NoBuf

Zero-buffer video streaming. Powered by Telegram.

An open-source desktop player that streams video from Telegram channels
with continuous prebuffering — so playback never stalls, even on seeks.

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📂 Already Have a Telegram Channel?

Just append [NB] to the channel name — NoBuf detects it automatically. No re-upload, no migration needed.

Example: My Media → rename to My Media [NB] → it appears in NoBuf instantly.

Why "NoBuf"?

Because buffering is a solved problem — we just solved it differently.

NoBuf uses Media Source Extensions (MSE) to stream video directly from Telegram's servers into your browser engine. There's no download-first, no transcode-wait, no spinner. The player continuously prebuffers the next 60 seconds while you watch, so playback never stalls.

Telegram channels become your video library. Telegram's CDN becomes your streaming backend. NoBuf is the player that makes it feel local.

How It Works

You click play
       │
       ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  512 KB fetched from Telegram (first frame in ~200ms)           │
  │       │                                                         │
  │       ▼                                                         │
  │  mp4box.js demuxes MP4 → video + audio init segments            │
  │       │                                                         │
  │       ▼                                                         │
  │  MediaSource SourceBuffers receive fragments                     │
  │       │                                                         │
  │       ▼                                                         │
  │  ▶️  Playback starts immediately                                 │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
       │
       │  Meanwhile, in the background:
       ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Progressive prebuffer (next 60 seconds):                       │
  │                                                                 │
  │  512KB → 1MB → 2MB → 4MB → 8MB   (fragment sizes ramp up)      │
  │                                                                 │
  │  Downloaded bytes → disk cache (.dat + .meta)                   │
  │  Cache tracks exact byte ranges — knows what's cached            │
  │  3 parallel TCP connections saturate your bandwidth              │
  │  Overlapping range requests are deduplicated                     │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
       │
       │  You seek to a new position:
       ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  500ms debounce (prevents wasteful downloads on rapid seeks)    │
  │  Cache checked first → instant playback if already buffered      │
  │  Otherwise → fresh 512KB fetch → immediate playback              │
  │  Old buffer evicted, new prebuffer starts from seek point        │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
       │
       │  You close the player:
       ▼
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Background cache continues downloading the full video           │
  │  Gap detection finds what's missing, fills it in parallel        │
  │  Next time you open this video → instant playback from cache     │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The Tech Behind Zero-Buffer

[!IMPORTANT] Format Support: The MSE prebuffer pipeline currently supports .mp4 files only. Support for .ts (MPEG-TS) and .mkv containers is planned for a future release. Non-MP4 video files fall back to direct download playback.

Why Telegram?

Your Telegram channels become a video library. Your Saved Messages become a quick-access drive. NoBuf gives you the explorer UI and streaming engine to make it seamless.

Full Feature Set

Streaming

• 🎬 MSE Video Player — Media Source Extensions with mp4box.js demuxing. Progressive fragment sizing for instant first frame.
• 🔄 Continuous Prebuffer — 60-second look-ahead. Downloads while you watch.
• 💾 Disk-Backed Cache — Byte-range tracking with gap detection. Cached videos replay instantly.
• 🔁 Background Cache — Close the player, download continues. Come back later, instant playback.
• 🎞️ Scrub Previews — Sprite sheet generation for frame-accurate seeking.
• 🎵 Audio Playback — Built-in player with speed control.

File Management

• 📁 Folder System — Telegram channels as folders. Create, rename, delete, drag-and-drop.
• 📂 File Explorer — Grid and list views with virtual scrolling for thousands of files.
• 📤 Drag & Drop Upload — Upload queue with progress, speed tracking, and cancellation.
• 📥 Parallel Downloads — 3 concurrent TCP connections per file. ~3× faster than single-threaded.
• 🖼️ Image Preview — Inline thumbnails and full-resolution viewer.
• 📄 PDF Viewer — Infinite-scroll rendering with zoom and page navigation.

Platform

• 🤖 REST API — Local HTTP API (off by default) with API key auth. Enables AI agents and automation.
• 📊 Bandwidth Monitor — Daily upload/download tracking with configurable limits.
• 🎚️ Speed Limiter — Per-session throttle for streaming and downloads.
• 🔄 Auto-Updates — built-in update delivery via Tauri's updater plugin.

  [!CAUTION] Auto-update is not yet active. Watch Releases for new builds.

• 🔒 Local-Only — All credentials and data stay on your machine. No telemetry, no third-party servers.
• 🖥️ Cross-Platform — Windows, macOS (Intel + Apple Silicon), Linux (AppImage + .deb).
• 🚪 Exit Options — Choose what happens on close: minimize to tray, quit, or cancel.
• 🎛️ Video Player Settings — Playback speed, video fit mode, brightness, rotation, and loop control.

