VideoFlowEngine HLS Streaming

Sharraxaad

Stop paying Vimeo to host videos on your own WordPress site.

VideoFlowEngine lets you upload, encode, and stream HLS video on WordPress using your own Cloudflare R2 storage — no per-view fees, no bandwidth caps, no vendor lock-in.

Drop videos into any page, post, or LMS lesson with a shortcode or Gutenberg block. Videos auto-encode to adaptive HLS (360p / 720p / 1080p) and stream instantly via Cloudflare CDN.

🎯 Built for:

• Course creators on LearnDash, Tutor LMS, LifterLMS, LearnPress — ditch Vimeo without rebuilding your lessons
• Membership sites that don’t want YouTube recommendations pulling members away
• Agencies managing video for multiple client sites
• SaaS / marketing sites that want branded, ad-free video players

🚀 What you get:

• Upload videos directly from the WordPress dashboard
• Automatic multi-resolution HLS encoding (360p / 720p / 1080p adaptive)
• Fast global delivery via Cloudflare CDN
• Drop into any page, post, or LMS lesson via shortcode or Gutenberg block
• Built-in analytics: views, watch time, drop-off — right inside WordPress
• No ads, no external branding, no platform recommendations

🔥 Features

• Direct-to-cloud uploads from the WordPress admin (no server transcoding)
• Adaptive HLS streaming — quality switches based on viewer’s connection
• [vfhls_player id="123"] shortcode for single videos
• [vfhls_gallery columns="3"] shortcode for video grids
• Gutenberg block for the modern editor
• Drag & drop upload with real-time encoding progress
• Built-in analytics dashboard (views, watch time, drop-off, device)
• Free tier — no credit card required

🎬 Hero Add-On — Instant-Play Premium Video

Your homepage hero video, course intro, or featured testimonial deserves to play instantly — no buffer wheel, no loading delay, no LCP penalty. Mark any one video as your Hero for adaptive HLS streaming optimised for one premium video on your site.

Use [vfhls_player id="123" hero] to embed. Switch which video is your Hero anytime from Settings.

• Instant playback — plays on first tap, no buffer wheel, even on mobile
• Faster page load — adaptive HLS, no full-file download before play starts
• Full HD 1080p for the hero video
• One-click switch — change which video is Hero anytime

Perfect for: homepage hero videos, course intro lessons, sales-page testimonials, product demo reels, agency client showcases.

🎓 Works with your LMS:

Drop the shortcode or block into any LMS lesson editor. Confirmed compatible via the WordPress block API:

• LearnDash — add videos to lessons, topics, quizzes
• Tutor LMS — lesson video blocks, course builder
• LifterLMS — lesson and course content
• LearnPress — lesson content
• Any LMS that accepts standard WordPress shortcodes or blocks

❓ Why not YouTube or Vimeo?

• No ads, no branding, no recommendations pulling viewers to competitors
• No per-view or bandwidth charges — you own the storage
• Private by default — unlike YouTube unlisted / Vimeo review links, HLS segments are served from your own storage
• Analytics inside WordPress — no separate dashboard, no third-party tracking
• Your content, your domain, your player — full brand control

🔐 Security & Privacy

• WordPress capability checks on every admin action
• Pre-signed upload URLs — video files never publicly exposed during upload
• No data leaves your site until the admin explicitly clicks “Connect”
• Visitor analytics are opt-in — disabled by default, toggled from Settings
• Viewer IP is used only for 1-hour view deduplication, not stored long-term

How it works:

1. Install and activate the plugin
2. Go to VideoFlowEngine → Settings, click Connect to VideoFlowEngine, and review exactly which data will be sent before the free API key is provisioned (site URL, site name, admin email, WordPress/PHP/plugin versions)
3. Upload videos from the VideoFlowEngine menu
4. Videos are uploaded directly to cloud storage via pre-signed URLs, then encoded to HLS
5. Paste the shortcode into any page, post, or LMS lesson — or use the Gutenberg block

External Services

This plugin connects to an external service (VideoFlowEngine API at api.videoflowengine.com) to process, store, and stream videos. This service is required for the plugin to function. No data is sent to the external service until the site admin explicitly clicks “Connect to VideoFlowEngine” on the Settings page and is shown which fields will be transmitted.

API endpoint: https://api.videoflowengine.com

Data sent to the service may include:

• Video files (uploaded directly to cloud storage via pre-signed URLs)
• Site URL, site name, admin email (for API key provisioning)
• WordPress version, PHP version, plugin version
• API key (for authentication)
• Playback analytics when enabled (view counts, watch time, playback quality, viewer IP for deduplication — opt-in, disabled by default)

Service Provider: VideoFlowEngine
Website: https://videoflowengine.com
API: https://api.videoflowengine.com
Terms of Service: https://videoflowengine.com/terms
Privacy Policy: https://videoflowengine.com/privacy

Third Party Libraries

This plugin includes the following third-party library:

• hls.js — HLS video playback in browsers
  Included file: assets/js/hls.min.js (minified production build)
  Source code: https://github.com/video-dev/hls.js
  License: Apache License 2.0 (GPL-compatible)

The minified file was obtained from the official hls.js GitHub releases. The full unminified source code is publicly available at the repository linked above.

Privacy

This plugin sends video-related data to an external server for processing. No personal user data is intentionally collected or stored beyond what is needed to operate the service. No data is sent until the site admin explicitly connects via the Settings page.

Admin data (sent on connect):

• Site URL, site name, admin email
• WordPress version, PHP version, plugin version

Video data (sent on upload):

• Video files (uploaded directly to cloud storage)
• API key (for authentication)

Visitor analytics (opt-in only):

Visitor playback analytics are disabled by default and must be explicitly enabled by the site admin via a checkbox during initial connection or in Settings. When enabled, the following data is collected when visitors watch videos:

• View events (play, pause, heartbeat, ended)
• Watch time, playback position, video quality
• Visitor IP address (used solely for view deduplication within a 1-hour window, not stored long-term)

No visitor tracking occurs when analytics are disabled. The admin can enable or disable analytics at any time from VideoFlowEngine → Settings.

Analytics data is estimated based on player events and may not be 100% accurate.

For full details, see the Privacy Policy.