xenial (1) livestreamer.1.gz

Provided by: livestreamer_1.12.2-1_all bug

NAME

       livestreamer - extracts streams from various services and pipes them into a video player of choice

TUTORIAL

       Livestreamer  is  command-line application, this means the commands described here should be typed into a
       terminal. On Windows this means you should open the command prompt or PowerShell, on Mac OS  X  open  the
       Terminal app and if you're on Linux or BSD you probably already know the drill.

       The  way  Livestreamer  works  is  that  it's  only a means to extract and transport the streams, and the
       playback is done by an external video player. Livestreamer works best with VLC or  mpv,  which  are  also
       cross-platform, but other players may be compatible too, see the Players page for a complete overview.

       Now  to  get  into  actually  using  Livestreamer,  let's  say  you  want  to watch the stream located on
       http://twitch.tv/day9tv, you start off by telling Livestreamer where to attempt to extract streams  from.
       This is done by giving the URL to the command livestreamer as the first argument:

          $ livestreamer twitch.tv/day9tv
          [cli][info] Found matching plugin twitch for URL twitch.tv/day9tv
          Available streams: audio, high, low, medium, mobile (worst), source (best)

       NOTE:
          You  don't  need  to  include  the protocol when dealing with HTTP URLs, e.g. just twitch.tv/day9tv is
          enough and quicker to type.

       This command will tell Livestreamer to attempt to extract streams from the URL  specified,  and  if  it's
       successful, print out a list of available streams to choose from.

       To  select  a  stream  and  start  playback,  we  simply  add the stream name as a second argument to the
       livestreamer command:

          $ livestreamer twitch.tv/day9tv source
          [cli][info] Found matching plugin twitch for URL twitch.tv/day9tv
          [cli][info] Opening stream: source (hls)
          [cli][info] Starting player: vlc

       The stream you chose should now be playing in the player. It's a common use case to just want  start  the
       highest  quality  stream  and  not  be bothered with what it's named. To do this just specify best as the
       stream name and Livestreamer will attempt to rank the streams and open the one of  highest  quality.  You
       can also specify worst to get the lowest quality.

       Now  that  you  have a basic grasp of how Livestreamer works, you may want to look into customizing it to
       your own needs, such as:

       • Creating a configuration file of options you want to use

       • Setting up your player to cache some data before playing the stream to help avoiding buffering issues

CONFIGURATION FILE

       Writing the command-line options every time is  inconvenient,  that's  why  Livestreamer  is  capable  of
       reading options from a configuration file instead.

       Livestreamer will look for config files in different locations depending on your platform:

                          ┌──────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                          │Platform          │ Location                                      │
                          ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────────────┤
                          │Unix-like (POSIX) │                                               │
                          │                  │        • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/livestreamer/config │
                          │                  │                                               │
                          │                  │        • ~/.livestreamerrc                    │
                          └──────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

                          │Windows           │ %APPDATA%\livestreamer\livestreamerrc         │
                          └──────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────────────┘

       You can also specify the location yourself using the --config option.

       NOTE:$XDG_CONFIG_HOME is ~/.config if it has not been overridden

          • %APPDATA% is usually <your user directory>\Application Data

       NOTE:
          On Windows there is a default config created by the installer but  on  any  other  platform  you  must
          create the file yourself.

   Syntax
       The  config  file  is a simple text file and should contain one command-line option (omitting the dashes)
       per line in the format:

          option=value

       or for a option without value:

          option

       NOTE:
          Any quotes used will be part of the value, so only use when the value needs them, e.g.  specifiying  a
          player with a path containing spaces.

   Example
          # Player options
          player=mpv --cache 2048
          player-no-close

          # Authenticate with Twitch
          twitch-oauth-token=mytoken

PLUGIN SPECIFIC CONFIGURATION FILE

       You  may  want  to  use specific options for some plugins only. This can be accomplished by placing those
       settings inside a plugin specific config file. Options inside these config files will override  the  main
       config file when a URL matching the plugin is used.

       Livestreamer expects this config to be named like the main config but with .<plugin name> attached to the
       end.

