Django, streaming H.264 video with FileWrapper (HTML5)

I'm having a strange issue trying stream H.264 video with Django using the FileWrapper class. I'm using the following view function:

def mp4(request, path):
  wrapper = FileWrapper(open(path, 'rb'))
  content_type = mimetypes.guess_type(path)[0]
  response = HttpResponse(wrapper, content_type=content_type)
  response['Content-Length'] = os.path.getsize(path)
  return response

The function is mapped to this URL:

  (r'^/mp4/(.*)$', 'mp4'),

And I'm referencing the URL inside an HTML5 video tag:

<video width="560" height="340" controls>
  <source src='/video/mp4//tmp/test.mp4' type='video/mp4 codecs="avc1.42E01E, mp4a.40.2"'>
</video>

However, when I open the page containing the video, the video does NOT play and the Django development server issues the following errors:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 280, in run
    self.finish_response()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 320, in finish_response
    self.write(data)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 416, in write
    self._write(data)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/socket.py", line 300, in write
    self.flush()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/socket.py", line 286, in flush
    self._sock.sendall(buffer)
error: [Errno 104] Connection reset by peer

[05/Dec/2010 13:08:00] "GET /video/mp4//tmp/test.mp4 HTTP/1.1" 200 384329753

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 280, in run
    self.finish_response()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 320, in finish_response
    self.write(data)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 416, in write
    self._write(data)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/socket.py", line 300, in write
    self.flush()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/socket.py", line 286, in flush
    self._sock.sendall(buffer)
error: [Errno 104] Connection reset by peer

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 280, in run
    self.finish_response()
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 320, in finish_response
    self.write(data)
  File "/usr/lib/pymodules/python2.6/django/core/servers/basehttp.py", line 416, in write
    self._write(data)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/socket.py", line 300, in write
    self.flush()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/socket.py", line 286, in flush
    self._sock.sendall(buffer)
error: [Errno 32] Broken pipe

The browse开发者_StackOverflowr, Google Chrome, appears to try to retrieve the video multiple times, the first two times reseting the connection and the last time dropping the connection. Notice that Django returns a 200 OK response together with the correct size of the video.

Here is the strange part: Even though the video does not play, I can right click the player control, select Save Video As... and Google Chrome will happily download the entire video and store it locally. I can then, still in Google Chrome, play the saved video by opening it with a file:// URL.

I have also tried putting the video file in a local web server and referencing it there in the video tag, and that works as well.

So I think the issue is related to FileWrapper and/or the way Django handles HttpResponse with an iterator. The data is there, it can be saved with Save Video As..., so why won't it play?

Thanks!

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For those who're stumbling across this question in 2019 (and beyond), the answer has been posted here.