How do I play m3u8 files?

Question

I would really like to play m3u8 files (more specifically, http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/NTV-Public-IPS.m3u8) but when I try to run it on VLC player, it goes on to multiple .ts files with a very annoying gap between the stream.

Is there any way I can play this stream on ubuntu just as if I were playing it on an iphone (which is what the stream is for).

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 05 '10 at 11:42

m3u8 files are m3u files encoded in utf8.
m3u files are a text based playlist format. You can open the file with any text editor and see the that it contains a list with files to be played.
if you open the file with vlc, it has to download every single video before playing it. Vlc does not seem to preload the files, this is why the gaps occur.

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:47

2

HLS-Player is the way that works for me!

edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:47

Zanna

72,312

answered May 12 '12 at 13:24

Yuraï

21

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:47

1

Try using Banshee Media Player (please note I've not tested the stream in question). It has podcast support, and works with m3u's pretty well in my experience, so this should be no different.

Rhythmbox might work just as well actually.

edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:47

Zanna

72,312

answered Nov 06 '10 at 03:38

RolandiXor

51,797

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 12 '12 at 18:00

0

.m3u8 is a apple's live streaming format (hence it plays fine on iPhone).

There is finally an experimental VLC player out there with m3u8 support, try to build it and see if it works ;)

answered Mar 12 '12 at 18:00

Karoly Horvath

138

score 0 · Answer 5 · edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:45

0

You can install these two plug-ins for firefox and see what happens:

sudo apt-get install mozilla-plugin-vlc gecko-mediaplayer

edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:45

Zanna

72,312

answered Nov 05 '10 at 18:01

hhlp

42,872

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:45

0

If you really want your video to play then change the extension .m3u8 to .mp4 and that's it. You find it's like other .mp4 files and you can enjoy the video.

edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:45

Zanna

72,312

answered Nov 05 '15 at 17:04

Abad

11

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:42

I paste m3u8 file and playlist in "my folder".
Open play list folder. Click any file.
Check its properties by right clicking.
Now copy the path of "play list folder location" and paste it in the m3u8 file. The M3u8 file can be open with a text editor

Original path f://xyz/abc_m3u8 contents/
New path c:\my folder\abc_m3u8 contents/

Keep only the data of play list files. Remove all other lines from the m3u8 file. Now save file as ". m3u" It can run on any player.

score -2 · Answer 8 · edited Aug 12 '17 at 12:44

Open your mousepad or text editor & copy this code

enter code here <EMBED SRC="http://liveips.nasa.gov.edgesuite.net/msfc/Wifi.m3u8" HEIGHT="500" WIDTH="800">

save it as nasa.html

Run it on firefox and you will be asked to

install the plugin
install run again

and you've got your .m3u8 movie on your file

maybe you need to install gnome mplayer to make it work

it worked for me.

How do I play m3u8 files?

8 Answers8