   Examples
                      ┌──────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                      │Platform          │ Location                                             │
                      ├──────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
                      │Unix-like (POSIX) │                                                      │
                      │                  │        • $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/livestreamer/config.twitch │
                      │                  │                                                      │
                      │                  │        • ~/.livestreamerrc.ustreamtv                 │
                      ├──────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
                      │Windows           │ %APPDATA%\livestreamer\livestreamerrc.youtube        │
                      └──────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

       Have a look at the list of plugins to see the name of each built-in plugin.

PLUGIN SPECIFIC USAGE

   Authenticating with Twitch
       It's possible to access subscription content on Twitch by giving Livestreamer access to your account.

       Authentication is done by creating an OAuth token that Livestreamer will use to access your account. It's
       done like this:

          $ livestreamer --twitch-oauth-authenticate

       This will open a web browser where Twitch will ask you if you want to  give  Livestreamer  permission  to
       access your account, then forwards you to a page with further instructions on how to use it.

   Authenticating with Crunchyroll
       Crunchyroll requires authenticating with a premium account to access some of their content. To do so, the
       plugin  provides  a  couple  of  options  to   input   your   information,   --crunchyroll-username   and
       --crunchyroll-password.

       You can login like this:

          $ livestreamer --crunchyroll-username=xxxx --crunchyroll-password=xxx http://crunchyroll.com/a-crunchyroll-episode-link

       NOTE:
          If you omit the password, livestreamer will ask for it.

       Once  logged  in, the plugin makes sure to save the session credentials to avoid asking your username and
       password again.

       Neverthless, these credentials are valid for a limited amount of time, so it might be a good idea to save
       your username and password in your configuration file anyway.

       WARNING:
          The  API  this  plugin uses isn't supposed to be available to use it on computers. The plugin tries to
          blend in as a valid device using custom headers  and  following  the  API  usual  flow  (e.g.  reusing
          credentials),  but  this does not assure that your account will be safe from being spotted for unusual
          behavior.

   HTTP proxy with Crunchyroll
       You can use the --http-proxy and --https-proxy  options  (you  need  both  since  the  plugin  uses  both
       protocols) to access the Crunchyroll servers through a proxy to be able to stream region locked content.

       When  doing  this,  it's very probable that you will get denied to access the stream; this occurs because
       the session and credentials used by the plugin where obtained when logged from your own region,  and  the
       server still assumes you're in that region.

       For  this,  the  plugin  provides  the  --crunchyroll-purge-credentials  option, which removes your saved
       session and credentials and tries to log in again using your username and password.

SIDELOADING PLUGINS

       Livestreamer will attempt to load standalone plugins from these directories:

                              ┌──────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
                              │Platform          │ Location                              │
                              ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
                              │Unix-like (POSIX) │ $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/livestreamer/plugins │
                              ├──────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
                              │Windows           │ %APPDATA%\livestreamer\plugins        │
                              └──────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘

       NOTE:
          If a plugin is added with the same name  as  a  built-in  plugin  then  the  added  plugin  will  take
          precedence. This is useful if you want to upgrade plugins independently of the Livestreamer version.

PLAYING BUILT-IN STREAMING PROTOCOLS DIRECTLY

       There  are  many  types  of  streaming protocols used by services today and Livestreamer supports most of
       them. It's possible to tell Livestreamer to access a streaming protocol directly instead of relying on  a
       plugin to extract the streams from a URL for you.

       A protocol can be accessed directly by specifying it in the URL format:

          protocol://path [key=value]

       Accessing a stream that requires extra parameters to be passed along (e.g. RTMP):

          $ livestreamer "rtmp://streaming.server.net/playpath live=1 swfVfy=http://server.net/flashplayer.swf"

       Most streaming technologies simply requires you to pass a HTTP URL, this is a Adobe HDS stream:

          $ livestreamer hds://streaming.server.net/playpath/manifest.f4m

   Supported streaming protocols
                        ┌─────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────┐
                        │Name                         │ Prefix                                │
                        ├─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
                        │Adobe HTTP Dynamic Streaming │ hds://                                │
                        ├─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
                        │Akamai HD Adaptive Streaming │ akamaihd://                           │
                        ├─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
                        │Apple HTTP Live Streaming    │ hls:// hlsvariant://                  │
                        ├─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
                        │Real Time Messaging Protocol │ rtmp://  rtmpe://  rtmps://  rtmpt:// │
                        │                             │ rtmpte://                             │
                        ├─────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────────┤
                        │Progressive HTTP, HTTPS, etc │ httpstream://                         │
                        └─────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────────┘

COMMAND-LINE USAGE

          $ livestreamer [OPTIONS] [URL] [STREAM]

   Positional arguments
       [URL]  A URL to attempt to extract streams from.

