diff --git a/TODO.md b/TODO.md
index 085ab7a..5a0f2ba 100644
--- a/TODO.md
+++ b/TODO.md
@@ -341,6 +341,17 @@
 - [ ] full browser-level validation was not fully reproducible in this environment
 
 ## Recent Change Log
+- Date: `2026-03-16`
+- What changed:
+  - Added `/api/preview/stream` so remote preview assets are fetched through the backend instead of relying on the browser to load Envato / Artgrid media directly.
+  - MP4 previews are cached on disk under the downloads area, and HLS playlists are rewritten so segment fetches also flow through the same backend proxy route.
+- Why it changed:
+  - Direct browser loading of remote preview URLs was still unstable and often failed due to upstream restrictions or missing headers.
+- How it was verified:
+  - code-path inspection of preview proxy and playlist rewrite flow
+- What is still risky or incomplete:
+  - HLS caching is not yet persisted segment-by-segment; current implementation rewrites playlists and proxies segment requests live.
+
 - Date: `2026-03-16`
 - What changed:
   - Relaxed final recommendation merge so Gemini-reviewed non-negative items can still appear, and only a small preview-capable ranked filler set is used when the result list is otherwise too thin.
diff --git a/backend/handlers/api.go b/backend/handlers/api.go
index ae97522..4d6159d 100644
--- a/backend/handlers/api.go
+++ b/backend/handlers/api.go
@@ -2,11 +2,14 @@ package handlers
 
 import (
 	"bufio"
+	"crypto/sha1"
 	"database/sql"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
 	"os"
 	"os/exec"
 	"path/filepath"
@@ -24,12 +27,13 @@ import (
 )
 
 type App struct {
-	DB            *sql.DB
-	DownloadsDir  string
-	WorkerScript  string
-	SearchService *services.SearchService
-	GeminiService *services.GeminiService
-	Hub           *Hub
+	DB              *sql.DB
+	DownloadsDir    string
+	PreviewCacheDir string
+	WorkerScript    string
+	SearchService   *services.SearchService
+	GeminiService   *services.GeminiService
+	Hub             *Hub
 }
 
 type Hub struct {
@@ -92,6 +96,7 @@ func RegisterRoutes(router *gin.Engine, app *App) {
 	})
 	router.GET("/ws", app.handleWS)
 	router.GET("/api/history/check", app.checkDuplicate)
+	router.GET("/api/preview/stream", app.streamPreview)
 	router.POST("/api/download/preview", app.previewDownload)
 	router.POST("/api/upload", app.uploadFile)
 	router.POST("/api/download", app.startDownload)
@@ -134,6 +139,61 @@ func (a *App) checkDuplicate(c *gin.Context) {
 	c.JSON(http.StatusOK, gin.H{"exists": record != nil, "record": record})
 }
 
