Saint's Log

Converting m3u8 Playlists to mp4

I’ve been learning about the MP3 URL playlist format from M3U – Wikipedia. The list of media players that support m3u includes VLC, which is cross platform and open-source. I install it for the first time in ages to convert m3u8 playlists to mp4. The relevant screens from the VLC media player for Mac OS X are shown below.

To convert a m3u8 playlist on the network into a local mp4:

1. Click on the Open media… button.
2. Switch to the network tab.
3. Enter the URL to the m3u8 playlist.
4. Enable the Stream output checkbox. This enables the Settings… button.
5. Click on the Settings… button.
6. Enter a file path for the mp4 file to be created on your file system.
7. Change the encapsulation method to Video MPEG 4.
8. Click OK. This opens the media and starts to write it to the local mp4 file path that was specified earlier.