How to download a Twitter streaming broadcast as a video file?

[Tony2024]

How to download a Twitter or X encrypted streaming broadcast as a video file? I tried some Chrome extensions and apps and they either fail due to encryption or can't do it.

I am looking for a Chrome extension or any Windows tool that can do this.

This is an example of an X streaming video. https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1rmxPMEwdQEKN

[Sviests]

In console under network tab just search for .m3u8

link (if you click on it,you will get "forbidden", if you copy the url and paste it in the tool or new tab in browser,it should open. Or just look for your own in the console)

Use any tool to download the file. Streamlink, ffmpeg, any fork of youtube-dl (yt-dl or yt-dlp or whatever).

[white_snake]

It's not encrypted at all. You can easily grab the .m3u8 url from The Stream Detector browser extension, and then feed the url to yt-dlp or N_m3u8DL-RE. For example:

N_m3u8dl-re https://prod-ec-us-east-1.video.pscp.tv/Transcoding/v1/hls/FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHDDCJcT74nMVvQUEWk8w_BoCXBY4_RYBOVyi2QGn5wj90rUiXIIp_9pjbQ/non_transcode/us-east-1/periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-east-1-public/tw_master_dynamic_16740706496425085766.m3u8?type=replay

[CrymanChen]

I would make an objection to @white_snake. Sorry sir, I got no offense!
This is an encrypted HLS stream.

[Attachment 76456 - Click to enlarge]

For each segment, different IVs are used but the key stayed the same.

[Attachment 76457 - Click to enlarge]

[jckzz]

i try to download video with N_m3u8DL-RE,
i don't put any key in script
and its work
i download the lowest res

N_m3u8DL-RE -M format=mkv "https://prod-ec-us-east-1.video.pscp.tv/Transcoding/v1/hls/FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHDDCJcT74nMVvQUEWk8w_BoCXBY4_RYBOVyi2QGn5wj90rUiXIIp_9pjbQ/non_transcode/us-east-1/periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-east-1-public/tw_master_dynamic_16740706496425085766.m3u8?type=replay" --save-name videotwitter

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

If you want 1080p quality. Download the encryption key and save it as key.bin file:
https://twitter.com/i/live_video_stream/key?stream_name=FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHD...0rUiXIIp_9pjbQ

And run this:

N_m3u8DL-RE.exe https://prod-ec-us-east-1.video.pscp.tv/Transcoding/v1/hls/FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHDDCJcT74nMVvQUEWk8w_BoCXBY4_RYBOVyi2QGn5wj90rUiXIIp_9pjbQ/transcode/us-east-1/periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-east-1-public/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCIsInZlcnNpb24iOiIyIn0.eyJFbmNvZGVyU2V0dGluZyI6ImVuY29kZXJfc2V0dGluZ18xMDgwcDMwXzEwIiwiSGVpZ2h0IjoxMDgwLCJLYnBzIjo1NTAwLCJXaWR0aCI6MTkyMH0.OImMZabKYJ0cs9CnIapU-4aBk6KNBiJxi1hh-6l4BZ4/tw_playlist_16740706496425085766.m3u8?type=replay --custom-hls-key "key.bin"

[Attachment 76467 - Click to enlarge]

[white_snake]

I would make an objection to @white_snake. Sorry sir, I got no offense!
This is an encrypted HLS stream.

[Attachment 76456 - Click to enlarge]

For each segment, different IVs are used but the key stayed the same.

[Attachment 76457 - Click to enlarge]

I didn't check thoroughly before, but yes you're right in saying the stream does have encryption. But the point still stands: it doesn't need any manual decryption to be performed, everything is handled automatically by N_m3u8DL-RE.

If you want 1080p quality. Download the encryption key and save it as key.bin file:
https://twitter.com/i/live_video_stream/key?stream_name=FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHD...0rUiXIIp_9pjbQ

And run this:

N_m3u8DL-RE.exe https://prod-ec-us-east-1.video.pscp.tv/Transcoding/v1/hls/FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHDDCJcT74nMVvQUEWk8w_BoCXBY4_RYBOVyi2QGn5wj90rUiXIIp_9pjbQ/transcode/us-east-1/periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-east-1-public/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCIsInZlcnNpb24iOiIyIn0.eyJFbmNvZGVyU2V0dGluZyI6ImVuY29kZXJfc2V0dGluZ18xMDgwcDMwXzEwIiwiSGVpZ2h0IjoxMDgwLCJLYnBzIjo1NTAwLCJXaWR0aCI6MTkyMH0.OImMZabKYJ0cs9CnIapU-4aBk6KNBiJxi1hh-6l4BZ4/tw_playlist_16740706496425085766.m3u8?type=replay --custom-hls-key "key.bin"

[Attachment 76467 - Click to enlarge]

I just downloaded the whole stream in 1080p with my previous command, without any need to use --custom-hls-key. Are you sure that's needed for you?

