Cannot download nor play m3u8 files

[Romano]

Hey, I am not very good at technology, sorry in advance.
I got this m3u8 link : https://load.hdfilme.ws/playlist/531911 ... c793f.m3u8

I can play it in Safari on my iPad, but can’t play it in VLC. I double tap the file and it just plays like half a second of it then stops (in VLC), even though it sees that the file is 2:00:49 long.
I would want to download it, but it just downloads a 162ko file when I try.
Can someone help me ?

PS: it worked perfectly a couple weeks ago, and I managed to download some m3u8 files.

[fkuehne]

m3u8 files are playlist files that purely reference media content that is stored somewhere. They don't include any content themselves, so downloading them will simply download the reference but not the video. You need a designated tool such as youtube-dl to follow the references and actually download a video that you can play. This is not something VLC can do (although in most cases it should be able to play the playlists).

[Romano]

But I could play and download m3u8 files like two weeks ago without a problem. That is what I don’t understand.
Do you know by any chance a website or an app on Mac that is able to download m3u8 files ?

[fkuehne]

As I mentioned already, youtube-dl is THE tool to do it.