Stream Spool

Download a stream and watch in a video player while it downloads. Resumable; finalize to MP4 when done.

Many streaming sites use HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), which delivers video as a series of small .ts segment files. Stream Spool downloads these segments and stitches them into a single file so you can watch the stream in real time in a video player—without the buffering and stutter that often happens when playing HLS directly (for example, pauses between segments). When the download is complete, you can create an MP4 file to keep for later viewing.

Requirements

• curl
• ffmpeg

Install

One command: it downloads the script and installs into a user directory (no sudo). It uses ~/.local/bin if it exists, otherwise ~/bin if it exists, otherwise creates ~/.local/bin.

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ryanhellyer/stream-spool/master/stream-spool.sh -o /tmp/stream-spool.sh && chmod +x /tmp/stream-spool.sh && bash -c 'set -e; if [[ -d "$HOME/.local/bin" && -w "$HOME/.local/bin" ]]; then d=$HOME/.local/bin; elif [[ -d "$HOME/bin" && -w "$HOME/bin" ]]; then d=$HOME/bin; else mkdir -p "$HOME/.local/bin"; d=$HOME/.local/bin; fi; install -m 755 /tmp/stream-spool.sh "$d/streamspool"; echo "Installed to $d/streamspool"; if ! echo ":$PATH:" | grep -q ":$d:"; then echo "Add to PATH (e.g. in ~/.bashrc): export PATH=\"$d:\$PATH\""; fi'

Then run streamspool.

Usage

streamspool

Enter the stream URL when prompted (usually a playlist URL). The script will download and build streaming_output.ts; open it in a video player to watch as it grows. When finished, you can finalize to final_video.mp4 and optionally delete temporary files.

Finding the stream URL

• Chrome / Edge: F12 → Network tab → filter by "m3u8" or "media" → play the video → copy the request URL.
• Firefox: F12 → Network → filter "m3u8" → play video → right‑click the request → Copy URL.
• Some sites show the stream link in the page source or a "Copy stream link" option.