WebTorrent Tutorials

Integrate WebTorrent with Video Players

WebTorrent can be used to stream videos. WebTorrent can render the incoming video to an HTML <video> element. Below are some examples for various video players.

Service Worker Renderer

Code example:

import WebTorrent from 'https://esm.sh/webtorrent/dist/webtorrent.min.js'

const client = new WebTorrent()
const torrentId = 'magnet:?xt=urn:btih:08ada5a7a6183aae1e09d831df6748d566095a10&dn=Sintel&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexplodie.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.empire-js.us%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=wss%3A%2F%2Ftracker.btorrent.xyz&tr=wss%3A%2F%2Ftracker.fastcast.nz&tr=wss%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openwebtorrent.com&ws=https%3A%2F%2Fwebtorrent.io%2Ftorrents%2F&xs=https%3A%2F%2Fwebtorrent.io%2Ftorrents%2Fsintel.torrent'
const player = document.querySelector('video')

const controller = await navigator.serviceWorker.register('./sw.min.js', { scope: './' })
await navigator.serviceWorker.ready
client.createServer({ controller })

client.add(torrentId, torrent => {
  // Torrents can contain many files. Let's use the .mp4 file
  const file = torrent.files.find(file => file.name.endsWith('.mp4'))
  // Log streams emitted by the video player
  file.on('stream', ({ stream, file, req }) => {
    if (req.destination === 'video') {
      console.log(`Video player requested data from ${file.name}! Ranges: ${req.headers.range}`)
    }
  })
  // Stream to a <video> element by providing an the DOM element
  file.streamTo(player)
  console.log('Ready to play!')
})

Video.js is an open source HTML5 & Flash video player. We include the dependencies for video.js using CDN. A normal <video> element is converted to video.js by passing class="video-js" and data-setup="{}". For more information visit the docs.

Note: Unlike in the Default HTML5 Video Player example we don't directly pass the ID of the <video> element but pass `video#${id}_html5_api` (JS String Literal). It is because video.js wraps the <video> element in a <div>.

Original code:

html

<video
  id="video-container"
  class="video-js"
  data-setup="{}"
  controls="true"
></video>

Code rendered on the browser:

html

<div>
  <video id="video-container_html5_api"></video>
</div>

Code example:

html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Web Torrent Tutorial</title>
    <meta charset="UTF-8" />
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/video.js/7.8.1/video-js.min.css" />
    <script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/video.js/7.8.1/video.min.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <video id="video-container" class="video-js" data-setup="{}" controls="true"></video>
    <script type='module'>   
      import WebTorrent from 'https://esm.sh/webtorrent/dist/webtorrent.min.js'
      const client = new WebTorrent()
      const torrentId = 'magnet:?xt=urn:btih:08ada5a7a6183aae1e09d831df6748d566095a10&dn=Sintel&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Fexplodie.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.coppersurfer.tk%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.empire-js.us%3A1337&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.leechers-paradise.org%3A6969&tr=udp%3A%2F%2Ftracker.opentrackr.org%3A1337&tr=wss%3A%2F%2Ftracker.btorrent.xyz&tr=wss%3A%2F%2Ftracker.fastcast.nz&tr=wss%3A%2F%2Ftracker.openwebtorrent.com&ws=https%3A%2F%2Fwebtorrent.io%2Ftorrents%2F&xs=https%3A%2F%2Fwebtorrent.io%2Ftorrents%2Fsintel.torrent'
      const player = document.querySelector('video')

      const controller = await navigator.serviceWorker.register('./sw.min.js', { scope: './' })
      await navigator.serviceWorker.ready
      client.createServer({ controller })

      client.add(torrentId, torrent => {
        // Torrents can contain many files. Let's use the .mp4 file
        const file = torrent.files.find(file => file.name.endsWith('.mp4'))

        // Stream to a <video> element by providing an the DOM element
        file.streamTo(player)
        console.log('Ready to play!')
      })
    </script>
  </body>
</html>