Lightbox Ultimate – Video/File Protection Explanation

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Some people get confused with the concept of securing Amazon S3 private video/file. The main question is –

I want the video/file to display in lightbox but I don’t want the users to be able to download it.

How does the protection feature work?

Your private video/file hosted in S3 server can’t be accessed directly from outside. The only way to retrieve the video/file is to request the S3 server to generate an encrypted link of the video/file for a certain period (example: 10 minutes). So after the page loads the video/file will only be accessible for 10 minutes. No one will be able to access this file using any other means.

Can I prevent people form being able to download the video?

When you embed a private/protected S3 video on a page, the only way to access that video is via that page. However, when someone is watching the video it is possible for him to capture the screen and record the video using a screen capture software. Also, the browser has to download the video to your temporary internet files folder in order to play it (this is how browsers work). So advanced browser addons can find and copy the video file from the temporary folder and allow the user to save it.

The key thing to understand is that when you embed an Amazon S3 private video on a page you are protecting it from any unauthorized access but the user who you are giving viewing access can do things to save the video while viewing the video. There is nothing you can do about it (this is how online videos work unfortunately).

What Can I do to make it so only my members can access/view the videos?

You can use a membership plugin and restrict the page/section of that page so only the eligible members of your site can access/view your video content. That way you are preventing anonymous users from being able to view your videos.

Most video selling sites out there follow this model. They keep the videos behind a membership login. Again, this doesn’t stop the members who can view the content to record the video while watching but it guarantees that only your members (who already paid for the video) can view the video.

Please have a look at the following post for a sample solution:

http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-membership/how-to-create-a-video-membership-site-with-complete-protection-to-your-videos-375

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