nextcloud / nextcloud/server

Open Videos in External Player For Web UI

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0. Needs triage enhancement
Dominant language
PHP
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

Add an “Open in External Player” option to the Nextcloud Web UI when viewing video files, including public share links.
The current embedded player is great for normal video playback, but external players like VLC or MPV can provide

better codec support, hardware acceleration, subtitle support, and playback options.
Users should be able to stream videos directly in an external player instead of downloading the file first.

Ideally, add:

  • Open in External Player
  • Copy Streaming URL

This would be especially useful for large/4K videos and users running Nextcloud as a personal media server.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating the Web UI video viewer and the public-share flow that serves video files. Review how streaming URLs and access permissions are currently handled before deciding where the external-player and copy-URL entry points belong. Done means both options work for regular files and public shares without requiring a download.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, php
Domain
backend, frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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