              If it's a HTTP URL then "http://" can be omitted.

       [STREAM]
              Stream to play.

              Use "best" or "worst" for highest or lowest quality available.

              Fallback streams can be specified by using a comma-separated list:

                 "720p,480p,best"

              If no stream is specified and --default-stream is not used then a list of available  streams  will
              be printed.

   General options
       -h, --help
              Show this help message and exit.

       -V, --version
              Show version number and exit.

       --plugins
              Print a list of all currently installed plugins.

       --can-handle-url URL
              Check if Livestreamer has a plugin that can handle the specified URL.

              Returns status code 1 for false and 0 for true.

              Useful for external scripting.

       --config FILENAME
              Load options from this config file.

              Can  be repeated to load multiple files, in which case the options are merged on top of each other
              where the last config has highest priority.

       -l LEVEL, --loglevel LEVEL
              Set the log message threshold.

              Valid levels are: none, error, warning, info, debug

       -Q, --quiet
              Hide all log output.

              Alias for "--loglevel none".

       -j, --json
              Output JSON representations instead of the normal text output.

              Useful for external scripting.

       --no-version-check
              Unused, kept for compatibility reasons.

       --version-check
              Runs a version check and exits.

   Player options
       -p COMMAND, --player COMMAND
              Player to feed stream data to. This is a shell-like syntax  to  support  passing  options  to  the
              player. For example:

                 "vlc --file-caching=5000"

              To use a player that is located in a path with spaces you must quote the path:

                 "'/path/with spaces/vlc' --file-caching=5000"

              By default VLC will be used if it can be found in its default location.

       -a ARGUMENTS, --player-args ARGUMENTS
              This option allows you to customize the default arguments which are put together with the value of
              --player to create a command to execute.

              This value can contain formatting variables surrounded by curly braces, { and }. If  you  need  to
              include a brace character, it can be escaped by doubling, e.g. {{ and }}.

              Formatting variables available:

              filename
                     This is the filename that the player will use.  It's usually "-" (stdin), but can also be a
                     URL or a file depending on the options used.

              It's usually enough to use --player instead of this unless you need to  add  arguments  after  the
              filename.

              Default is: "{filename}".

       -v, --verbose-player
              Allow the player to display its console output.

       -n, --player-fifo, --fifo
              Make the player read the stream through a named pipe instead of the stdin pipe.

       --player-http
              Make the player read the stream through HTTP instead of the stdin pipe.

       --player-continuous-http
              Make the player read the stream through HTTP, but unlike --player-http it will continuously try to
              open the stream if the player requests it.

              This makes it possible to handle stream disconnects if your player is capable of reconnecting to a
              HTTP stream. This is usually done by setting your player to a "repeat mode".

       --player-external-http
              Serve  stream  data  through  HTTP  without  running  any player. This is useful to allow external
              devices like smartphones or streaming boxes to watch streams they wouldn't be able to otherwise.

              Behavior will be similar to the continuous HTTP option, but no player program will be started, and
              the  server  will  listen  on  all  available  connections instead of just in the local (loopback)
              interface.

              The URLs that can be used to access the stream will be printed to the console, and the server  can
              be interrupted using CTRL-C.

       --player-external-http-port PORT
              A fixed port to use for the external HTTP server if that mode is enabled.  Omit or set to 0 to use
              a random high (>1024) port.

       --player-passthrough TYPES
              A comma-delimited list of stream types to pass to the player  as  a  URL  to  let  it  handle  the
              transport of the stream instead.

              Stream types that can be converted into a playable URL are:

              • hls

              • http

              • rtmp

              Make sure your player can handle the stream type when using this.

       --player-no-close
              By  default  Livestreamer will close the player when the stream ends.  This is to avoid "dead" GUI
              players lingering after a stream ends.

              It does however have the side-effect of sometimes closing a player before it has played  back  all
              of its cached data.

