How to Download

How to Download HLS/M3U8 Streaming Videos

File Extensions: .m3u8, .m3u MIME Types: application/x-mpegURL, application/vnd.apple.mpegurl, audio/x-mpegurl Container: Playlist format (references video/audio segments) Streaming: Adaptive bitrate streaming protocol

Devin Schumacher
7 min read

How to Download HLS/M3U8 Streaming Videos

File Extensions: .m3u8, .m3u
MIME Types: application/x-mpegURL, application/vnd.apple.mpegurl, audio/x-mpegurl
Container: Playlist format (references video/audio segments)
Streaming: Adaptive bitrate streaming protocol

Overview

HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) is Apple's adaptive bitrate streaming protocol that delivers video and audio content over HTTP. It works by breaking the stream into small HTTP-based segments and creating a playlist file (M3U8) that references these segments. Many platforms use HLS alongside other protocols like RTMP streaming, DASH protocols, and WebRTC for different use cases.

HLS Structure

Master Playlist (m3u8)

Contains references to variant streams with different bitrates/resolutions:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:6
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=1280000,RESOLUTION=720x404,CODECS="avc1.77.30,mp4a.40.2"
variant1/playlist.m3u8
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=2560000,RESOLUTION=1280x720,CODECS="avc1.77.31,mp4a.40.2"
variant2/playlist.m3u8

Variant Playlist (m3u8)

Contains individual segment references:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:6
#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:10
#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:0
#EXTINF:10.0,
segment000.ts
#EXTINF:10.0,
segment001.ts

Detection Methods

1. Network Traffic Analysis

Browser Developer Tools

// Open Network tab and filter by:
// - Type: Media or XHR
// - Name contains: .m3u8
// Look for playlist requests during video playback

JavaScript Network Interception

// Intercept fetch requests for M3U8
const originalFetch = window.fetch;
window.fetch = function(...args) {
  const url = args[0];
  if (typeof url === 'string' && url.includes('.m3u8')) {
    console.log('HLS Playlist detected:', url);
  }
  return originalFetch.apply(this, args);
};

2. DOM Analysis

HTML Video Element Sources

// Check video elements for HLS sources
document.querySelectorAll('video').forEach(video => {
  const src = video.src || video.currentSrc;
  if (src && src.includes('.m3u8')) {
    console.log('HLS source found:', src);
  }
  
  // Check source children
  video.querySelectorAll('source').forEach(source => {
    if (source.src && source.src.includes('.m3u8')) {
      console.log('HLS source found:', source.src);
    }
  });
});

Video.js Player Detection

// Video.js specific detection
if (window.videojs) {
  const players = videojs.getPlayers();
  Object.values(players).forEach(player => {
    const tech = player.tech();
    if (tech && tech.hls) {
      console.log('HLS URL:', tech.hls.playlists.master.uri);
    }
  });
}

3. Custom Player Framework Detection

JW Player

// JW Player HLS detection
if (window.jwplayer) {
  jwplayer().on('ready', function() {
    const playlist = this.getPlaylist();
    playlist.forEach(item => {
      if (item.file && item.file.includes('.m3u8')) {
        console.log('JW Player HLS:', item.file);
      }
    });
  });
}

Hls.js Library Detection

// Hls.js detection
if (window.Hls && window.Hls.isSupported()) {
  const originalLoadSource = window.Hls.prototype.loadSource;
  window.Hls.prototype.loadSource = function(url) {
    console.log('Hls.js loading:', url);
    return originalLoadSource.call(this, url);
  };
}

Injection and Extraction Methods

1. Browser Extension Content Script

// Content script for browser extension
function detectHLSStreams() {
  const streams = new Set();
  
  // Network request monitoring
  chrome.webRequest.onBeforeRequest.addListener(
    function(details) {
      if (details.url.includes('.m3u8')) {
        streams.add(details.url);
        console.log('HLS Stream detected:', details.url);
      }
    },
    {urls: ["<all_urls>"]},
    ["requestBody"]
  );
  
  return Array.from(streams);
}

2. Tampermonkey/Greasemonkey Script

// ==UserScript==
// @name         HLS Stream Detector
// @namespace    http://tampermonkey.net/
// @version      0.1
// @description  Detect HLS streams on any website
// @match        *://*/*
// @grant        none
// ==/UserScript==

(function() {
    'use strict';
    
    const detectedStreams = new Set();
    
    // Override XMLHttpRequest
    const originalOpen = XMLHttpRequest.prototype.open;
    XMLHttpRequest.prototype.open = function(method, url) {
        if (url.includes('.m3u8')) {
            detectedStreams.add(url);
            console.log('HLS detected via XHR:', url);
        }
        return originalOpen.apply(this, arguments);
    };
    
    // Add UI indicator
    const indicator = document.createElement('div');
    indicator.style.position = 'fixed';
    indicator.style.top = '10px';
    indicator.style.right = '10px';
    indicator.style.zIndex = '10000';
    indicator.style.padding = '10px';
    indicator.style.background = 'red';
    indicator.style.color = 'white';
    indicator.textContent = 'HLS Detector Active';
    document.body.appendChild(indicator);
})();

3. Puppeteer/Selenium Automation

// Puppeteer HLS detection
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');

async function detectHLS(url) {
  const browser = await puppeteer.launch();
  const page = await browser.newPage();
  
  const m3u8URLs = [];
  
  // Listen for network requests
  await page.setRequestInterception(true);
  page.on('request', request => {
    if (request.url().includes('.m3u8')) {
      m3u8URLs.push(request.url());
    }
    request.continue();
  });
  
  await page.goto(url);
  
