If you are sharing a home video, a personal recording, or a film from your own library, the last thing you want is a copy of it sitting on a server you do not control. PartyStream was designed so that your video data goes directly from your browser to your friends' browsers. No server in the middle sees it, stores it, or processes it.
Your video never touches a server
When the host picks a video file, their browser loads it and captures the video and audio tracks. Those tracks are sent to each guest through WebRTC, a peer-to-peer protocol built into modern browsers. The video data travels directly from the host's browser to each guest's browser. PartyStream's servers never receive, store, or process the video.
The server handles only signaling: room creation, chat message relay, and sync commands (play, pause, seek). These are small text messages, not video data. The server is a stateless relay for these messages and holds nothing after the room closes.
No accounts, no email, no profile
PartyStream has no accounts. You do not sign up, you do not log in, you do not give an email. When you create or join a room, you type a display name (up to 30 characters) that is held in server memory for the session and discarded when the room closes or the server restarts. It is never stored in a database.
This means there is no profile tied to you, no watch history, no "recently watched" list, no data to sell or leak. The tradeoff is that there is also no persistence: if you leave a room and come back, you will not see your old chat messages, and you need a new room code.
Room codes are the only entry
When the host creates a room, the server generates a random 8-character code. There is no public room directory, no search, no discovery. The only way to find a room is to have the code or the invite link. Treat the room code like a password: only share it with people you want in the room.
Chat is ephemeral
Chat messages are relayed through the server in real time, but they are not stored, logged, or persisted anywhere. When you leave a room, your messages are gone. When the room closes, everything is gone. Late joiners do not see messages sent before they arrived.
If you need to keep something from the chat, copy it before the room closes. There is no way to retrieve it afterward.
What we do collect
Very little. Here is the full list:
- Display name: held in server memory for the session, discarded on close. Never stored in a database.
- Chat messages: relayed in real time, not stored or logged.
- Analytics: we use Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity to understand how the site is used (page views, session duration, click patterns). These are governed by their respective privacy policies.
- Contact form: if you reach out through the contact page, your name and message go to a third-party form handler (Web3Forms) so we can reply.
What we do not collect: no accounts, no email (unless you use the contact form), no video files, no IP addresses stored, no device fingerprints, no location data. For the full details, see our privacy policy.
When TURN relays traffic
In most cases, the peer-to-peer connection goes directly between the host and each guest. But if two peers are on strict networks (some cellular and corporate networks) that block direct connections, a TURN server may relay the traffic temporarily. The relay does not store any data. It forwards packets between the two peers and discards them as they pass through. Once the connection closes, nothing remains.
TURN is a fallback, not the default. Most watch parties connect peer-to-peer without it.
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