m3u8

Downloads segments from .m3u8 files and combines them into a single video using ffmpeg.

This is a rewrite of the original m3u8_download written in Python. With Go, concurrent downloads are faster and more efficient and the program can be compiled into a standalone executable.

Features

• Extremely Fast: Utilizes goroutines and concurrent downloads
• Configurable: Control concurrent downloads, segment extensions, URL prefixes, and more
• Caching: Optional caching of parsed m3u8 files for faster subsequent runs
• Flexible: Supports both relative and absolute URLs in m3u8 files
• Robust: Handles failed downloads gracefully with options to force combine or skip

Quick Start

1. Install Go 1.21 or later

2. Install dependencies:

go mod download

3. Build the program:

go build

4. Make sure ffmpeg is installed and available in your PATH (or specify custom path with --ffmpeg)

5. Basic usage - download and combine segments:

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8" --combine output.mp4

Usage Examples

Download segments only:

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8"

Download and combine into MP4:

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8" --combine output.mp4

Download and force combine into MP4:

In case some segments fail to download, use --force-combine to combine the downloaded segments anyway:

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8" --force-combine output.mp4

Download with custom headers (e.g., for authentication):

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8" --headers headers.json --combine output.mp4

Fix missing segments in a directory:

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8" --fix segments

Force specific extension for segments:

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8" --force-ext .ts --combine output.mp4

Limit concurrent downloads:

./m3u8_download "https://example.com/video.m3u8" --concurrent 5 --combine output.mp4

Command Line Options

Arguments:
  url                   URL to the m3u8 file

Optional arguments:
  --segments-dir DIR          Directory to store segments (default: segments)         
  --force-ext EXT            Force specific extension for segments (e.g., .ts)         
  --force-url-prefix PREFIX  Force URL prefix for segments                             
  --cache FILE               Path to cache parsed m3u8                                 
  --filelist FILE            Path for ffmpeg filelist (default: filelist.txt)        
  --combine OUTPUT           Combine segments into OUTPUT file after download          
  --force-combine OUTPUT     Combine segments even if some failed to download         
  --cleanup                  Remove segments directory after successful combination     
  --fix DIR                  Fix missing segments in the specified directory
  --verbose, -v              Enable verbose output                                    
  --headers FILE             Path to JSON file containing request headers     
  --skip N                   Skip the first N segments         
  --limit N                  Limit the number of segments to download                  
  --concurrent N             Number of concurrent downloads (default: 10)             
  --ffmpeg PATH             Path to ffmpeg executable (default: uses ffmpeg from system PATH)

Headers File Format

The headers file should be a JSON file containing key-value pairs of HTTP headers:

{
    "User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0 ...",
    "Authorization": "Bearer token123"
}

Helpful Tips

Getting Website Headers

The easiest way to get headers is to use a browser's "Inspect" feature and copy any request on the website as Copy as cURL (bash). Then, go to https://curlconverter.com/json/ and paste the cURL there. You will see the "headers" field in the resulting JSON.

Getting Stream URLs

This Google Chrome extension, The Stream Detector, captures all stream URLs on a website.

Requirements

• Go 1.21+
• ffmpeg (in PATH or specified via --ffmpeg)

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.