How HamFilm works

Make a room

Press New Room and HamFilm creates a room at a new URL. You skip sign-up, email confirmation and installs.

HamFilm deletes rooms after one day with nobody in them. Sign in and you keep one room permanently for free. HamFilm Plus raises the limit to 20 permanent rooms and adds custom room names and addresses, so your group returns to the same address every week.

Share the link

Anyone with the link joins the room. Nobody accepts an invitation or creates an account.

The invite dialog shows the link, a copy button and a QR code. People on phones scan the QR code with the camera instead of typing the URL.

Anyone you send the link to joins, and so does anyone they forward the link to. Send the link only to the people you plan to watch with. For more control, set a room password.

Pick something to watch

A room plays these sources:

• A video link. Paste a URL and everyone streams the video from the source. HamFilm plays direct files, HLS and DASH streams, including links with redirects or expiring tokens.
• A file from your computer. Your browser reads the file and streams the video to the room. The file stays on your computer, and nothing uploads to our servers.
• Your screen or a browser tab, for video with no other way to play.
• YouTube, where the integration is on. Search inside the room and add results to the playlist.
• A virtual browser, where the feature is on. The browser runs on a server. Everyone in the room sees the page, and people take turns in control.

Queue several videos. When one ends, the room starts the next.

Everyone stays in sync

• Play, pause and seek apply to the whole room. Pause for a snack and everyone pauses.
• When a new video loads, the room waits for every player to get ready before playback starts. Nobody opens on a black screen 30 seconds behind. The wait has a time limit, so one slow connection never keeps the room waiting forever.
• During playback, HamFilm adjusts each person's speed by a fraction of a percent to keep everyone together. HamFilm corrects small drifts before anyone notices, and you won't hear the change.
• If someone drops out mid-film, the room pauses and shows who the room is waiting for. Wait, or carry on.

Talk while you watch

Text chat sits beside the video, with emoji and reactions.

The live voice channel has mute, deafen, push-to-talk and noise suppression for loud keyboards. Turn on your webcam to see faces. The room shows several webcams at once, arranged around the chat.

Theater mode gives the picture the full screen and keeps chat beside the picture, so you watch full-screen and keep the conversation.

What HamFilm costs

Watching together is free. Rooms, syncing, chat, voice, webcams, screen sharing and file sharing all work without payment or an account.

HamFilm Plus adds 20 permanent rooms instead of 1, custom room addresses, and higher quality limits on shared video. Everything you need to watch together stays free.

HamFilm traffic counts at half price (nim-baha) on Iranian internet plans. Use 4 GB on HamFilm and your plan loses 2 GB.