# Gabriel Kanev
> Source: https://gkanev.com/posts/mp4-safari-and-cloudflare-a-love-hate-relationship/
> Machine-readable version - 2026-04-16

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Search ESC [Image: Cloudflare MP4 Safari]

When deploying videos through Cloudflare, developers frequently run into playback issues in Safari and iOS environments. The core problem is how Cloudflare manages video file headers during caching and delivery.

## The Technical Issue

Safari requires specific HTTP headers for video playback: the 206 Partial Content response and Accept-Ranges: bytes. These enable byte-range requests essential for video seeking and autoplay. Cloudflare’s caching methodology can interfere with these requirements, preventing Safari from properly handling video streams.

## Five Solutions, Ranked by Success Rate

1. Alternative hosting - Host videos outside Cloudflare or disable the orange cloud proxy for video domains. The most reliable fix.

2. Web-optimize videos - Use tools like Handbrake to create Safari-compatible MP4 files with the correct codec and container settings.

3. Exclude from caching - Create Cloudflare page rules to bypass caching for MP4 files entirely.

4. Server-side configuration - Disable gzip compression for video files in your Nginx or Apache configuration:

# Nginx example
location ~* \.(mp4|webm)$ {
 gzip off;
 add_header Accept-Ranges bytes;
}
5. Verify HTML markup - Ensure proper video tag implementation with all required attributes:

<video autoplay muted loop playsinline>
 <source src="video.mp4" type="video/mp4">
</video>
The playsinline attribute is critical for iOS Safari - without it, videos won’t autoplay inline.

Start with option 1 if you can. If you’re stuck with Cloudflare on the video domain, option 3 or 4 usually does the trick.

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