How to stream video content in asp.net?

Question

I have the following code which downloads video content:

WebRequest wreq = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
using (HttpWebResponse wresp = (HttpWebResponse)wreq.GetResponse())
using (Stream mystream = wresp.GetResponseStream())
{
  using (BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(mystream))
  {
    int length = Convert.ToInt32(wresp.ContentLength);
    byte[] buffer = new byte[length];
    buffer = reader.ReadBytes(length);

    Response.Clear();
    Response.Buffer = false;
    Response.ContentType = "video/mp4";
    //Response.BinaryWrite(buffer);
    Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
    Response.End();
  }
}

But the problem is that the whole file downloads before being played. How can I make it stream and play as it's still downloading? Or is this up to the client/receiver application to manage?

Solution 1

You're reading the entire file into a single buffer, then sending the entire byte array at once.

You should read into a smaller buffer in a while loop.

For example:

byte[] buffer = new byte[4096];

while(true) {
    int bytesRead = myStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
    if (bytesRead == 0) break;
    Response.OutputStream.Write(buffer, 0, bytesRead);
}

Solution 2

Have you looked at Smooth Streaming?

Look at sample code here

Solution 3

This is more efficient for you especially if you need to stream a video from a file on your server or even this file is hosted at another server

File On your server:

context.Response.BinaryWrite(File.ReadAllBytes(HTTPContext.Current.Server.MapPath(_video.Location)));

File on external server:

var wc = new WebClient();
    context.Response.BinaryWrite(wc.DownloadData(new Uri("http://mysite/video.mp4")));