Sorry sir, I got no offense!

Btw, none taken!

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

I just downloaded the whole stream in 1080p with my previous command, without any need to use --custom-hls-key. Are you sure that's needed for you?

I ran the same command but it's dead. I must be doing something wrong if it worked for you.


[Attachment 76470 - Click to enlarge]


[Attachment 76471 - Click to enlarge]

[stabbedbybrick]

No need to over-complicate things:

yt-dlp "https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1rmxPMEwdQEKN" -o "x.mp4"

[white_snake]

I just downloaded the whole stream in 1080p with my previous command, without any need to use --custom-hls-key. Are you sure that's needed for you?

I ran the same command but it's dead. I must be doing something wrong if it worked for you.


[Attachment 76470 - Click to enlarge]


[Attachment 76471 - Click to enlarge]

This is my output from earlier:


[Attachment 76472 - Click to enlarge]

We also have the same N_m3u8DL-RE version, so that's weird. Do you get the same .m3u8 url from Twitter?

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

We also have the same N_m3u8DL-RE version, so that's weird. Do you get the same .m3u8 url from Twitter?

I just copied and pasted your URL. Identical command. The same happened when I directly copied the URL from the stream detector addon. Maybe there are some regional shenanigans going on but it makes no sense. Anyway, @stabbedbybrick offered a better solution at least. That worked for me with no HLS key. Weird though.

[white_snake]

We also have the same N_m3u8DL-RE version, so that's weird. Do you get the same .m3u8 url from Twitter?

I just copied and pasted your URL. Identical command. The same happened when I directly copied the URL from the stream detector addon. Maybe there are some regional shenanigans going on but it makes no sense. Anyway, @stabbedbybrick offered a better solution at least. That worked for me with no HLS key. Weird though.

Very weird because yt-dlp's extractor sources the 1080p stream from the exact same resource as N_m3u8DL-RE:

yt-dlp "https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1rmxPMEwdQEKN" -f replay-5500 -g

https://prod-ec-us-east-1.video.pscp.tv/Transcoding/v1/hls/FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHDDCJcT74nMVvQUEWk8w_BoCXBY4_RYBOVyi2QGn5wj90rUiXIIp_9pjbQ/transcode/us-east-1/periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-east-1-public/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCIsInZlcnNpb24iOiIyIn0.eyJFbmNvZGVyU2V0dGluZyI6ImVuY29kZXJfc2V0dGluZ18xMDgwcDMwXzEwIiwiSGVpZ2h0IjoxMDgwLCJLYnBzIjo1NTAwLCJXaWR0aCI6MTkyMH0.OImMZabKYJ0cs9CnIapU-4aBk6KNBiJxi1hh-6l4BZ4/tw_playlist_16740706496425085766.m3u8?type=replay

Would running the following change anything for you? If not, it must be some regional lock of some sort, as you said.

N_m3u8DL-RE https://prod-ec-us-east-1.video.pscp.tv/Transcoding/v1/hls/FDm_zzXb3kg5jllin3-wAID2qK8FHDDCJcT74nMVvQUEWk8w_BoCXBY4_RYBOVyi2QGn5wj90rUiXIIp_9pjbQ/transcode/us-east-1/periscope-replay-direct-prod-us-east-1-public/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCIsInZlcnNpb24iOiIyIn0.eyJFbmNvZGVyU2V0dGluZyI6ImVuY29kZXJfc2V0dGluZ18xMDgwcDMwXzEwIiwiSGVpZ2h0IjoxMDgwLCJLYnBzIjo1NTAwLCJXaWR0aCI6MTkyMH0.OImMZabKYJ0cs9CnIapU-4aBk6KNBiJxi1hh-6l4BZ4/tw_playlist_16740706496425085766.m3u8?type=replay

Of course this is just out of curiosity, having already a better solution.

[2nHxWW6GkN1l916N3ayz8HQoi]

Would running the following change anything for you? If not, it must be some regional lock of some sort, as you said.

[Attachment 76477 - Click to enlarge]

Same problem. It downloads something but it is encrypted.