Watching videos together online
What watching together means
Two people pressing play at the same moment is not watching together. One stream buffers, someone pauses to answer the door, and ten minutes later you watch different scenes.
Synchronised watching shares the playback itself. One person pauses and everyone pauses. One person skips back to catch a line and everyone skips back too.
Supported sources
- A link to a video: direct files, HLS and DASH streams, including links with redirects or expiring tokens.
- A file on your own computer, streamed to the room without an upload anywhere.
- A screen or a browser tab, for video with no other way to play.
- YouTube and a cloud-hosted browser, where those integrations are on.
What won't play
Netflix, Disney+ and the other big streaming services don't work through screen sharing. These services protect their video, and the browser shows a protected tab as a black rectangle.
The browser enforces this protection, and no website gets around the rule. Any video you have as a file or a direct link plays fine.
How many people fit in a room
HamFilm sets no hard cap, and rooms of about a dozen people run comfortably. We have tested rooms of up to about 15 people.
Upload speed sets the real limit. When you share your screen or a file, your computer sends the video once and HamFilm relays the stream to everyone else. A big room depends on the sharer's connection. A link avoids this problem, because everyone streams the video straight from the source.
On a phone
Watching, chat and voice all work on a phone. Full-screen switches the picture to horizontal like a native player, and the controls fade out during playback.
HamFilm traffic counts at half price on Iranian plans, so watching on mobile data uses half the usual allowance.
Screen sharing does not work on phones. No mobile browser on Android or iOS lets a web page capture the screen. Whoever shares needs a computer.
Start a room
Make a room, send the link, pick a video and press play. Nobody needs an account or an install.
To get a group together at a set time, read the movie night guide. For what each part of the room does, see how HamFilm works.