I have a lighttpd server running locally. If I load a static file on the server (through an html5 audio tag), it plays and seeks fine.

However, seeking doesn't work when running a dev server (web.py/CherryPy) or if I return the bytes via a defined action url instead of as a static file. It won't load the duration either.

According to the "HTTP byte range requests" section in this Opera Page it's something to do with support for byte range requests/partial content responses. The content is treated as streaming instead.

What I don't understand is:

• If the browser has the whole file downloaded surely it can display the duration, and surely it can seek.
• What I need to do on the web server to enable byte range requests (for non-static urls).

Any advice would be most gratefully received.