How to Download M3U8 Streams (FFmpeg)

An m3u8 is a playlist, not the video itself, so “Save as” won't work. The reliable way is to let ffmpeg fetch the segments and mux them into an MP4.

⚠️ Only download content you own, content whose rights holder permits it, or content that is otherwise cleared. Downloading illegally uploaded content may be a criminal offense in your jurisdiction.

1. Install ffmpeg

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install ffmpeg

# Windows (winget)
winget install ffmpeg

# Ubuntu / Debian
sudo apt install ffmpeg

2. Basic download

Point ffmpeg at the URL and use -c copy — fast and lossless since nothing is re-encoded.

ffmpeg -i "https://example.com/stream.m3u8" -c copy -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc output.mp4

3. Choosing a quality variant

A master playlist contains multiple qualities. List them first, then pick one with -map:

# ストリーム一覧を確認
ffprobe "https://example.com/master.m3u8"

# 例: 2番目のバリアント（プログラム1）を保存
ffmpeg -i "https://example.com/master.m3u8" -map 0:p:1 -c copy output.mp4

4. Troubleshooting

  • HTTP 403 — some origins check Referer or User-Agent: add -headers "Referer: https://…".
  • Audio desync or unseekable output — retry with -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc and -movflags +faststart.
  • DRM-protected streams cannot be saved (not even with ffmpeg).

Already have TS files?

If you already have .ts files, use our in-browser MP4 converter — no command line needed.