m3u8 stream to mp4 using ffmpeg

m3u8-to-mp4.md

1. Copy m3u8 link

2. Run command

echo "Enter m3u8 link:";read link;echo "Enter output filename:";read filename;ffmpeg -i "$link" -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc -vcodec copy -c copy -crf 50 $filename.mp4

Example final command

ffmpeg -i "http://host/folder/file.m3u8" -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc -vcodec copy -c copy -crf 23 file.mp4

trying to understand what the options mean

ffmpeg -i "http://host/folder/file.m3u8" -bsf:a aac_adtstoasc -vcodec copy -c copy -crf 50 file.mp4

-bsf:a aac_adtstoasc

• bsf = (bit stream filter)
• use aac_adtstoasc bsf for a audio streams, this is need if .m3u8 file consists with .ts files and output is .mp4
• reference https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg-bitstream-filters.html#aac_005fadtstoasc

-c copy -vcodec copy

• skip codec (encode and decode), just demux and mux
• I guess .ts and .mp4, for video stream, they are both H.264 codec, just guess.
• reference https://ffmpeg.org/ffmpeg.html#Stream-copy

-crf 50

• reference https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/Encode/H.264#CRFExample
• the example shows -c:a copy did not re-encode, guess this option is not needed here.
• And 0 is lossless, 23 is the default, and 51 is worst quality possible cry