Fully buffer video in Chrome

buffer, google-chrome, html, javascript, video

Solution

Because S3 supports partial downloads, Chrome initially buffers "only what's needed" in front of the playhead and then stops buffering. It will continue buffering "only what's needed" when the video starts playing. This means that depending on the user's download speed it will stop buffering now and then, just because it has enough buffer to play continuously.

But if you pause the video after having played some, Chrome will not stop buffering and go through all the way to the end.

This example exploits that technique to entirely buffer the video off screen before showing it on the page.

Tested on Chrome 32

// Create video in background and start playing
var video = document.createElement('video');
video.src = 'video.mp4';
video.controls = true;
video.muted = true; 
video.play();

// Pause immediately after it starts playing.
video.addEventListener("timeupdate", function() {
    if (this.currentTime > 0) {

        this.pause();
        video.muted = false;
        video.currentTime = 0
        this.removeEventListener("timeupdate", arguments.callee, false);

        // When whole video is buffered, show video on page
        video.addEventListener("progress", function() {
            if (Math.round(video.buffered.end(0)) / Math.round(video.seekable.end(0)) == 1) {
                document.body.appendChild(video);
                this.removeEventListener("progress", arguments.callee, false);
            }
        }, false);
    }
}, false);

Problem

Original source

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