November 03, 2021 14:22 Posted by Selena Thomas in Play video
Sometimes when you receive a .m3u8 file or a link to an M3U8 stream, you may be confused and don't know how to play it on your computer. Don't worry. In this post, we will introduce the M3U8 format and give you a better understanding of this file type. Moreover, you can also find out the 5 best M3U8 video players to help you open this special file type.
- Part 1. What is M3U8
- Part 2. How to Play M3U8 Videos Online
- Part 3. How to Open M3U8 File/Link on Windows and Mac
- Part 4. M3U8 Video Player FAQs
Part 1. What is M3U8
M3U8, or M3U8 playlist, is a plain text-based playlist format that contains media playlists. This file extension uses UTF-8 character encoding and describes the location of media files for most media players. Typically it can give you links to online media files/folders via absolute, relative paths and URLs. You can also use this file type to create a playlist for videos and music on your computer.
And M3U8 is based on HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), an HTTP-based media streaming protocol implemented by Apple. So, if you want to play M3U8 files, you will need a media player that supports HLS streaming and M3U8 technology.
Note
The app downloads files over any available network connection, including mobile data. There are no warnings. Therefore, users should independently monitor their traffic.
The developers warn that they are not responsible for lost megabytes or money from a mobile phone account. Responsibility for traffic usage lies entirely with the users.
You should also clean out the temporary folder carefully, as it may be completely deleted with all its contents.
Part 2. How to Play M3U8 Videos Online
If you only want to open the M3U8 stream link, you don't need to install any software on your computer. You can simply paste the video URL into the M3U8 online player and enjoy the video without any hassle.
Here is a list of the most popular M3U8 players we found on the Internet. Basically, you can run them in any web browser, including Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge.
m3u8player.net
This M3U8 streaming player is free to use. With an intuitive interface, you can easily play M3U8 stream links and test HLS streaming examples online. Just copy and paste the URL into the box and click on the Play button. It supports HD video playback and provides multiple bitrates to choose from when playing videos.
HLSPlayer.net
This online player requires no installation and allows you to access M3U8/HLS streams for free. Apart from M3U8 files, you are allowed to play online video streaming in other formats such as RTMP and MP4.
As you can see in the picture below, you can even play videos with Picture in Picture Mode. So you can watch videos and do your thing at the same time.
Castr Live Streaming Player
Castr, an HTML5-based player, can help you instantly test HLS streams and stream live video in high quality. It offers many live streaming features such as stream rewind, cloud recording and more. But unlike the other M3U8 players we've featured, the Castr player is not free. You can take advantage of the 7-day free trial only after registering.
Special events for JS API
It is possible to get some HLS data via JS API. For example, you can subscribe to fragment metadata with the fragdata
through a listener (works with version 9 of the player).
document.getElementById(" player
").addEventListener("
fragdata
",
onFragmentData
);
var player = new Playerjs({id:" player
", file:"//site.com/stream.m3u8"});
function onFragmentData
(event){ console.log(event.info); }
The JS API also has a fragment
to get links to reproduced fragments.
DVR technology may also be relevant for HLS.
Part 3. How to Open M3U8 File/Link on Windows and Mac
Although these online M3U8 players are convenient to operate, they cannot work if you want to play a local M3U8 file. You can only use them when you have a URL pointing to an M3U8 file that is also online.
Therefore, to play local M3U8 files on Windows PC or Mac, you need to use desktop software that supports M3U8 format, such as VLC, iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc.
VLC Media Player
As a free and open source program, VLC media player is one of the most widely used media players in the world. You may have already installed it on your computer. If you don't know how to open M3U8 video using VLC, follow these steps.
Step 1
Presentation VLC media player on your computer. Then, if you want to play the .m3u8 file, click the Media List icon and select Open File...
Step 2
Select the M3U8 playlist file you want to open. But make sure that this playlist file and the video it links to are in the same folder. Click the Open button. Then you can relax and enjoy the video.
Step 3
You can also use VLC to play M3U8 stream links. find Media and select Open Network Stream...
Step 4
Paste the network URL into the field and click Play.
iTunes
As we already mentioned, you can also consider iTunes as an M3U8 player. There is no need for the M3U8 file and the video that goes with it to remain in the same folder. To open a file, you can simply double-click on it. And iTunes will automatically display the file.
Analysis
The first thing that came to my mind was to record a video from the screen, for example via QuickTime, but in this case you need to watch them all and this takes quite a long time and I didn’t like this option.
The next step was to explore the html code of the page, and there I found an interesting link:
Next, I tried to insert this link into the address bar of the browser and as a result, the file master.m3u8 was downloaded with the following content:
#EXTM3U #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=768000,CODECS=»mp4a.40.2, avc1.640028″,RESOLUTION=640×360 https://vh-04.getcourse.ru/player/89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008 b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618/ media/360.m3u8?sid=sid&host=vh-04&cdn=1&cdn-second=0&integros-s3=1&akamai-defence=0&v=2:0:1:1 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=1024000,CODECS= »mp4a.40.2, avc1.640028″,RESOLUTION=853×480 https://vh-04.getcourse.ru/player/89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618/media/480.m3 u8?sid=sid&host=vh-04&cdn=1&cdn-second =0&integros-s3=1&akamai-defence=0&v=2:0:1:1 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=2560000,CODECS=»mp4a.40.2, avc1.640028″,RESOLUTION=1280×720 https: //vh-04.getcourse.ru/player/89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618/media/720.m3u8?sid=sid&host=vh-04&cdn=1&cdn-second=0&integros-s3=1& akamai-defence=0&v=2:0:1: 1 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=4096000,CODECS=»mp4a.40.2, avc1.640028″,RESOLUTION=1920×1080 https://vh-04.getcourse.ru/player/89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008 b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618/media /1080.m3u8?sid=sid&host=vh-04&cdn=1&cdn-second=0&integros-s3=1&akamai-defence=0&v=2:0:1:1
As you can see, this file also contains a set of links, and judging by their name, they indicate the resolution of the video that is being loaded.
