Upload with a link

Last updated Oct 12, 2026 If you have videos stored in a cloud storage bucket (R2, S3, GCS) or hosted by a service that exposes a download link, you can pass its URL. Stream will fetch the file on your behalf.

Note

Google Drive share links are not recommended for this purpose. They are prone to rate limiting and access restrictions imposed by Google that may prevent Stream from downloading the file.

Make a POST request to the Stream API using the link to your video.

        curl \
        --data '{"url":"https://pub-2da57dbfcf5f4369863991d59747d686.r2.dev/acadia.mp4","meta":{"name":"My First Stream Video"}}' \
        --header "Authorization: Bearer <API_TOKEN>" \
        https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/{account_id}/stream/copy

const client = new Cloudflare({
    apiEmail: process.env['CLOUDFLARE_EMAIL'], // This is the default and can be omitted
    apiKey: process.env['CLOUDFLARE_API_KEY'], // This is the default and can be omitted
});

const video = await client.stream.copy.create({
    account_id: '<ACCOUNT_ID>',
    url: 'https://pub-2da57dbfcf5f4369863991d59747d686.r2.dev/acadia.mp4',
});

See the full Stream REST API and SDK reference for details on using REST API from external applications, with pre-generated SDK's for external TypeScript, Python, or Go applications.

export default {
    async fetch(request, env, ctx): Promise<Response> {
        // upload a video with a link
        const videoDetails = await env.STREAM.upload(
            "https://pub-2da57dbfcf5f4369863991d59747d686.r2.dev/acadia.mp4",
            // (optional) attach metadata
            { meta: { name: "My First Stream Video" } }
        );

        // return a Workers response
        return new Response(
            JSON.stringify(videoDetails),
        );
    },

} satisfies ExportedHandler<{ STREAM: StreamBinding }>;

{
    "$schema": "node_modules/wrangler/config-schema.json",
    "name": "<ENTER_WORKER_NAME>",
    "main": "src/index.ts",
    "upload_source_maps": true,
    "compatibility_date": "2026-04-14",
    "observability": {
        "enabled": true
    },
    "stream": {
        "binding": "STREAM"
    }
}

See the full Workers Stream binding API reference.

If you have videos stored in a cloud storage bucket, you can pass a HTTP link for the file, and Stream will fetch the file on your behalf.

Check video status

Stream must download and encode the video, which can take a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the length of your video.

When the readyToStream value returns true, your video is ready for streaming.

You can optionally use webhooks which will notify you when the video is ready to stream or if an error occurs.

{
  "result": {
    "uid": "6b9e68b07dfee8cc2d116e4c51d6a957",
    "thumbnail": "https://customer-f33zs165nr7gyfy4.cloudflarestream.com/6b9e68b07dfee8cc2d116e4c51d6a957/thumbnails/thumbnail.jpg",
    "thumbnailTimestampPct": 0,
    "readyToStream": false,
    "status": {
      "state": "downloading"
    },
    "meta": {
      "downloaded-from": "https://pub-2da57dbfcf5f4369863991d59747d686.r2.dev/acadia.mp4",
      "name": "My First Stream Video"
    },
    "created": "2020-10-16T20:20:17.872170843Z",
    "modified": "2020-10-16T20:20:17.872170843Z",
    "size": 9032701,
    "preview": "https://customer-f33zs165nr7gyfy4.cloudflarestream.com/6b9e68b07dfee8cc2d116e4c51d6a957/watch",
    "allowedOrigins": [],
    "requireSignedURLs": false,
    "uploaded": "2020-10-16T20:20:17.872170843Z",
    "uploadExpiry": null,
    "maxSizeBytes": 0,
    "maxDurationSeconds": 0,
    "duration": -1,
    "input": {
      "width": -1,
      "height": -1
    },
    "playback": {
      "hls": "https://customer-f33zs165nr7gyfy4.cloudflarestream.com/6b9e68b07dfee8cc2d116e4c51d6a957/manifest/video.m3u8",
      "dash": "https://customer-f33zs165nr7gyfy4.cloudflarestream.com/6b9e68b07dfee8cc2d116e4c51d6a957/manifest/video.mpd"
    },
    "watermark": null
  },
  "success": true,
  "errors": [],
  "messages": []
}

After the video is uploaded, you can use the video uid shown in the example response above to play the video using the Stream video player.

If you are using your own player or rendering the video in a mobile app, refer to using your own player.

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description: Upload video files under 200 MB to Cloudflare Stream using the dashboard or API. title: Basic video uploads image: https://developers.cloudflare.com/stream/uploading-videos/upload-video-file/og.png?v=491f102a460f2f60

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