Most people use ffmpeg or browser extensions. While they work, they have limitations:
Using to download .m3u8 playlists is a common goal for users who want to leverage its high-speed, multi-connection capabilities. However, because .m3u8 files are text-based manifests pointing to hundreds of small video segments ( .ts files), simply running aria2c [url] will only download the text file itself, not the video.
: If the .m3u8 is encrypted (look for #EXT-X-KEY in the file), aria2 will download the segments, but they will be unplayable. You would need the decryption key and FFmpeg to process them.
Note: This will leave you with hundreds of individual files. You will still need a tool like FFmpeg to join them. Option 3: Standard Native Alternative (FFmpeg)
yt-dlp is a command-line tool that handles the M3U8 logic automatically but can use for the actual data transfer. The Command:
If you have grep and sed installed, you can pipe the segment list directly into aria2. This command downloads all segments into the current folder.