Video.js source not in Apache folder

Question

I have an Apache Server running on linux

The directory used for the website is the default /var/www

When Using Video.js, setting the video source is easy when the files are in the same directory. e.g. /var/www/index.html /var/www/video/video1.mp4

<source src="video/video1.mp4" type='video/mp4' />

I can't seem to set this source if the files are not in the Apache folder however. e.g.

/home/user/video/video2.mp4 <source src="/home/user/video/video2.mp4" type='video/mp4' />

Answer 1

If Apache is using /var/www as your root, I don't think it will allow access to anything outside of that directory. Have you tried accessing those files directly in a browser, outside of video.js?

Additionally, by setting the source URL to '/home/user/video/video2.mp4', you're telling the browser to look for the file at "www.mywebsite.com/home/user/video/video2.mp4', which apache will translate to "/var/www/home/user/video/video2.mp4".

I'm far from an expert on how Apache works, but I hope that helps.