+func (a *App) streamPreview(c *gin.Context) {
+	target := strings.TrimSpace(c.Query("url"))
+	if target == "" {
+		c.JSON(http.StatusBadRequest, gin.H{"error": "url is required"})
+		return
+	}
+
+	req, err := http.NewRequest(http.MethodGet, target, nil)
+	if err != nil {
+		c.JSON(http.StatusBadRequest, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
+		return
+	}
+	req.Header.Set("User-Agent", "Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/123.0.0.0 Safari/537.36")
+	req.Header.Set("Accept-Language", "en-US,en;q=0.9")
+	req.Header.Set("Referer", inferPreviewReferer(target))
+
+	resp, err := a.SearchService.Client.Do(req)
+	if err != nil {
+		c.JSON(http.StatusBadGateway, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
+		return
+	}
+	defer resp.Body.Close()
+
+	if resp.StatusCode >= 300 {
+		c.JSON(http.StatusBadGateway, gin.H{"error": fmt.Sprintf("preview source returned %d", resp.StatusCode)})
+		return
+	}
+
+	contentType := resp.Header.Get("Content-Type")
+	if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(target), ".m3u8") || strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(contentType), "mpegurl") {
+		body, err := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(resp.Body, 2*1024*1024))
+		if err != nil {
+			c.JSON(http.StatusBadGateway, gin.H{"error": err.Error()})
+			return
+		}
+		rewritten := rewriteM3U8Playlist(string(body), target)
+		c.Header("Content-Type", "application/vnd.apple.mpegurl")
+		c.String(http.StatusOK, rewritten)
+		return
+	}
+
+	if isCacheablePreview(target, contentType) {
+		if cachedPath, err := a.cachePreviewResponse(target, contentType, resp.Body); err == nil {
+			c.File(cachedPath)
+			return
+		}
+	}
+
+	if contentType != "" {
+		c.Header("Content-Type", contentType)
+	}
+	c.Status(http.StatusOK)
+	_, _ = io.Copy(c.Writer, resp.Body)
+}
+
 func (a *App) uploadFile(c *gin.Context) {
 	file, err := c.FormFile("file")
 	if err != nil {
@@ -562,6 +622,68 @@ func EnsurePaths(downloadsDir, workerScript string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func inferPreviewReferer(target string) string {
+	lower := strings.ToLower(target)
+	switch {
+	case strings.Contains(lower, "envatousercontent.com"), strings.Contains(lower, "elements.envato.com"):
+		return "https://elements.envato.com/"
+	case strings.Contains(lower, "artgrid"), strings.Contains(lower, "artlist"):
+		return "https://artgrid.io/"
+	default:
+		return ""
+	}
+}
+
+func rewriteM3U8Playlist(body, target string) string {
+	lines := strings.Split(body, "\n")
+	baseURL := target
+	if idx := strings.LastIndex(baseURL, "/"); idx >= 0 {
+		baseURL = baseURL[:idx+1]
+	}
+	for idx, line := range lines {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(line)
+		if trimmed == "" || strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "#") {
+			continue
+		}
+		resolved := trimmed
+		if !strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "http://") && !strings.HasPrefix(trimmed, "https://") {
+			resolved = baseURL + strings.TrimPrefix(trimmed, "/")
+		}
+		lines[idx] = "/api/preview/stream?url=" + url.QueryEscape(resolved)
+	}
+	return strings.Join(lines, "\n")
+}
+
+func isCacheablePreview(target, contentType string) bool {
+	lower := strings.ToLower(target + " " + contentType)
+	return strings.Contains(lower, ".mp4") || strings.Contains(lower, "video/mp4")
+}
+
+func (a *App) cachePreviewResponse(target, contentType string, body io.Reader) (string, error) {
+	if a.PreviewCacheDir == "" {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("preview cache dir is not configured")
+	}
+	if err := os.MkdirAll(a.PreviewCacheDir, 0o755); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+
+	sum := sha1.Sum([]byte(target))
+	ext := ".bin"
+	if strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(target), ".mp4") || strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(contentType), "video/mp4") {
+		ext = ".mp4"
+	}
+	path := filepath.Join(a.PreviewCacheDir, fmt.Sprintf("%x%s", sum, ext))
+	file, err := os.Create(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	defer file.Close()
+	if _, err := io.Copy(file, body); err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	return path, nil
+}
+
 func summarizeOutput(prefix string, output []byte, err error) string {
 	trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(string(output))
 	if trimmed == "" && err != nil {
diff --git a/backend/main.go b/backend/main.go
index 9b9269a..6d5507f 100644
--- a/backend/main.go
+++ b/backend/main.go
@@ -31,9 +31,10 @@ func main() {
 	}
 
 	app := &handlers.App{
-		DB:           db,
-		DownloadsDir: downloadsDir,
-		WorkerScript: workerScript,
+		DB:              db,
+		DownloadsDir:    downloadsDir,
+		PreviewCacheDir: filepath.Join(downloadsDir, ".preview-cache"),
+		WorkerScript:    workerScript,
 		SearchService: services.NewSearchService(
 			os.Getenv("SEARXNG_BASE_URL"),
 			os.Getenv("SEARXNG_GOOGLE_VIDEO_ENGINE"),
diff --git a/frontend/app.js b/frontend/app.js
index d8f7c53..233b959 100644
--- a/frontend/app.js
+++ b/frontend/app.js
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ const hlsInstances = new WeakMap();
 const debugEntries = [];
 const PREVIEW_PLACEHOLDER = "https://placehold.co/1280x720/0a0a0a/ffffff?text=Preview";
 
+function proxiedPreviewURL(src) {
+  if (!src) {
+    return "";
+  }
+  return `/api/preview/stream?url=${encodeURIComponent(src)}`;
+}
+
 function setStatus(label, progress) {
   statusLabel.textContent = label;
   statusBar.style.width = `${Math.max(0, Math.min(100, progress))}%`;
@@ -418,7 +425,7 @@ function showResultModalVideo(src) {
   if (!src) {
     return;
   }
-  attachVideoSource(resultModalVideo, src);
+  attachVideoSource(resultModalVideo, proxiedPreviewURL(src));
   setHidden(resultModalVideo, false, "");
 }
 
@@ -452,7 +459,7 @@ function renderResults(results) {
       mediaArea.addEventListener("mouseenter", () => {
         logEvent("preview:hover:start", { title: item.title, source: item.source, previewVideoUrl: item.previewVideoUrl });
         overlays.forEach((overlay) => overlay.classList.add("hidden"));
-        startHoverPreview(previewVideo, item.previewVideoUrl);
+        startHoverPreview(previewVideo, proxiedPreviewURL(item.previewVideoUrl));
       });
       mediaArea.addEventListener("mouseleave", () => {
         logEvent("preview:hover:end", { title: item.title, source: item.source });
@@ -568,7 +575,7 @@ function openPreviewModal(preview) {
   previewThumbnail.alt = preview.title;
   resetPreviewPlayer();
   if (preview.previewStreamUrl) {
-    attachVideoSource(previewVideo, preview.previewStreamUrl);
+    attachVideoSource(previewVideo, proxiedPreviewURL(preview.previewStreamUrl));
     setHidden(previewVideo, false, "");
     setHidden(previewThumbnail, true, "");
   } else {