HTML Player​

player.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <title>Video Player</title>
  <style>
    body { font-family: system-ui, sans-serif; max-width: 800px; margin: 2rem auto; }
    video { width: 100%; border-radius: 8px; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>My Video</h1>
  <video controls>
    <source src="https://s3.hippius.com/my-videos/my-video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
  </video>
</body>
</html>
tip

Live demo: https://s3.hippius.com/micky/index.html

Key Points​

  • Hippius S3 supports HTTP range requests out of the box — no configuration needed
  • Large videos benefit from multipart upload (the SDK handles this automatically for files > 5MB)
  • For private videos, generate presigned URLs server-side and inject them into your HTML
  • Presigned URLs work in any player that supports standard HTTP video (VLC, mobile browsers, etc.)