Last updated on 2024-08-30, by Cassie

5 Best HLS Downloaders for HTTP Live Streaming Video Download

I’m guessing you have heard of the HLS, but you may do not greatly know what it refers to, what it does or how about all kinds of HLS downloader. That’s okay, you would get a clear answer soon after reading this article and it may help you a lot, including what does the HLS mean and solutions for HLS videos download.

Part 1: What Does HLS Mean?

HLS means the HTTP Live Streaming. It is a famous media streaming and it can greatly allow you to watch so many videos, listen to music or watch the live events on the internet.

First, you may think about watching a video on your computer or your phone. Usually, you would play the whole video file when it’s downloaded. But with HLS, you don’t have to download the entire file and it can break the video into small pieces for you. Each piece is called the chunk and these chunks are usually 10 seconds long for you. When you start watching, your device would download the first chunk. While you are watching it, your device is already downloading the next chunk for you. This would happen again and again until you have watched your whole video. Because of this, you can start watching the video almost immediately without waiting for so long.

To sum it up, HLS is a good way to watch videos over the internet by breaking them into small pieces, which makes sure you can get a smooth, enjoyable, and safe viewing experience with your family or friends.

Part 2: 5 Best HLS Downloaders

There are many HLS video downloader that can help you download your HLS videos. In this part, I will give five of the best HLS downloaders, and you can decide which one is the best for you.

1. CleverGet Video Downloader

CleverGet Video Downloader is very famous for most of the people, because it greatly supports downloading online videos in lossless quality at up to 8K. It also has the feature of the batch downloading, which would allow you to download videos at once to save you time. Besides, the built-in browser makes it easier for you to find and download videos from 1000+ video-streaming websites.

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• CleverGet Video Downloader

  – Enable users to download online videos, movies, TV shows, live streams, etc. from 1000+ websites.
  – Detect M3U8 links intelligently with an inherent browser to download videos.
  – Download up to 8K video and audio at 320 kbps without quality loss.
  – Support to download TV series episodes of all/certain seasons in batches.
  – Download online video to MP4/MKV/WEBM or other available popular formats.

  Download WinsDownload Mac

2. Video DownloadHelper

Video DownloadHelper works directly from your browser such as the Chrome and Firefox. It supports you to download the video you like from many websites, offering a free version with many basic features. However, there are some limited features for free trial, so you need to pay for some advanced features.

3. JDownloader

JDownloader is a free and open-source tool that supports many different formats, so you can download many types of files including the HLS streams. Its setups are complex, so it may be a little tricky for the beginner to use it. This tool may include some ads which may be annoying.

4. Allavsoft Video and Music Downloader

Allavsoft can download some videos at the same time to save your time greatly. It can convert your videos to different formats after downloading with a simple and uer-friendly interface, which is very nice. But it’s not free, though it has a free trial version, and its full version requires you to pay for it. For example, the trial version has a limited number of downloads per day.

5. 4K Video Downloader

4K Video Downloader helps you download many videos in high resolution with subtitles. It supports batch download, which means you can download the whole playlists from YouTube channel. While there are many features are only available in your paid version, and this HLS downloader does not support as many websites as some other tools.

Each of these tools has its pros and cons, so you can just choose the one that best fits your needs, so that you can enjoy your good video downloading experience! If you really do not know which to choose, then you can choose the CleverGet Video Downloader, after all, it has the best functions for you, and it does not take much time to learn how to use it. And you can also search the Internet for a lot of good reviews of this tool or how to use it and so on. In general, you will not regret choosing it.

Part 3: How to Get HLS Links Online?

If you want to get the HLS links online, there are two ways that you can use. You can use a Browser Developer tool or a Browser Extension. These two ways can help you find the HLS links so you can download or watch the content directly even without knowing how to use HLS downloader.

1. Using Browser Developer Tools

Most web browsers have many built in tools for the developers. These tools can help you find the HLS links. Below are the simple steps for you to do it:

Step 1: Open the Website. First, you need to go to the website where the video is located and then you can start playing your video.
Step 2: Open Developer Tools. In your browser, you can press the F12 on your keyboard or right click on the page and choose the Inspect, which will help you open the Developer window.
Step 3: Go to the Network Tab. In this window, you will see many tabs, and then you can just click on the Network tab. And then you can also use the filters to find the Media or type m3u8 in the box. The m3u8 file is the file that has the HLS links.
Step 4: Find the m3u8 File. As the video is playing, you can look for a file with the end of the .m3u8, and then you can right click on this file and choose the Copy URL. Now you can have the HLS link, and then you just paste this link into your media player like the VLC.

2. Using Browser Extensions

Browser extensions can greatly make your process of downloading easier. There are many extensions designed for you to find and save the HLS links.

Step 1: Install the Extension. First, you need to open your browser, go to your extension store, type the “m3u8 Sniffer TV” in your search bar, and click the Add to Chrome or Add to Firefox to install it.
Step 2: Open the Video. You can go to the website where the video is, and then you can just play the video you want to find the HLS link for.
Step 3: Use m3u8 Sniffer TV. You need to click on the m3u8 Sniffer TV icon when the video is playing, and it will start scanning your webpage for the HLS links, and then you will see a list of HLS streams.
Step 4: Get the HLS Link. When you look at the list of HLS links, you just right click on the link you want and choose the Copy Link Address. And then You can use the HLS link in your video players like VLC, and you just paste the HLS link into the URL field and click the Play, which is very easy for most of us.

Final Words

After reading this article, you will have a very deep understanding of the HLS downloader chrome, and then you can choose the one that fits you according to your own different needs, and you can also share the article with your family or friends, because they may also meet similar situations with you, which may be very helpful to them.