m3u8-dl

A CLI program to download a video played using a m3u8 playlist. Read about m3u8 here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3U#M3U8

Dependencies

• Install python external modules using pip install -r requirements.txt after activating virtualenv.
• FFMPEG for video conversion, visit https://www.ffmpeg.org/download.html.
• Visit https://www.wikihow.com/Install-FFmpeg-on-Windows for FFMPEG setup on windows.
• Visit https://packaging.python.org/guides/installing-using-pip-and-virtual-environments/#creating-a-virtual-environment for instructions on how to use virtualenv.

Usage

Setup without Docker

• clone the repository using git clone "ssh/https url".
• create a virtual environment using virtualenv -p python3.6 venv in linux terminal, see 'Dependencies' for platform specific instructions.
• activate virtual environment using source venv/bin/activate in linux terminal, see 'Dependencies' for platform specific instructions.
• install dependencies using pip install -r requirements.txt.
• insert the url request headers in headers.txt.
• start the script using python -m m3u8dl <url of playlist>.

Setup with Docker

Re-build docker image

• build docker image using docker build -t m3u8dl-img .
• start container docker run -d -it --name m3u8dl-app m3u8dl-img
• attach to container via terminal docker exec -it m3u8dl-app bash
• start the script using python3 -m m3u8dl <url of playlist>.

Pull exisiting docker image from github packages or docker hub

• pull from docker hub using docker pull excaliburkrv/m3u8-dl
• if not pulled from docker hub you can pull from github packages using docker pull ghcr.io/excalibur-kvrv/m3u8-dl:master
• then start the container in detached mode using docker run -d -it --name m3u8dl-app excaliburkrv/m3u8-dl if pulled from docker hub
• attach to container via terminal docker exec -it m3u8dl-app sh
• start the script using python3 -m m3u8dl <url of playlist>.

Installing/Uninstalling Globally

Installation and usage using pip:-

• ensure ffmpeg is installed see dependecies section
• visit PyPI https://pypi.org/project/m3u8dl/0.5.2/ or install using below commands.
• run pip install m3u8dl
• run the program now using m3u8-dl <url-of-playlist>

Uninstalling using pip:-

• run pip uninstall m3u8dl

Installation in ubuntu using PyInstaller:-

• install pyinstaller using pip install PyInstaller
• activate virtualenv using source venv/bin/activate
• run pyinstaller main.py --name m3u8-dl --onefile -p venv/lib/python3.6/site-packages/ in terminal.
• run sudo mv dist/m3u8-dl /usr/local/bin/ in terminal window.
• now that the program is installed globally you can start the program using m3u8-dl in the terminal

Uninstalling in ubuntu:-

• run sudo rm /usr/local/bin/m3u8-dl

CLI Options

--help, -h:- display how to use the script
--convert, -c:- specify this flag to convert the video to mp4 using ffmpeg`
--name, -n:- specify the name by which to save the downloaded video, else 'video' is chosen as default name`
--header-path, -p:- specify the path of header file`
--retry, -r:- specify number of retries, by default 5 retries will be initiated
--debug, -d:- print helpful messages to console to understand program flow
--processes, -m:- specify custom number of processes, default is 4
--threads, -t:- specify custom number of threads, default is 4 per process