--- title: "Watch Party With Your Own Video Files | sync.video" description: "Watch movies with friends online from your own video files: everyone opens their copy, joins with a code, and pause and play happen for all. Free, no upload." url: https://sync.video/watch-party --- 1. [Home](https://sync.video/) 2. [Sync player](https://sync.video/sync-player) 3. Watch party Free · runs in your browser # Watch movies with friends online, in sync Everyone plays their own copy of the film in full quality, and one room code keeps every screen on the same second, even when you live miles apart. If everyone in your group has the same video file, you can watch it together in sync without uploading or streaming it: each person opens their copy here, one of you starts a room, and the rest join with the code. Pause, play and skip then happen on every screen at once. Streaming services such as Netflix need their own group-watch features; this is for films and videos you have as files. Because nobody streams to anybody, the picture is as good as each person’s copy, nobody’s upload speed matters, and a slow connection only delays the occasional control message by a fraction of a second. Keep talking on a phone call, a video chat or [a Discord voice channel](https://sync.video/discord-watch-party) while the film plays here. It’s the same engine as the [sync player](https://sync.video/sync-player), set up for friends: the code and a QR code come first, so you can paste it straight into your group chat. If you’ve used Syncplay or Jellyfin’s group playback, the [comparison with those tools](https://sync.video/syncplay-alternative) explains what’s different. How devices agree on time: a guest pings the host, the host stamps its clock, and from the four timestamps the guest works out the clock difference and the trip time. Many pings, keeping the fastest, make it precise. ## How to host a watch party here 1. ### Get the same file to everyone Share the video file itself, not a link to a stream: a shared cloud folder works well. Everyone should download the identical file so the start lines up. 2. ### Open it and start a room The host drops the file onto **Drop the video to play in sync**, presses **Start a room**, sets **Who controls playback** to **Everyone** if anyone may pause, and presses **Create room**. 3. ### Send the code Press **Copy link** and paste it in your chat, or read out the six-character code. Friends open the link (or press **Join a room** and type the **Room code**), then choose their copy with **Open your copy of the video**. 4. ### Check everyone has the same file Under **Devices**, each friend should show **Same file**. A **Different file** usually means a different version or a re-compressed copy; swap it before you start. 5. ### Press play for everyone Press **Play for everyone** (Space). Anyone allowed to control can pause for a snack break with **Pause for everyone**, and every screen stops on the same frame. ## Watching from different homes The usual way to watch together at a distance is to stream your screen to your friends, which means their picture is only as good as your upload speed and the service’s compression, and a busy connection turns the film to mush at the exciting bit. Here nobody streams anything: each home plays the film from its own storage at its full quality, and only a few bytes of “play”, “pause” and clock checks cross the internet. ### Keeping the chat going The room carries no voice or text chat, deliberately: you already have a group chat or a call you like. Keep a phone call or voice channel open on another device, or with headphones on the same one. If a call app makes the film quieter while people talk, look for a setting that stops it lowering other sounds. ### Different time zones Under **Start**, **At a set time** lets the host pick the moment the film begins, so everyone can be ready with snacks rather than waiting for a countdown. Devices that join late are brought to the right point straight away. ## Who gets to press pause When you create the room, **Who controls playback** decides it. **Only me** keeps the remote with the host, which suits a premiere or a family film night run by one person. **Everyone** lets any guest play, pause or jump back to catch a line they missed, and the change happens for the whole room. Guests who can’t control see **The host controls playback** instead of the buttons. * **Play for everyone** and **Pause for everyone** (Space or K) act on every screen at once. * ← and → jump 5 seconds, Shift with an arrow 30 seconds, again for everyone. * **Start again for everyone** takes the whole room back to the beginning, handy after a false start. * **Leave the room** takes your device out; the host’s **End the room for everyone** closes it. ## When someone’s copy doesn’t match Two files of “the same film” can differ: one might be a theatrical cut and the other extended, one might have a studio logo at the start, or a messaging app may have compressed it on the way. In sync, those devices would show different scenes at the same moment. That’s why each device compares a fingerprint of its file with the host’s and shows **Same file**, **Different file**, or **Same length, other file** when only the bytes differ. **Same length, other file** often still works, because a re-encoded copy keeps the same timing; watch the first minute to be sure. **Different file** almost always means a different edit, so it’s worth fetching the host’s version. ## Watch party questions ### What is a watch party? Watching the same film or show at the same time as friends who aren’t in the room with you, usually with a call or chat running alongside. Streaming services have their own versions for their catalogues; this one is for video files you already have. ### Can I use this with Netflix or Disney+? No. Streaming services lock their players so other websites can’t read or control them, and their films can’t be opened as files. Use the service’s own group-watch feature for those. This page syncs files that everyone has on their own device. ### Does everyone need fast internet? No. The film plays from each person’s own storage, so a slow connection only needs to carry tiny control messages. The one time speed matters is when people download the file beforehand. ### Can we pause for everyone? Yes. If the host chose **Everyone** under **Who controls playback**, any guest’s pause, play or skip happens on every screen. With **Only me**, only the host can do it. ### Do my friends need an account or an app? No. They open the link or the page in a modern browser on a phone, tablet or computer, choose their copy of the file and join. There’s nothing to install and no sign-up. ### Can we watch on a TV? Yes, if the TV is connected to something that runs a modern browser, such as a laptop over HDMI. Join from that device and press **Full screen** (F). Built-in TV browsers often can’t open files, so a laptop or tablet is the safer choice. ## More in sync player * [ Play a video in sync on several devices A room code, a shared clock and every screen playing the same frame at the same moment. ](https://sync.video/sync-player) * [ Host a movie night on Discord Go Live, Watch Together, or a full-quality copy on every screen with Discord for voice. ](https://sync.video/discord-watch-party) * [ Compare Syncplay, Jellyfin SyncPlay and this Local-file group watching without a desktop player, a media server or a library. ](https://sync.video/syncplay-alternative) * [ Make a video wall from phones, tablets or TVs One picture split over a grid of screens, with gaps for bezels and every tile in step. ](https://sync.video/video-wall) * [ Sync audio and video online Drop one video to fix its delay, or several files to line them up by their sound. ](https://sync.video/)