Building a Video Streaming Platform with Node.js, FFmpeg, and Next.js

Introduction

Creating a video streaming platform can be an exciting and challenging project. I recently embarked on this journey by integrating Node.js with FFmpeg for backend processing and Next.js for a modern frontend. In this blog, I'll walk you through the complete setup, including video processing, frontend integration, and how I tackled various issues along the way.

Technologies Used

1. Node.js & Express:

2. Purpose: Handles video uploads, conversion to HLS format, and serves video files.
   Key Features: Fast, scalable, and non-blocking I/O.

3. FFmpeg:

4. Purpose: Converts video files into HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) format.

5. Key Features: Open-source tool for handling multimedia data. It can transcode, convert, and stream audio and video.
   HLS & M3U8:

6. HLS: A protocol for streaming video over the internet. It breaks the video into small segments and delivers them as a playlist.

7. M3U8: A playlist file format used by HLS to organize video segments and metadata.

8. Multer:

9. Purpose: Middleware for handling multipart/form-data, used for uploading files.

10. Key Features: Handles file uploads with ease, including setting file size limits and naming files uniquely.

11. Next.js:

12. Purpose: Provides a modern frontend framework with server-side rendering, static site generation, and API routes.

13. Key Features: Efficient routing, built-in CSS support, and easy API integration.

Backend Setup

1. Express Server Setup:
2. Endpoints: Handle video uploads, convert videos to HLS format using FFmpeg, and serve video files.
3. Code Highlights:

• Upload videos using Multer.
• Convert videos to HLS format with FFmpeg.
• Serve .m3u8 playlists and .ts segments.

1. FFmpeg Command for HLS Conversion:

ffmpeg -i "${videoPath}" -codec:v libx264 -codec:a aac -hls_time 10 -hls_playlist_type vod -hls_segment_filename "${outputPath}/segment%03d.ts" -start_number 0 "${hlsPath}"

Frontend Integration

1. Video Player Component:
2. Using Hls.js: A JavaScript library to enable HLS playback in browsers that support it.

3. Implementation: Load HLS source and attach it to a video element for smooth playback.

4. Error Handling:

CORS Errors:

• Problem: Browser blocking requests to different origins.
• Solution: Configure CORS headers in the Express server and update next.config.js to include allowed origins.

Content Security Policy (CSP) Errors:

• Problem: Media resources being blocked due to CSP settings.
• Solution: Adjust CSP headers to allow media sources from your server.

1. Example Code for CSP Configuration:

next.config.js (without nonce):

module.exports = {
  async headers() {
    return [
      {
        source: '/(.*)',
        headers: [
          {
            key: 'Content-Security-Policy',
            value: `default-src 'self'; script-src 'self'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; img-src 'self' data:; font-src 'self'; connect-src 'self' http://localhost:8000; media-src 'self' http://localhost:8000;`,
          },
        ],
      },
    ];
  },
};

middleware.ts (with nonce):

import { NextResponse } from 'next/server';
import type { NextRequest } from 'next/server';

export function middleware(req: NextRequest) {
  const res = NextResponse.next();
  res.headers.set('Content-Security-Policy', "default-src 'self'; script-src 'self' 'nonce-<nonce-value>'; style-src 'self' 'unsafe-inline'; connect-src 'self' http://localhost:8000; media-src 'self' http://localhost:8000;");
  return res;
}

Challenges & Solutions

1. CORS Configuration:
2. Issue: Browser blocking requests to the backend.

3. Resolution: Updated CORS settings in Express to allow specific origins.

4. CSP Errors:

5. Issue: Blocking media resources due to restrictive CSP.

6. Resolution: Adjusted CSP headers in next.config.js and used nonce in middleware.ts.

7. Multer File Handling:

8. Issue: Managing large file uploads and unique file naming.

9. Resolution: Configured Multer for file size limits and used UUIDs for unique filenames.

Conclusion
Building a video streaming platform involves a variety of technologies and overcoming several challenges. By leveraging Node.js, FFmpeg, Multer, and Next.js, I was able to create a robust and scalable solution. Despite encountering errors related to CORS, CSP, and file handling, I was able to resolve them and deliver a seamless streaming experience.