              This option will instead let the player decide when to exit.

   File output options
       -o FILENAME, --output FILENAME
              Write stream data to FILENAME instead of playing it.

              You will be prompted if the file already exists.

       -f, --force
              When using -o, always write to file even if it already exists.

       -O, --stdout
              Write stream data to stdout instead of playing it.

   Stream options
       --default-stream STREAM
              Open this stream when no stream argument is specified, e.g. "best".

       --retry-streams DELAY
              Will  retry  fetching  streams  until streams are found while waiting DELAY (seconds) between each
              attempt.

       --retry-open ATTEMPTS
              Will try ATTEMPTS times to open the stream until giving up.

              Default is: 1.

       --stream-types TYPES, --stream-priority TYPES
              A comma-delimited list of stream types to allow.

              The order will be used to separate streams when there are multiple streams with the same name  but
              different stream types.

              Default is: "rtmp,hls,hds,http,akamaihd".

       --stream-sorting-excludes STREAMS
              Fine tune best/worst synonyms by excluding unwanted streams.

              Uses a filter expression in the format:

                 [operator]<value>

              Valid operators are >, >=, < and <=. If no operator is specified then equality is tested.

              For example this will exclude streams ranked higher than "480p":

                 ">480p"

              Multiple filters can be used by separating each expression with a comma.

              For example this will exclude streams from two quality types:

                 ">480p,>medium"

   Stream transport options
       --hds-live-edge SECONDS
              The time live HDS streams will start from the edge of stream.

              Default is: 10.0.

       --hds-segment-attempts ATTEMPTS
              How many attempts should be done to download each HDS segment before giving up.

              Default is: 3.

       --hds-segment-threads THREADS
              The size of the thread pool used to download HDS segments.  Minimum value is 1 and maximum is 10.

              Default is: 1.

       --hds-segment-timeout TIMEOUT
              HDS segment connect and read timeout.

              Default is: 10.0.

       --hds-timeout TIMEOUT
              Timeout for reading data from HDS streams.

              Default is: 60.0.

       --hls-live-edge SEGMENTS
              How many segments from the end to start live HLS streams on.

              The  lower  the value the lower latency from the source you will be, but also increases the chance
              of buffering.

              Default is: 3.

       --hls-segment-attempts ATTEMPTS
              How many attempts should be done to download each HLS segment before giving up.

              Default is: 3.

       --hls-segment-threads THREADS
              The size of the thread pool used to download HLS segments.  Minimum value is 1 and maximum is 10.

              Default is: 1.

       --hls-segment-timeout TIMEOUT
              HLS segment connect and read timeout.

              Default is: 10.0.

       --hls-timeout TIMEOUT
              Timeout for reading data from HLS streams.

              Default is: 60.0.

       --http-stream-timeout TIMEOUT
              Timeout for reading data from HTTP streams.

              Default is: 60.0.

       --ringbuffer-size SIZE
              The maximum size of ringbuffer. Add a M or K suffix to specify  mega  or  kilo  bytes  instead  of
              bytes.

              The ringbuffer is used as a temporary storage between the stream and the player. This is to allows
              us to download the stream faster than the player wants to read it.

              The smaller the size, the higher chance of the player buffering if there are download  speed  dips
              and the higher size the more data we can use as a storage to catch up from speed dips.

              It also allows you to temporary pause as long as the ringbuffer doesn't get full since we continue
              to download the stream in the background.

              NOTE:
                 A smaller size is recommended on lower end systems (such as Raspberry Pi) when  playing  stream
                 types  that  require  some  extra  processing  (such  as  HDS)  to avoid unnecessary background
                 processing.

              Default is: "16M".

       --rtmp-proxy PROXY, --rtmpdump-proxy PROXY
              A SOCKS proxy that RTMP streams will use.

              Example: 127.0.0.1:9050

       --rtmp-rtmpdump FILENAME, --rtmpdump FILENAME, -r FILENAME
              RTMPDump is used to access RTMP streams. You can specify the location of the  rtmpdump  executable
              if it is not in your PATH.

              Example: "/usr/local/bin/rtmpdump"

       --rtmp-timeout TIMEOUT
              Timeout for reading data from RTMP streams.

              Default is: 60.0.

