nginx, alternative to if inside location to download or streaming a file

i have a problem. Inside nginx.conf i want to download a file only if there's in a query param "?dl=1" otherwise i want to stream the video mp4.

I have write this code:

 location ~\mp4 {
     if ($args_dl = "1") {
            types { application/octet-stream (.mp4); }
            default_type application/octet-stream;
     }
}

This code doesn't work because there's a if statement inside location. how should i change it to be able to perform the same operation? Thanks

Solution 1:

You might be able to use nginx map feature for this. Add the following to http level in nginx config:

map $arg_dl $mimetype {
    default video/mp4;
    1       application/octet-stream;
}

This one sets value for $mimetype variable based on the value of URL query argument dl. If dl is 1, mimetype is set to application/octet-stream, otherwise it is set to video/mp4.

And then use the mapped variable in location as follows:

location ~ \.mp4$ {
    types {
        $mimetype mp4;
    }
    default_type $mimetype;
}

This is completely untested, and it is the first time using a mapped variable inside types.

I also improved the location match to explicitly match .mp4 extension. location ~ \mp4 could match any URL that contains mp4, so it can cause issues.