How to prevent users from downloading videos through HTML video tags?

HTML<video></video> Tag video download protection strategy

Protecting video content is the top priority of many websites, especially for video platforms, it is crucial to prevent users from downloading at will. This article will discuss how to use HTML<video></video> Tags to enhance video download protection and analyze it with Bilibili as an example.

Background: B station video download restrictions

Using certain browser plug-ins, such as the "Bilibili Usage Enhancement" oil monkey script, users can obtain MP4 links to B station videos. However, trying to download directly (such as right-clicking to download or using the download tool) will usually result in HTML files instead of video files. This is because B station has adopted effective technical means to prevent unauthorized downloads.

Technical principle: Multiple protection mechanism

B station’s video download protection is not a single measure, but a comprehensive use of multiple technologies:

1. Referer verification: Access to the video link needs to include the correct Referer header information, otherwise the server will reject the request (return 403 Forbidden error). This invalidates simple link crawling and downloading.

2. Content-Disposition control: The server may confuse the download tool by setting the Content-Disposition header field to disguise the download response as an HTML file.

3. Dynamic link generation: B station is likely to use the method of dynamically generating video links to make the link have a short validity period and increase the difficulty of cracking.

More effective protection measures

Although the protection measures of B station have been relatively complete, there are still cases of bypassing. To further improve security, the website can consider the following strategies:

1. DRM encryption: Digital rights management (DRM) technology is used to encrypt videos, and only authorized players can decrypt and play.

2. Stricter Referer verification: Strengthen the Referer verification mechanism to make it more difficult to bypass.

3. JavaScript protection: Use JavaScript code to disable the right-click menu, block the use of download attributes, and monitor and intercept suspicious download behavior.

4. Streaming media protocol: Use streaming protocols such as HLS or DASH to split the video into multiple small clips to transmit it, preventing users from directly downloading the complete video file.

By combining the above technical means, the website can effectively improve the security of video content and better protect copyright and interests.

The above is the detailed content of How to prevent users from downloading videos through HTML video tags?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!