How it works

This page explains what Videohati does, in plain words and with no code. If you only read one page before deciding whether Videohati fits your team, read this one. When you are ready to try it yourself, the Quickstart walks through the same journey with real commands.

From file to player

A video goes through four stages between the moment you upload it and the moment someone watches it. You do not manage the stages yourself — Videohati moves the video through them and tells you when it is ready.

1. You upload the video. You can do this by hand in the dashboard, or from your own app if you have built Videohati into it. Large files are sent in small pieces, so an interrupted upload can pick up where it left off instead of starting over.

2. Videohati processes the video. A single source file rarely plays well for everyone: some viewers are on fast connections, others on slow ones. Videohati prepares several versions of your video at different quality levels so there is always one that fits the viewer's screen and connection.

3. The video becomes ready. Once processing finishes, the video is marked ready, and Videohati can notify your app automatically so you know it is safe to publish. If something about the source file cannot be processed, the video is marked failed instead, with a reason.

4. Viewers watch through the player. You place the Videohati player on your page. As each viewer watches, the player picks the right quality for their connection and adjusts it on the fly, so the video keeps playing smoothly instead of pausing to buffer.

Test mode and live mode

Videohati keeps two separate worlds so you can build and experiment without touching anything real. Which world you are in is decided by the key your code uses, not by a separate switch.

• Test mode uses keys that start with vh_test_. Test videos, uploads, and playback are completely separate from your real content. This is where you try things out.
• Live mode uses keys that start with vh_live_. This is your real audience and your real videos.

The two never mix, so a mistake in test mode can never affect what your viewers see.

Protection, in plain words

Videohati gives you several ways to keep control of who watches your videos and to discourage copying:

• Watch links expire. When someone opens a video, they get a temporary, signed link rather than a permanent file address. The link stops working after a short window, so it cannot be shared and reused later.
• A viewer's name can be shown on the video. You can overlay a viewer's email or ID on top of the picture while it plays. This does not stop a determined person, but it makes a leaked recording traceable back to the account it came from.
• Playback can be limited to your own site. You can require that a video only plays when it is embedded on domains you approve, so others cannot lift your player onto their pages.

An honest word on this: no system on the open web can make downloading or screen recording truly impossible. Anything a person can watch, a determined person can capture. Videohati's job is to raise the effort, close the easy paths, and leave a trail — to deter and trace, not to promise the impossible.

Measure what's watched

Once your videos are live, the dashboard shows you how they are actually being watched: how many times each video was played, how much total time people spent watching, and where viewers tend to drop off. That last number is often the most useful — it shows the exact point where attention fades, so you can see which lessons or segments hold up and which need work. The same dashboard also shows your usage and billing, so the cost of storage and delivery is never a surprise.

Ready to try it? Head to the Quickstart, or read Concepts for clear definitions of the terms above.