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Slow playback when streaming with AVPlayer

We’re building an iOS App that streams mp4 video files from DropBox. We use SDK’s getTemporaryLink method and feed the returned URL to AVPlayer(url: …). The streaming doesn’t start until after a few seconds/minutes depending on the size of the file. Same issue when opening this link in a regular Safari tab. When opening the file directly in Dropbox website the video plays fine.

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DB-Des

Hi @iggypop,

There are several factors that could affect playback speed on external platforms. Since playback speed on external platforms is beyond our control, we recommend checking:

Network connection issues (bandwidth limitations, ISP throttling, congestion, etc.)
Platform-specific playback optimizations or limitations
Browser or device performance
Resolution and file size impacting buffering times

You may want to try testing playback on different networks, clearing your browser cache, or lowering the resolution settings on the platform you're using.

iggypop

Hello

thank you for you answer! We are accessing the video from an own OS app. If we access the same video through the official dropbox app, then it runs fine. What do we need to consider? Can we somehow affect the playback quality (eg just 480p)? Many thanks

DB-Des

@iggypop, as previously mentioned, it’s important to note that the official Dropbox app may use different mechanisms and infrastructure for various pieces of functionality compared to other platforms. As such, comparing the behavior between these platforms may not always provide an accurate or reliable source of truth.

That said, besides the previously suggested troubleshooting steps, you could always reach out to the other platforms' support teams for further guidance on optimizing performance.

iggypop

Hello

thank you for your answer!

What do you mean with „you could always reach out to the other platforms' support teams for further guidance on optimizing performance“? Our iOS App is not really able to play most of videos with acceptable quality, however the official dropbox app is. Therefore we need some kind of guidance to solve this problem.

DB-Des

@iggypop,

Since video playback is working as expected on our platform, the issue may be related to the iOS app's implementation. We recommend further troubleshooting on your end, as we are not iOS developers and cannot provide specific guidance for Apple development.

The only other thing we can suggest from our end is making edits to the shared links, as described in: https://help.dropbox.com/share/force-download

Additionally, you may want to check factors such as:

How the video is being loaded and played within your app
Any platform-specific restrictions or optimizations in iOS
Network conditions or caching behaviors affecting playback

If needed, consulting Apple’s developer documentation or seeking guidance from iOS development resources may be helpful.

iggypop

The problem is not only in the app but also in Safari when opening the links obtained with getTemporaryLink. rlkey=YYY&st=dop7lgeglong time to load.

https://XXXXX.dl.dropboxusercontent.com/cd/0/get/ZZZZZZZZZZZ/file

When we use links obtained through the usual sharing mechanism and add “raw=1” to them they display the same behavior. Video loads slowly

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/XXXX/ZZZ.MP4?rlkey=YYY&st=dop7lgeg&dl=0&raw=1

iggypop

eg we used this link, but it is slow....

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3kv1n4r0d9odx4gtbornr/GX010667.MP4?rlkey=ufmmjtu9c49ah0c7pvogc8d92&st=dop7lgeg&dl=0&raw=1

(VLC takes long time to load as well)

DB-Des

@iggypop

I tested the link you provided across multiple environments, including Chrome, Safari (both regular and private browsing), VLC, a test iOS app, and a test React web app, but I wasn’t able to replicate the loading issue you described. The video played without any delays in my testing.

One thing I noticed—although it doesn’t appear to make a difference—is that you’re adding both dl=0 and raw=1 to the shared URL when it should be one or the other.

iggypop

Please test this

https://uc50d65f08fef20931cddc0fc937.dl.dropboxusercontent.com/cd/0/get/Clt6g4ydXcBg9C3W7b0Y82en3P3vx7e0r-oMcikRgCLnKx3pzS65GXUmED6pYZXFR5ji7gHIjzXSqKWad45aRGLw8xKWFtkxoyjCPDzhOrmrpBI-6hyENDti8QzxutZo_-OFOAf7XUdee47LsibUD-dwrtn3CnoxIh4PIEIN6TNBZg/file

DB-Des

Hi @iggypop, looks like the link has expired.

iggypop

Please try this https://uc335f53789e85f975b742674075.dl.dropboxusercontent.com/cd/0/get/ClxBsDdKU4RVs4g97_SerqyG5Pv3jcqxbDLA2VyL5_30-llr43eMd5tInoBBiLUE-EtHfT-QmfFwj0kkEGzyOemZ3gSyDCc_g-eyatxDgMVwwqeR25K193sAQv5DMREuVJHPbz5S73m-xbB3Nnb8-JhND3GtY9ZosuTX5-QgIwzF1w/file

DB-Des

@iggypop

Thank you for providing an additional link.

I just reviewed the documentation for /files/get_temporary_link and realized it explicitly states that these links should not be used to display content directly in the browser:

Get a temporary link to stream content of a file. This link will expire in four hours and afterwards you will get 410 Gone. This URL should not be used to display content directly in the browser. The Content-Type of the link is determined automatically by the file's mime type.

This also applies to streaming directly within an iOS app using the AVPlayer component.

Additionally, I noticed that the latest file you shared is over 50GB. That file size alone could be affecting playback latency, especially on certain devices or network conditions. Large files can take longer to load and may struggle with smooth streaming, particularly in browsers that don’t handle large media files efficiently.

austincase

We are seeing this same issue. This was not an issue previously -- we have had dropbox playback in our application for over a year without issue.

We are specifically seeing issues related to HEVC codecs -- H264 plays just fine.

We are getting the behavior across all browsers with consistent behavior. We have many user reports coming in, we support many implementations beyond dropbox so we are highly confident this is not our implementation.

DB-Des

Hi @austincase,

I'll be happy to help with any issues you're having. For testing purposes, are you able to share one of the shared links you are using to stream videos on your platform?

austincase

Hello - Thanks for the reply. Here is a shared link for the folder we are using. Our platform does not work with shared links but rather users folders directly, if that makes a difference.
Something we have noticed is that on longer HEVC videos, the problem is worse... it looks like the issue might be that the incremental RANGE headers are not being respected by Dropbox and thus the browser is having to basically download the entirety of the file before it plays back the first frame. This is a hypothesis and seems weird that it would be isolated to HEVC videos, but this is what we are noticing.

Let me know any other information I can provide and I appreciate your help

DB-Des

Hi @austincase,

Looks like the shared link is missing. Are you able to provide it again?

iggypop

@DB-Des

we are still facing huge performance problems with our app.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/67kwaw75pnytjwcqm12ak/video_performance.MP4?rlkey=blbpqtuvgkvsmp2s8aayq0adp&dl=0

See this clip, first we play through dropbox app, it starts pretty soon. Afterwards same video through our own app, it takes much longer to start up.

The video to be played can be found here https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/6h40imwb8dh8n1dju7ze1/IMG_21161.mp4?rlkey=pkgu8obx6blu3t6huf9n53299&dl=0

thank you very much :-)