  // Wait for video to start loading
  await page.waitForTimeout(5000);
  
  await browser.close();
  return m3u8URLs;
}

Download Methods

1. yt-dlp (Recommended)

# Basic download
yt-dlp "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

# With specific format selection
yt-dlp -f "best[height<=720]" "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

# With headers (important for protected streams)
yt-dlp --add-header "Referer: https://example.com/" \
       --add-header "Origin: https://example.com/" \
       "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

# With cookies
yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

# Concurrent fragments for faster download
yt-dlp --concurrent-fragments 5 "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

2. ffmpeg Direct Download

# Basic ffmpeg download
ffmpeg -i "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8" -c copy output.mp4

# With headers
ffmpeg -headers "Referer: https://example.com/" \
       -i "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8" \
       -c copy output.mp4

# With specific codec selection
ffmpeg -i "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8" \
       -c:v h264 -c:a aac \
       -preset fast output.mp4

3. streamlink

# Basic streamlink usage
streamlink "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8" best

# Output to file
streamlink -o output.mp4 "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8" best

# With headers
streamlink --http-header "Referer=https://example.com/" \
           "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8" best

4. Node.js Implementation

const fs = require('fs');
const https = require('https');
const path = require('path');

async function downloadHLS(m3u8Url, outputDir) {
  // Download master playlist
  const masterPlaylist = await downloadFile(m3u8Url);
  
  // Parse for variant streams
  const variants = parseM3U8(masterPlaylist);
  
  // Select best quality
  const bestVariant = variants.sort((a, b) => b.bandwidth - a.bandwidth)[0];
  
  // Download variant playlist
  const variantPlaylist = await downloadFile(bestVariant.url);
  
  // Parse segments
  const segments = parseSegments(variantPlaylist);
  
  // Download all segments
  const segmentFiles = [];
  for (const segment of segments) {
    const segmentPath = path.join(outputDir, segment.filename);
    await downloadFile(segment.url, segmentPath);
    segmentFiles.push(segmentPath);
  }
  
  // Concatenate segments (requires ffmpeg)
  return concatenateSegments(segmentFiles, path.join(outputDir, 'output.mp4'));
}

function parseM3U8(content) {
  const lines = content.split('\n');
  const variants = [];
  
  for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
    if (lines[i].startsWith('#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:')) {
      const bandwidth = lines[i].match(/BANDWIDTH=(\d+)/)?.[1];
      const resolution = lines[i].match(/RESOLUTION=(\d+x\d+)/)?.[1];
      const url = lines[i + 1];
      
      variants.push({ bandwidth: parseInt(bandwidth), resolution, url });
    }
  }
  
  return variants;
}

Common Issues and Solutions

1. CORS Issues

// Use proxy or CORS-anywhere for browser-based requests
const proxyUrl = 'https://cors-anywhere.herokuapp.com/';
const m3u8Url = 'https://example.com/playlist.m3u8';
fetch(proxyUrl + m3u8Url);

2. Authentication Required

# Use cookies from authenticated session
yt-dlp --cookies cookies.txt "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

# Or use session/token headers
yt-dlp --add-header "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" \
       "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

3. Geo-blocking

# Use proxy
yt-dlp --proxy http://proxy-server:port "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

# Use specific user agent
yt-dlp --user-agent "Mozilla/5.0..." "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

Platform-Specific Implementations

Platform Examples

Many platforms like Skool use HLS with these characteristics:

  • Master playlists at various CDNs (fastly, b-cdn.net)
  • Variant streams with different resolutions
  • Requires proper Referer and Origin headers
// From the codebase - Skool HLS detection
function scoreSkoolM3U8(url: string, contentType: string): number {
  const u = new URL(url);
  const host = u.host.toLowerCase();
  const path = u.pathname.toLowerCase();
  
  if (/\.b-cdn\.net$/i.test(host) && /\/playlist\.m3u8(?:$|\?)/i.test(path)) return 5;
  if (host === 'stream.video.skool.com') return 4;
  if (/^manifest-/.test(host) && /fastly\.video\.skool\.com$/i.test(host)) return 3;
  
  return 1;
}

Advanced Techniques

1. Dynamic Playlist Refresh

// Monitor live HLS streams that update their playlists
async function monitorLiveHLS(playlistUrl) {
  let lastSequence = -1;
  
  setInterval(async () => {
    const playlist = await fetch(playlistUrl).then(r => r.text());
    const currentSequence = parseMediaSequence(playlist);
    
    if (currentSequence > lastSequence) {
      console.log('New segments available');
      lastSequence = currentSequence;
    }
  }, 10000);
}

2. Multi-variant Download

# Download multiple qualities
yt-dlp -f "best[height<=1080],best[height<=720],best[height<=480]" \
       --output "%(title)s_%(height)sp.%(ext)s" \
       "https://example.com/playlist.m3u8"

## Conclusion

HLS/M3U8 is a robust and widely-adopted streaming protocol that provides excellent compatibility across devices and platforms. Understanding its structure helps you download content from platforms like [Udemy](https://apps.serp.co/udemy-video-downloader), [Coursera](https://apps.serp.co/coursera-downloader), and [Teachable](https://apps.serp.co/teachable-video-downloader) that often use HLS for course delivery.

Related Tools

  • Specialized tool for downloading HLS/M3U8 streams
  • Universal streaming video downloader
  • Download from YouTube which uses adaptive streaming
  • Download Vimeo videos that use HLS
  • Download Twitch streams and VODs
  • Download from Dailymotion

YouTube Tutorial

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