Child Item

Dropbox embed videos buffering every 5 seconds on mobile devices.

Hey guys,

I have been having an issue which I don't really know why its happening. I tried 2 different methods firstly I tried embedding a video by changing the raw=1 and also by generating a temporary link using an API call which both methods work fine on desktop but when i play it on mobile every 5 seconds or so it stops to buffer for a while before playing again.

Not sure why on desktop it plays fine, if anyone knows what the cause is or if there is a potential solution that would be really appreciated!

Many thanks

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

Здравко

Hi @eni8ma,

Hmm... 🤔 Something to work on desktop/laptop but not on mobile is strange. It might be network connections differences and others similar. In general it should work in the same way. Does it behave the same way when you use this simplistic application while playing some sings from your account? 🧐 (the application uses temporary links) If so, you have browser or network issue.

Good luck.

iNeil

Hi @eni8ma,

In addition to what Здравко mentioned, if you are still having difficulty, please provide the following information below:

- the name and version number of the platform and SDK/library you are using, if any
- the steps to reproduce the issue, including relevant code snippet(s), but don't include any access or refresh token(s)
- the full text of any error or unexpected output

Alternatively, you can open an API ticket with the above information using the following link:

https://www.dropbox.com/developers/contact

eni8ma

Thank you for your response!
It is strange indeed, i did my troubleshooting

i tried video.js and plyr.js both are behaving the same way to it cant be the player.

I tried different browser on mobile, safari, chrome, opera so it cant be the browser.

Both were connected to the same WIFI with speeds of 600 mbps up and down. So it cant be the internet connection.

I was thinking it might the size of the file which is 22 GB or so. So its quite large so maybe mobile struggles with it. I tired a 1.5GB file and its playing fine.

So am just curious why the bigger file is not working since on my mac it plays fine and in dropbox app and is there a way around this?

Thanks

eni8ma

The platform is Webflow. I tried plyr.js and video.js both gave me the same issue on the same internet connection to my mac so it cant be the speeds as it only struggles on mobiel.

This code here

<iframe src="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p9sa2w5rku39gbqes44xl/Nations-Cup-PGM-Dirty-H264.mov?rlkey=yz06j76cylgqsau35qj3v92r0&st=e3vqk28y&raw=1" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen"></iframe>

Thanks for any help!

Здравко

Hi @eni8ma,

I just tried it and looked on the video for few minutes on different devices - laptop and mobile with landline and mobile ISP... no any break during the play. There was sometimes initial delay 2~3 seconds at most - something that may be compensated with avoid using autorun and play with script (with well tuned delay) so to let it initial buffering.

On my connection (not very fast) it plays well... I don't know what to say. 🤷 I cannot reproduce what you described - "buffering every 5 seconds".

Try investigate your connection further. Good luck.

Greg-DB

@eni8ma From the information here, as Здравко said, it does sound like there is some local environmental problem, such as a connection issue, or perhaps a lack of resources/processing on the mobile device preventing it from continuously playing the video. You may also want to check the developer tools in the browser on the device, such as the console and network tabs, to check for any errors.

eni8ma

Hello, thanks again for your response

Just to double check would you be able to try the code below which is the player embed. As mentioned when i watch the video in dropbox itself it plays fine but when I try to embed via plyr.js it buffers on mobile

<video controls width="100%" height="auto">
<source src="https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/p9sa2w5rku39gbqes44xl/Nations-Cup-PGM-Dirty-H264.mov?rlkey=yz06j76cylgqsau35qj3v92r0&raw=1" type="video/mp4">
</video>

eni8ma

Hello and thanks for responding

I am actually now trying in a different location which is in my home and I have an even faster connection here 1Gbps. So I don't think its the connection. The mobile phone is an iphone 13 pro max it could be a factor but its pretty fast for other uses?

eni8ma

I made a codepen
to test for you guys instead
Player 1

https://codepen.io/eni8ma/pen/gONXyVR

Player 2
https://codepen.io/eni8ma/pen/WNqXWBJ

both play fine on desktop but buffer on mobile

Greg-DB

@eni8ma While connection issues are one way for a problem like this to occur, other constraints like I mentioned in my previous mentioned can also be the reason. I can only offer help on the Dropbox side of things though. So to clarify, are you getting any errors from Dropbox? You may need to debug/troubleshoot locally more first.

Здравко

@eni8ma wrote:
I made a codepen
to test for you guys instead
...
both play fine on desktop but buffer on mobile

Below is how your example appears on my phone:

As you can see more than half minute no any break (buffering, etc). That's it.