How to find and download an m3u8 (HLS) video link
Right-clicking a video and choosing "Save as" stopped working years ago. Most players no longer point at a file — they point at a playlist.
What an m3u8 actually is
An .m3u8 file is a plain-text HLS playlist. It lists dozens or thousands of short segments (.ts or .m4s) plus the bitrate variants available. The browser downloads segments one at a time and stitches them into a stream, so there is never a single MP4 sitting on the server for you to grab. DASH does the same thing with an .mpd manifest.
Finding the link by hand
Open DevTools, switch to the Network tab, filter by "m3u8" (or "mpd"), and reload the page. The first hit is usually the master playlist; requests below it are the variant playlists and segments. Copy the master playlist URL — it contains every quality level.
Finding it automatically
The M3U8 & MP4 Video Link Detector extension watches network traffic on the current tab and lists every .m3u8, .mpd, .mp4, .webm and .mov it sees, with a play or download button that hands the link to Coders Hub. It is available for Chrome and Microsoft Edge, and works in Brave, Arc and Opera too.
Turning the playlist into a file
The HLS Downloader fetches each segment, concatenates them and remuxes the result into MP4 in your browser. Nothing is uploaded — the segments go straight from the origin server into the tab. For playlists with multiple qualities, pick the variant first; downloading the master downloads whichever variant the tool resolves.
When it will not work
- DRM-protected streams (Widevine, FairPlay) cannot be decrypted, and should not be.
- Signed URLs expire, often within minutes. Copy and download quickly.
- Some servers block cross-origin requests; a relay can help, but rate limits still apply.
Always check that you have the right to keep a copy before downloading anything.