Download HLS Streams with FFmpeg: Step-by-Step

1. Install FFmpeg — Download from ffmpeg.org or use your package manager
2. Get the M3U8 URL — Find the HLS stream URL (ends in .m3u8)
3. Open a terminal — Command Prompt (Windows), Terminal (Mac), or shell (Linux)
4. Run the command:
   

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

5. Wait for completion — FFmpeg will show progress: time, speed, and file size

Some HLS streams use AES-128 encryption. FFmpeg can decrypt them automatically if the key is accessible:

ffmpeg -i "https://example.com/encrypted.m3u8" -c copy -decryption_key 0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef output.mp4

If FFmpeg can't find the key, you may need to download the key file separately and reference it locally.

For batch downloading multiple streams, create a simple script:

#!/bin/bash
# download_all.sh
urls=(
  "https://example.com/stream1.m3u8"
  "https://example.com/stream2.m3u8"
)
for url in "${urls[@]}"; do
  filename=$(echo $url | grep -oP '[^/]+(?=.m3u8)')
  ffmpeg -i "$url" -c copy "${filename}.mp4"
done