       --stream-segment-attempts ATTEMPTS
              How many attempts should be done to download each segment before giving up.

              This  is  generic  option  used  by streams not covered by other options, such as stream protocols
              specific to plugins, e.g. UStream.

              Default is: 3.

       --stream-segment-threads THREADS
              The size of the thread pool used to download segments.  Minimum value is 1 and maximum is 10.

              This is generic option used by streams not covered by other  options,  such  as  stream  protocols
              specific to plugins, e.g. UStream.

              Default is: 1.

       --stream-segment-timeout TIMEOUT
              Segment connect and read timeout.

              This  is  generic  option  used  by streams not covered by other options, such as stream protocols
              specific to plugins, e.g. UStream.

              Default is: 10.0.

       --stream-timeout TIMEOUT
              Timeout for reading data from streams.

              This is generic option used by streams not covered by other  options,  such  as  stream  protocols
              specific to plugins, e.g. UStream.

              Default is: 60.0.

       --stream-url
              If possible, translate the stream to a URL and print it.

       --subprocess-cmdline, --cmdline, -c
              Print command-line used internally to play stream.

              This is only available on RTMP streams.

       --subprocess-errorlog, --errorlog, -e
              Log  possible  errors  from  internal subprocesses to a temporary file.  The file will be saved in
              your systems temporary directory.

              Useful when debugging rtmpdump related issues.

   HTTP options
       --http-proxy HTTP_PROXY
              A HTTP proxy to use for all HTTP requests.

              Example: http://hostname:port/

       --https-proxy HTTPS_PROXY
              A HTTPS capable proxy to use for all HTTPS requests.

              Example: http://hostname:port/

       --http-cookie KEY=VALUE
              A cookie to add to each HTTP request.

              Can be repeated to add multiple cookies.

       --http-header KEY=VALUE
              A header to add to each HTTP request.

              Can be repeated to add multiple headers.

       --http-query-param KEY=VALUE
              A query parameter to add to each HTTP request.

              Can be repeated to add multiple query parameters.

       --http-ignore-env
              Ignore HTTP settings set in the environment such as environment  variables  (HTTP_PROXY,  etc)  or
              ~/.netrc authentication.

       --http-no-ssl-verify
              Don't attempt to verify SSL certificates.

              Usually a bad idea, only use this if you know what you're doing.

       --http-ssl-cert FILENAME
              SSL certificate to use.

              Expects a .pem file.

       --http-ssl-cert-crt-key CRT_FILENAME KEY_FILENAME
              SSL certificate to use.

              Expects a .crt and a .key file.

       --http-timeout TIMEOUT
              General timeout used by all HTTP requests except the ones covered by other options.

              Default is: 20.0.

   Plugin options
       --plugin-dirs DIRECTORY
              Attempts to load plugins from these directories.

              Multiple directories can be used by separating them with a semi-colon.

       --twitch-oauth-token TOKEN
              An  OAuth  token  to  use  for Twitch authentication.  Use --twitch-oauth-authenticate to create a
              token.

       --twitch-oauth-authenticate
              Open a web browser where you can grant Livestreamer access to your Twitch account which creates  a
              token for use with --twitch-oauth-token.

       --twitch-cookie COOKIES
              Twitch cookies to authenticate to allow access to subscription channels.

              Example:

                 "_twitch_session_id=xxxxxx; persistent=xxxxx"

              NOTE:
                 This   method   is   the   old   and   clunky   way   of   authenticating  with  Twitch,  using
                 --twitch-oauth-authenticate is the recommended and simpler way of doing it now.

       --ustream-password PASSWORD
              A password to access password protected UStream.tv channels.

       --crunchyroll-username USERNAME
              A Crunchyroll username to allow access to restricted streams.

       --crunchyroll-password [PASSWORD]
              A Crunchyroll password for use with --crunchyroll-username.

              If left blank you will be prompted.

       --crunchyroll-purge-credentials
              Purge cached Crunchyroll credentials to initiate a new session and reauthenticate.

       --livestation-email EMAIL
              A Livestation account email to access restricted or premium quality streams.

       --livestation-password PASSWORD
              A Livestation account password to use with --livestation-email.

AUTHOR

       Christopher Rosell

       2011-2015, Christopher Rosell