Download M3U8 Streams on PC & Mac: A Comprehensive Guide to Saving Live Broadcasts

5KPlayer > YouTube Download > Best M3U8 Downloader

Disclaimer: This post includes affiliate links

If you click on a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

M3U8 Downloader for Windows and Mac to Save HLS Videos

Written by Kaylee Wood | Last updated: July 30, 2020

If you not only want to play M3U8 video from online sites, but also want to save the video to your local drive, finding an M3U8 downloader is necessary. Here we recommend you 5KPlayer, the free all-in-one multimedia player with powerful features to play M3U8 video directly through URL, download any M3U8 video, and even convert M3U8 to MP4 format. To learn how to download M3U8 video and convert it to MP4, here are the step-by-step tutorials to help you work it out easily with only a few clicks.

[Warning] YouTube music & copyright-protected contents are not supported for download.

How to Download M3U8 Video?

If you are new stuff of it, using FFmpeg or other frameworks to download video is pretty complex, downloading the zip is easy, but the correct installation is the other thing. Also, how to fix the error of M3U8 downloading while using the framework, the code is hard to read for non-professionals, it is unrealistic to spend a lot of time to learn and fix the problem. Therefore, an easy for use M3U8 downloader is a priority choice. With copied URL of valid M3U8 video, you can download it from the online site with 5KPlayer.

How to download M3U8 video with 5KPlayer?

Step 1: Download 5KPlayer, install and launch it on your PC. You can choose to download Windows version or Mac version according to the device you are using.

Step 2: On the user interface of 5KPlayer, click on “YouTube” button, then go to copy the URL of the M3U8 video you want to download. If you do not know how to find the M3U8 video, for reference, here is the list of IPTV video sites.

Step 3: Paste the copied URL on the box, and click on the download button behind the URL filed. If 5KPlayer requires you to update the analysis engine, just wait for the progress bar to run to the end.

Step 4: After finished analysis, check and select the video format and resolution as you want. Then, click “Done” to start downloading the video. You can choose MP4 format to directly save M3U8 video to MP4 format.

Note: Every time you can add only one video to download, and please keep internet connection while downloading.

How to Convert M3U8 to MP4?

Compared with the MP4 format, M3U8 has less equipment and program support and cannot always be well processed and played. On the contrary, MP4 is the most widely used video format in the world, you can play MP4 video on almost all devices. Convert saved M3U8 video to MP4 format, you can play your favorite videos anytime and anywhere.

How to convert M3U8 video to MP4 format with 5KPlayer?

Step 1: Download 5KPlayer, install and launch it on your PC.

Step 2: Click “Library” icon on the very upper center of the menu bar. On the left side navigation, select “Playlists > Movies”, then click on “+” icon to add the M3U8 video you want to convert. You can add more than one video to the playlists and form a video library to manage your collection.

Step 3: Click on the video you just lorded, and you can see the drop-down option box, then click “Convert” button. Select “MP4(H264): Convert to MP4(H264)”. Also, you can attract audio from the video , and convert it to MP3 or AAC format.After then, 5KPlayer will automatically start converting the video, and just a few seconds you can get the converted file on your local drive.

Note: Besides transfer M3U8 to MP4, you can also convert video in other formats to MP4, such as MOV, MKV, AVI, FLV and other popular formats.

How to Merge M3U8 Clips into One?

If you download the M3U8 video but get some small clips saved, and you want to merge them to a whole video. Or if you use stream recorder and get TS meta files and want to upload them to your video channel, you need to merge them first. To merge the video clips into one, you might need a video tool – WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe . It is named as a converter though, WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe with free video merge feature that can help you get an integral video.

How to merge M3U8 clips into one with WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe?

Step 1: Download WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe from its official site, install and launch it on your PC.

Step 2: Click on “Video” button to load the video clips, you can load more than one video, so just select all the M3U8 video clips you want to merge. Then, you can see a popped up option box, select the output video format you want, and click “OK” to apply.

Step 3: Select “Merge” option on the left side under the preview windows, then click “Run” and you can start merging videos. If you want to adjust the order of videos, click on the video and you can see the icon consisting of two triangles, and click it to move up or down the video.

With very simple steps you can get M3U8 video clips merged. Besides, WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe is more powerful in converting video format. 5KPlayer allows you to convert any video to MP4 format, but if you want to convert the video to other formats, WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe provides more choices for you.

But if you do not want to install many programs on your PC to take storage space and slow your computer processing speed. 5KPlayer is the only one with comprehensive features that can meet all your needs about M3U8 video playback, no matter you want to play online M3U8 live video , download you liked video form video sites, or convert M3U8 video to MP4 format to solve M3U8 playback error. What’s more, all the features are free to use, just download and try it now!

Also read: