How to Download Podia Videos (Cloudflare Stream Videos)
Cloudflare Stream delivers video using signed, time-limited URLs containing JSON Web Tokens (JWTs).
These URLs point to either:
- an HLS playlist (
.m3u8), or - a DASH manifest (
.mpd).
Each manifest references CMAF/fMP4 segments (seg_1.mp4, seg_2.mp4, etc.) for audio and video.
Because the tokens expire, you must copy the exact, fresh URL from the browser’s network panel.
🧾 Legend
| Component | Description |
|------------|--------------|
| **Provider** | Cloudflare Stream |
| **Protocol** | MPEG-DASH & HLS (CMAF/fMP4) |
| **Auth** | JWT signed URL (short-lived) |
| **Downloader** | yt-dlp or ffmpeg |
| **Headers Needed** | Referer, Origin, User-Agent |
| **Output** | `.mp4` (video + audio merged) |
1. 🔍 Identifying the Stream
In Chrome DevTools → Network filter by .m3u8 -- look for requests like:
https://customer-010kwcw7rkskh8op.cloudflarestream.com/<JWT>/manifest/video.mpd?parentOrigin=https%3A%2F%2Fsubs.podia.com
and copy the Request URL
2. 💻 Download Command
yt-dlp -N 16 \
--add-header "Referer: https://subs.podia.com/" \
--add-header "Origin: https://subs.podia.com" \
--user-agent "Mozilla/5.0" \
"CLOUDFLARE_STREAM_URL"
Replace the "CLOUDFLARE_STREAM_URL" with your URL and run the yt-dlp command
✅ What Happens
yt-dlp detects the Cloudflare Stream manifest and downloads both:
- HLS video (
fhls-1410.mp4) - DASH audio (
fdash-968106369.m4a)
Then, merges them automatically into a single playable file with synchronized video + audio.
⚠️ Notes & Troubleshooting
| Issue | Cause | Fix |
|-------|--------|-----|
| 404 Not Found | Token expired or truncated | Reopen page → recopy manifest URL |
| 401 Unauthorized | Missing Referer/Origin headers | Add both headers exactly as shown |
| Audio-only file | yt-dlp didn’t find both streams | Try .m3u8 version or --allow-unplayable-formats |
| Still failing | Cloudflare rotating keys or custom player | Copy new manifest and retry immediately |