How to Download m3u8 Videos to Cloud Storage [2023]?

With the prevalence of m3u8 format video files on the internet, many users want to download these files for offline viewing. However, m3u8 is an index file that does not contain actual video data. To download m3u8 videos, we need tools that can parse the index and get the video fragments. RiceDrive is one such powerful cloud manager that can help download m3u8 files to cloud drives easily. In this article, I will explain the steps to download m3u8 files using RiceDrive.

Introduction to m3u8 and RiceDrive

Firstly, m3u8 is a common index file format used for HTTP live streaming. It stores the locations of different video chunks in the form of URLs. To play an m3u8 video, a video player will fetch the m3u8 file, parse the URLs within, and start downloading the video chunks sequentially.

RiceDrive is a versatile cloud manager software that can connect to major cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, MEGA etc. It provides a unified interface to manage, transfer, sync files across multiple cloud accounts. With RiceDrive's link parsing feature, we can easily download m3u8 files to cloud drives.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. First we need to go to RiceDrive official website (https://www.ricedrive.com/).

2. Launch RiceDrive and login to your cloud drive accounts like Google Drive or Dropbox.

3. Click on 'Link Storage', select a cloud drive you own, and connect it to RiceDrive.

   

4. After adding the cloud drive, click on "Transfer & Download" and "Create Transfer", and select "Web URL" as the task source.

   

5. Press F12 to open the developer tool and use a browser (such as Chrome) to access the video URL. fetch the m3u8 index link.

   

6. On the task creation page, paste the index link to your m3u8 file and enter a video name.

7. Select the cloud drive and folder path where you want to save the downloaded m3u8 video. Adjust settings if needed.

8. Click the "Start up" button at the bottom. RiceDrive will start downloading the m3u8 index as well as video segments mentioned in the index.

   

9. The download progress can be seen in the running list. Wait patiently till it reaches 100%.

10. Once completed, the m3u8 video will be saved as a whole piece in your designated cloud drive folder. Locate it and double click to play!

There are two points you need to pay attention to:

• Open the developer tools of your browser before accessing the video URL.

• If the download has problems, you can try adding a headers parameter like Referer.

Key Features and Benefits

- Supports mainstream cloud storages - Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, MEGA, etc. Unified interface to manage multiple cloud accounts.

- Smart link parsing to extract real file content from web URLs. Downloads m3u8 segments automatically.

- Intuitive file management including sync, transfer, rename, delete, etc. Maintain your cloud content efficiently.

- Automatic merge of m3u8 video chunks into a single seamless video file after download.

- Fast and reliable download manager for big files. Stable network and resumable downloads.

- Lightweight program with clean interface. Easy to use for average computer users.

RiceDrive makes it extremely simple to parse m3u8 index and download actual videos to cloud drives with just the URL link. The whole process of fetching segments, merging and saving to cloud is automated. With RiceDrive's versatile features, managing cloud content is much easier.