I decided to see what the 720.m3u8 file was, to do this I downloaded it by following the appropriate link:
#EXTM3U #EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:11 #EXT-X-ALLOW-CACHE:YES #EXT-X-VERSION:3 #EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:0 #EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD #EXTINF :9.160000, https://getcourse-cdn-a1a5df3e.cdn.integros.com/ch/89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618/720/0.ts?sid=sid&host=vh-04 #EXTINF:10.080000, https://getcourse-cdn -a1a5df3e.cdn.integros.com/ch/89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618/720/1.ts?sid=sid&host=vh-04 #EXTINF:10.080000, https://getcourse -cdn-a1a5df3e.cdn.integros.com/ch /89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618/720/2.ts?sid=sid&host=vh-04 #EXTINF:10.080000, … #EXTINF:8.800000, https://getcourse-cdn-a 1a5df3e.cdn.integros.com/ch/89cc32eeb182080b719abfc7f106aaaf/5b7008b4e8fab9852419a5c00e4aa618 /720/119.ts?sid=sid&host=vh-04 #EXT-X-ENDLIST
If you look closely, you can see that all the links contain *.ts, after I downloaded them, it turned out that these are just pieces of this lesson.
After a little searching about what an m3u8 file is, I found out that it is a format for storing playlists.
Now the question was how to save it locally.
Bonus: Best Media Player for High Quality Video Playback
If you want to play Blu-ray/DVD movies, you can give Blu-ray Master Free Blu-ray Player a try. With this software, you watch videos in popular formats including MP4, AVI, WMV, MTS, TS, FLV, MTS, M2TS, WKV, TRP, MXF, MPEG, etc. with original quality.
- 1. Play many video formats and Blu-ray/DVD movies without losing quality.
- 2. Additional audio tracks/subtitles and custom video effects.
- 3. Provide full, half, normal and many other playback modes.
- 4. Take pictures of your favorite scene while playing a video.
- 5. Offer a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate.
Wonderful
Rating: 4.8 / 5 (179 votes)
Peculiarities
- the application downloads m3u8 files and then converts them to mp4 format;
- downloading occurs over any available connection, so you should monitor your mobile traffic consumption;
- You can upload several files at once, the optimal number is 10;
- The application is downloaded and used completely free of charge;
- Compatible with all current versions of Android.
Free 2548 downloads Size 29.4 MB OS version: Android 5.0 You may like: Photomath Android 4.1 Free The application is designed to quickly... Version: 6.0.3 WPS Office Android 4.1 Free Application for working with various... Version: 12.3 Phone Clone Android 4.4 Free The application is designed to transfer... Version: 10.0.1.350_OVE Cute CUT Android 4.1 Free The application is developed for... Version: 1.8.8 Bemoji Android 6.0 Free The application is designed to create... Version: 3.0.1 Google Contacts Android 6.0 Free Official application developed by... Version : 3.12.1.277591262 Google Translator Android 6.0 Free Official application from the American... Version: 6.3.0.RC06.277163268 Mp3Mp4U Android 5.0 Free The application is intended for download... Version: 2.0.25.0 Yandex Transport Android 4.1 Free Application for tracking... Version: 6.3 masks for face on camera Android 4.4 Free The application is designed to create... Version: 1.4.5 Gmail Android 4.4 Free The application is designed to work with... Version: 2019.10.20.278647676 Speedtest net Android 4.2 Free The application is designed to... Version: 4.4.24
The M3U8 format file is opened by special programs. To open this format, download one of the proposed programs.
Part 4. M3U8 Video Player FAQs
1. What is HLS?
As we already said, HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) is an HTTP-based media streaming protocol. Apple has implemented this protocol to serve its iOS and macOS devices. It typically uses MPEG-2 transport stream technology and can pass through any firewall or proxy server.
2. How to create an M3U8 file?
You can use VLC Media Player to create M3U8 files. The operations are quite simple - just go to Media > Save Playlist to File... after opening the file(s) you want to add. Then select M3U8 as the output format.
3. Can we convert M3U8 to MP4?
Technically this is impossible. Because M3U8 file is a simple text file. But you can use Video Converter Ultimate to convert video/audio files, which includes M3U8 file, to MP4 or any other media formats you like.
Usage
To download a specific video, you need to specify the m3u8 address as well as the file name. It is noted that the name should not contain an extension, as the application will automatically add the .mp4 signature.
After this, you need to specify the number of streams, focusing on the speed of your network connection and the power of your smartphone. The optimal number is 10 threads, which means simultaneous downloading of 10 files from the list. After the download is complete, the next pack will automatically download.
Additionally, users can select a specific folder in the device memory or SD card, and files will be downloaded there.
