How to Code a Video Downloader for My Website Using PHP?

Posted on August 28, 2024

HTML

CSS

PHP

PHP Frameworks

JavaScript

By Inshot Pro

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a project to create a video downloader for my website and I’m looking for guidance on how to code this functionality. Specifically, I’d like to know the best practices and PHP code snippets for implementing a video downloader.

Can anyone share tips or examples on how to approach this? Any advice on handling video file downloads securely and efficiently would also be appreciated!

Thanks a lot!

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Bobby Iliev

September 3, 2024

Hey 👋,

I’ve not done this in a while but as long as you provide the correct headers it should work out of the box. Are you seeing any specific issues with your current setup or are you looking for a generic guide on how to implement this?

If so, here is a quick one:

First, create an HTML form to let users select which video they want to download:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <title>Video Downloader</title>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Video Downloader</h1>
    <form action="download.php" method="post">
        <select name="video">
            <option value="video1.mp4">Video 1</option>
            <option value="video2.mp4">Video 2</option>
            <option value="video3.mp4">Video 3</option>
        </select>
        <input type="submit" value="Download">
    </form>
</body>
</html>

Next, create a PHP script (download.php) to handle the download process:

<?php
if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
    $video = $_POST['video'];
    $file_path = 'videos/' . $video;

    if (file_exists($file_path)) {
        header('Content-Type: application/octet-stream');
        header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . basename($file_path) . '"');
        header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($file_path));
        readfile($file_path);
        exit;
    } else {
        echo "File not found.";
    }
} else {
    echo "Invalid request.";
}

This script does the following:

Checks if the request is a POST request
Gets the selected video filename
Constructs the file path
If the file exists, it sets the appropriate headers and serves the file for download
If the file doesn’t exist or the request is invalid, it displays an error message

Create a videos directory in the same location as your PHP and HTML files, and place your video files there.
For security, you should implement some basic protections. Here’s an example using a whitelist:

<?php
$allowed_videos = ['video1.mp4', 'video2.mp4', 'video3.mp4'];

if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
    $video = $_POST['video'];
    
    if (!in_array($video, $allowed_videos)) {
        die("Invalid video selection.");
    }
    
    $file_path = 'videos/' . $video;

    // Rest of the code remains the same...
}

This basic implementation will get you started, but there are several best practices and improvements you should consider:

Security: Implement user authentication to ensure only authorized users can download videos.
File validation: Check the file type and size before allowing downloads.
Error handling: Implement proper error handling and logging.
Large files: For large video files, consider using range requests to support partial downloads and resuming.
Performance: For high-traffic sites, consider using a content delivery network (CDN) for video storage and delivery.
User experience: Add features like progress bars or AJAX-based downloads to improve the user experience.