Top 3 HLS Downloader Lists

 

With the rapid development of information technology and smart devices, people can use various smart devices, such as mobile phones, tablet computers, etc., to connect to the Internet to watch or download videos online. In our opinion, the way we use smart devices to download videos from the Internet is particularly simple. We only need a few easy clicks of the mouse or the screen to command these smart devices to download videos. However, in fact, due to the different systems of different devices, the technologies they used to download videos are also different. For example, Apple devices use HLS (HTTP Live Streaming). Then, video download programs based on Apple mobile phones, computers and other devices are also developed in accordance with HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) regulations. This article will give you a detailed introduction to what is HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), the three best HLS Downloaders, and the advantages and disadvantages of these three HLS Downloaders. In addition, I will also remind you how to get link for HLS downloader.

Part 1: What is HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)?
Part 2: HLS Downloader – Leawo Video Downloader
Part 3: HLS Downloader – FFmpeg
Part 4: HLS Downloader – Stream Recorder
Part 5: Comparisons of Top 3 HLS Downloaders
Part 6: How to Get Link for HLS Downloader?

Part 1: What is HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)?

HTTP Live Streaming, abbreviated as HLS, is an HTTP-based streaming media network transmission protocol proposed by Apple. It is also a part of the QuickTime X and iPhone software systems of the fruit company. HLS is mainly used for audio and video services on PCs and Apple terminals. HLS is similar to MPEG-DASH because its working principle is to decompose the entire stream into a series of small files based on HTTP, and it only downloads a few at a time. In addition, these small files include an m3u8 index file, TS media fragment file and key encrypted string file. Generally speaking, when starting a streaming media session, the client will download an extended M3U (m3u8) playlist file containing metadata to find available media streams. Of course, the operation of the client is not directly shown to the user. Often the mark of successful client operation is that the video starts to play smoothly.

Part 2: HLS Downloader - Leawo Video Downloader

There is no doubt that Leawo Video Downloader is one of the best videos downloading software on the market. Because it has a built-in browser, users can directly use it to open well-known video websites, watch and download videos. For example: logging in to YouTube through Leawo Video Downloader to download the 7 best funny TED Talks videos. In addition, since webcasting is becoming more and more popular with people, in order to help people not to miss every wonderful moment, Leawo Video Downloader has an online video download function. Therefore, it can download real-time videos from various live broadcast platforms. For example: downloading Facebook Live video to computer. Among them, Leawo Video Downloader provides users with two ways to download real-time videos, that is, directly inputting the real-time video URL to download and directly inputting the real-time video M3U8 link to download. Because Leawo Video Downloader can recognize M3U8 links, Leawo Video Downloader is also a professional HLS downloader. Unlike ordinary HLS downloader, Leawo Video Downloader can download not only HLS videos in MP4 format, but also HLS videos in various other common formats.

More importantly, the video download speed of Leawo Video Downloader is 6 times that of ordinary video download software. In addition, Leawo Video Downloader also has a built-in video player, which can directly play the downloaded video. All in all, Leawo Video Downloader can not only be used as an HLS downloader to download all kinds of HLS videos, but also as a downloader for other formats of videos, log in to various video websites and download videos in various formats at high speed.

 

Part 3: HLS Downloader – FFmpeg

FFmpeg is an open-source computer program that can be used to record digital audio and video, and convert them into streams. Although FFmpeg is developed under the Linux platform, it can also be compiled and run-in other operating system environments, including Windows and Mac OS X. FFmpeg has very powerful functions including video capture, video format conversion, video capture, and watermarking of videos. Of course, as one of the best HLS downloaders, FFmpeg can easily download videos based on the HLS protocol from the Internet to the device. In addition, FFmpeg downloads videos based on HLS protocol transmission is also very simple. You can download .m3u8 playlist files with related software, and then check these playlist files to find a single .ts video clip. After downloading multiple .ts video clips, you can use FFMPEG to reassemble these video clips into a single video file.

 

Part 4: HLS Downloader – Stream Recorder

As one of the most popular downloaders for HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), Stream Recorder allows users to save real-time and archived videos that are delivered over the network via the typical HLS (m3u8) format. More importantly, if the video file type is mp4 format, Stream Recorder can use the unique video capture function to directly record the video. In addition, the downloaded audio and video data will be converted to mp4 with the same quality without re-encoding. And this conversion is done inside the extension, without using an external server.

Part 5: Comparisons of Top 3 HLS Downloaders

Leawo Video Downloader, FFmpeg and Stream Recorder are all very good HLS Downloaders. They all have their own advantages, but they also have some small disadvantages. If users are entangled in which HLS Downloader should be used, I will compare the various functions of these three HLS Downloaders in a table. Perhaps the following table will help you choose the best HLS Downloader.

Features	Leawo Video Downloader	FFmpeg	Stream Recorder
Network connection requirement	√	√	√
Ease of use	√	×	√
Convenience	√	×	√
Continuity	√	×	×
Security	√	×	×
Download subtitles	√	×	×
User-friendly interface	√	×	√
Batch download	√	×	×
Without ads	√	×	×
Download live video	√	√	√
Multilingual Support	√	×	×
Types of downloadable videos	180+	mp4	mp4
Built-in browser	√	×	×
Preview video information	√	×	×
Download speed	6 times that of ordinary video download software	Average	Average

Through the above comparison, it can be seen that Leawo Video Downloader is a professional video downloading software, and its professionalism is better than that of FFmpeg and Stream Recorder. In addition, compared with FFmpeg and Stream Recorder can only recognize the MP4 format video that is transmitted over the network through the HLS protocol, Leawo Video Downloader can recognize more video information than FFmpeg and Stream Recorder. Therefore, as can be seen from the above table, Leawo Video Downloader is the best among these three HLS downloaders in terms of professionalism, download function, convenience, download speed, etc.

Part 6: How to Get Link for HLS Downloader?

As mentioned above, the client downloads an extended M3U (m3u8) playlist file containing metadata to find available media streams. Therefore, as long as the user obtains the m3u8 link of the video they want to download, HLS downloader can find available according to the m3u8 link. media streams, and download the video in it. There are two specific methods for obtaining m3u8 links:

1. Video m3u8 Sniffer

Video m3u8 Sniffer is an extension program in Google Chrome. Therefore, if you want to use Video m3u8 Sniffer, you must install Google Chrome on your computer. It can intercept network requests of visited web pages and identify all m3u8 video stream URLs. After finding the m3u8 URL request, it will be displayed in a box covering the visited page. In addition, users can open the pop-up window of Video m3u8 Sniffer to view and open the first and last m3u8 URL found in each site.

 

2. Find in the browser

When you open the video website through the browser and play the video, the background of the browser will recognize m3u8 link in the current page. The specific steps to find m3u8 link in the browser are also very simple: when using the browser to play the video, press "Ctrl+Shift+I" to enter the browser's developer mode. Then, click the "Network" and "XHR" buttons. Finally, find the file with the extension ".m3u8" in the list, right-click and copy this link. The operation of finding the m3u8 link through the browser is complete.

In summary, we need to master enough professional knowledge to fully understand HLS (HTTP Live Streaming). However, this does not mean that we cannot quickly download online videos based on the HLS protocol. We only need to master one of the three best HLS downloaders I introduced above. Of course, in daily use, considering convenience, professionalism and download speed, I think Leawo Video Downloader will be the best HLS downloader. And, I also recommend that you use Leawo Video Downloader to download online videos based on the HLS protocol.