diff --git a/copyparty/__main__.py b/copyparty/__main__.py
index fb969600..51348e2b 100644
--- a/copyparty/__main__.py
+++ b/copyparty/__main__.py
@@ -324,6 +324,9 @@ def run_argparse(argv, formatter):
     ap2.add_argument("-mtp", metavar="M=[f,]bin", action="append", type=str, help="read tag M using bin")
     ap2.add_argument("--srch-time", metavar="SEC", type=int, default=30, help="search deadline")
 
+    ap2 = ap.add_argument_group('video streaming options')
+    ap2.add_argument("--vcr", action="store_true", help="enable video streaming")
+
     ap2 = ap.add_argument_group('appearance options')
     ap2.add_argument("--css-browser", metavar="L", help="URL to additional CSS to include")
 
diff --git a/copyparty/httpcli.py b/copyparty/httpcli.py
index b50599c6..8b0f2a77 100644
--- a/copyparty/httpcli.py
+++ b/copyparty/httpcli.py
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ from .util import *  # noqa  # pylint: disable=unused-wildcard-import
 from .authsrv import AuthSrv
 from .szip import StreamZip
 from .star import StreamTar
+from .vcr import VCR_Direct
+from .th_srv import FMT_FF
 
 if not PY2:
     unicode = str
@@ -229,7 +231,9 @@ class HttpCli(object):
     def send_headers(self, length, status=200, mime=None, headers={}):
         response = ["{} {} {}".format(self.http_ver, status, HTTPCODE[status])]
 
-        if length is not None:
+        if length is None:
+            self.keepalive = False
+        else:
             response.append("Content-Length: " + unicode(length))
 
         # close if unknown length, otherwise take client's preference
@@ -1563,6 +1567,15 @@ class HttpCli(object):
             if rem.startswith(".hist/up2k."):
                 raise Pebkac(403)
 
+            if "vcr" in self.uparam:
+                ext = abspath.rsplit(".")[-1]
+                if not self.args.vcr or ext not in FMT_FF:
+                    raise Pebkac(403)
+
+                vcr = VCR_Direct(self, abspath)
+                vcr.run()
+                return False
+
             is_dir = stat.S_ISDIR(st.st_mode)
             th_fmt = self.uparam.get("th")
             if th_fmt is not None:
diff --git a/copyparty/vcr.py b/copyparty/vcr.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..ead51e6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/copyparty/vcr.py
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+# coding: utf-8
+from __future__ import print_function, unicode_literals
+
+import time
+import shlex
+import subprocess as sp
+
+from .__init__ import PY2
+from .util import fsenc
+
+
+class VCR_Direct(object):
+    def __init__(self, cli, fpath):
+        self.cli = cli
+        self.fpath = fpath
+
+        self.log_func = cli.log_func
+        self.log_src = cli.log_src
+
+    def log(self, msg, c=0):
+        self.log_func(self.log_src, "vcr: {}".format(msg), c)
+
+    def run(self):
+        opts = self.cli.uparam
+
+        # fmt: off
+        cmd = [
+            "ffmpeg",
+            "-nostdin",
+            "-hide_banner",
+            "-v", "warning",
+            "-i", fsenc(self.fpath),
+            "-vf", "scale=640:-4",
+            "-c:a", "libopus",
+            "-b:a", "128k",
+            "-c:v", "libvpx",
+            "-deadline", "realtime",
+            "-row-mt", "1"
+        ]
+        # fmt: on
+
+        if "ss" in opts:
+            cmd.extend(["-ss", opts["ss"]])
+
+        if "crf" in opts:
+            cmd.extend(["-b:v", "0", "-crf", opts["crf"]])
+        else:
+            cmd.extend(["-b:v", "{}M".format(opts.get("mbps", 1.2))])
+
+        cmd.extend(["-f", "webm", "-"])
+
+        comp = str if not PY2 else unicode
+        cmd = [x.encode("utf-8") if isinstance(x, comp) else x for x in cmd]
+
+        self.log(" ".join([shlex.quote(x.decode("utf-8", "replace")) for x in cmd]))
+
+        p = sp.Popen(cmd, stdout=sp.PIPE)
+
+        self.cli.send_headers(None, mime="video/webm")
+
+        fails = 0
+        while True:
+            self.log("read")
+            buf = p.stdout.read(1024 * 4)
+            if not buf:
+                fails += 1
+                if p.poll() is not None or fails > 30:
+                    self.log("ffmpeg exited")
+                    return
+
+                time.sleep(0.1)
+                continue
+
+            fails = 0
+            try:
+                self.cli.s.sendall(buf)
+            except:
+                self.log("client disconnected")
+                p.kill()
+                return
diff --git a/copyparty/web/browser.js b/copyparty/web/browser.js
index 2bbfca51..b9c8de99 100644
--- a/copyparty/web/browser.js
+++ b/copyparty/web/browser.js
@@ -1552,6 +1552,7 @@ var thegrid = (function () {
 			href = this.getAttribute('href'),
 			aplay = ebi('a' + oth.getAttribute('id')),
 			is_img = /\.(gif|jpe?g|png|webp)(\?|$)/i.test(href),
+			is_vid = /\.(av1|asf|avi|flv|m4v|mkv|mjpeg|mjpg|mpg|mpeg|mpg2|mpeg2|h264|avc|h265|hevc|mov|3gp|mp4|ts|mpegts|nut|ogv|ogm|rm|vob|webm|wmv)(\?|$)/i.test(href),
 			in_tree = null,
 			have_sel = QS('#files tr.sel'),
 			td = oth.closest('td').nextSibling,
@@ -1579,6 +1580,9 @@ var thegrid = (function () {
 		else if (in_tree && !have_sel)
 			in_tree.click();
 
+		else if (is_vid)
+			window.open(href + (href.indexOf('?') === -1 ? '?' : '&') + 'vcr', '_blank');
+
 		else if (!is_img && have_sel)
 			window.open(href, '_blank');