protect_video()

Detect and encrypt license plates across all frames of a video file.

Signature

safelicensing.protect_video(
    video_path: str,
    seed: float = 0.5,
    output_path: str | None = None,
    model = None,
    model_path: str | None = None,
    progress_callback: Callable[[float], None] | None = None,
) -> ProtectVideoResult

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
video_path	str	required	Path to the input video file. Supported formats: mp4, avi, mov (OpenCV-readable).
seed	float	0.5	Chaotic encryption seed in (0.0, 1.0) exclusive.
output_path	str	None	Destination path for the encrypted video. When None, the file is written as <stem>_encrypted.mp4 in the same directory as the source.
model	YOLO instance	None	Pre-loaded YOLO model. Loads bundled best.pt when None.
model_path	str	None	Path to custom YOLOv8 .pt weights. Ignored when model is given.
progress_callback	callable	None	Optional callable receiving a float in [0.0, 1.0] after each processed frame.

Returns: ProtectVideoResult

Field	Type	Description
output_path	str	Absolute path to the encrypted output video file
frame_count	int	Total number of frames processed
fps	float	Frame rate of the output video
elapsed	float	Wall-clock processing time in seconds

Raises

Exception	Condition
FileNotFoundError	video_path does not exist
ValueError	seed is not strictly inside (0.0, 1.0)

Examples

Basic usage

import safelicensing as sl

model = sl.load_model()
result = sl.protect_video("dashcam.mp4", seed=0.42, model=model)

print(result.output_path)    # /abs/path/to/dashcam_encrypted.mp4
print(result.frame_count)    # 1800
print(result.fps)            # 30.0
print(result.elapsed)        # 94.3

Custom output path

result = sl.protect_video(
    "footage/recording.mp4",
    seed=0.5,
    output_path="protected/recording_safe.mp4",
    model=model,
)

Progress tracking

from tqdm import tqdm

with tqdm(total=100, desc="Encrypting") as bar:
    prev = 0.0

    def on_progress(p: float):
        nonlocal prev
        delta = int(p * 100) - int(prev * 100)
        bar.update(delta)
        prev = p

    result = sl.protect_video("dashcam.mp4", seed=0.5, progress_callback=on_progress)

Simple console progress

result = sl.protect_video(
    "dashcam.mp4",
    seed=0.42,
    progress_callback=lambda p: print(f"\r{p:.0%}", end="", flush=True),
)
print()   # newline after progress

Notes

• The original audio track is preserved in the output video.
• Output is always encoded as MP4 (H.264 via OpenCV / FFmpeg).
• Large videos may require significant RAM; all frames are processed in memory.

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See also: protect_image() → | Low-level video API →