Screenshots

Main Dashboard	Grid View

List View	Video Player Settings

Preview Thumbnails	Cache Playback

Settings	Exit Options

Download / Upload	Authentication

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                        Tauri v2 Desktop Shell                    │
│                                                                  │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  React + TypeScript + Tailwind                               │ │
│  │                                                              │ │
│  │  ┌─────────────┐  ┌──────────────────┐  ┌───────────────┐  │ │
│  │  │ FastStream   │  │ File Explorer    │  │ Settings &    │  │ │
│  │  │ MSE Player   │  │ (Grid/List)      │  │ API Config    │  │ │
│  │  │              │  │                  │  │               │  │ │
│  │  │ mp4box demux │  │ Drag & Drop      │  │ Speed Limits  │  │ │
│  │  │ SourceBuffer │  │ Virtual Scroll   │  │ Bandwidth     │  │ │
│  │  │ Prebuffer    │  │ Thumbnails       │  │ REST API key  │  │ │
│  │  └──────┬───────┘  └────────┬─────────┘  └───────┬───────┘  │ │
│  └─────────┼──────────────────┼─────────────────────┼──────────┘ │
│            │           Tauri IPC Commands            │            │
│  ┌─────────┴──────────────────┴─────────────────────┴──────────┐ │
│  │                    Rust Backend (Grammers)                    │ │
│  │                                                              │ │
│  │  ┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐  │ │
│  │  │ Auth         │ │ File System   │ │ Download Pool       │  │ │
│  │  │ (phone/qr/   │ │ (CRUD/Move/   │ │ (3 parallel TCP     │  │ │
│  │  │  2FA)        │ │  Upload)      │ │  connections)       │  │ │
│  │  └──────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └────────────────────┘  │ │
│  │  ┌──────────────┐ ┌───────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐  │ │
│  │  │ Stream Cache │ │ Coordinator   │ │ Speed Limiter       │  │ │
│  │  │ (.dat + .meta│ │ (dedup range  │ │ (prebuffer +        │  │ │
│  │  │  byte ranges)│ │  requests)    │ │  download)          │  │ │
│  │  └──────────────┘ └───────────────┘ └────────────────────┘  │ │
│  └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                                                  │
│  ┌─────────────────────────┐  ┌────────────────────────────────┐ │
│  │  Streaming Server        │  │  REST API Server                │ │
│  │  Actix-web :14201        │  │  Actix-web :configurable        │ │
│  │                          │  │                                  │ │
│  │  GET /stream/{id}/{msg}  │  │  GET /api/v1/files              │ │
│  │  Range requests          │  │  GET /api/v1/files/{id}         │ │
│  │  Cache-first serving     │  │  GET /api/v1/files/{id}/download│ │
│  │  HLS manifest gen        │  │  X-API-Key auth                 │ │
│  └────────────┬─────────────┘  └────────────────────────────────┘ │
└───────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                │
                ▼
       ┌──────────────────┐
       │  Telegram Cloud  │
       │  (MTProto API)   │
       │                  │
       │  Channels        │──→ Video Library
       │  Saved Messages  │──→ Quick Access
       └──────────────────┘

Tech Stack

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18+ — nodejs.org
• Rust (latest stable) — install via rustup.rs
• Telegram API credentials — obtain from my.telegram.org → API development tools

xcode-select --install

sudo apt update && sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev build-essential curl wget file \
  libxdo-dev libssl-dev libayatana-appindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev

Install & Run

# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/Istiaq-Edu/nobuf.git
cd nobuf

# 2. Install frontend dependencies
cd app
npm install

# 3. Run in development mode
npm run tauri dev

# 4. Build for production
npm run tauri build

First build takes 5–15 minutes — Rust compiles 300+ crates on initial build. Subsequent builds are fast.

REST API

NoBuf includes a local REST API for programmatic access and AI integration. Disabled by default — enable in Settings.

Endpoints

Authentication

All endpoints require the X-API-Key header. Generate a key in Settings → API. Keys are SHA-256 hashed locally — the raw key is only shown once.

curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" http://localhost:PORT/api/v1/files?limit=10

Acknowledgments

• Telegram-Drive — NoBuf's core architecture is based on caamer20's Telegram-Drive project. The idea of using Telegram channels as a file storage backend and the initial Tauri + Grammers integration originate from this work.
• FastStream — the MSE video prebuffering engine and progressive fragment strategy were adapted from Andrews54757's FastStream project. The lib/faststream/ module is based on their approach to Media Source Extensions streaming.

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

_{This application is not affiliated with Telegram FZ-LLC. Use responsibly and in accordance with Telegram's Terms of Service.}