Youtube HLS Server - HLS Stream Extractor

A Node.js server that extracts the best possible HLS (m3u8) streaming URLs from YouTube Live streams using yt-dlp. Perfect for IPTV applications, media players, and streaming integrations.

Features

• 🎥 Extract HLS streaming URLs from YouTube Live channels
• 📺 Support for quality selection (target height and minimum height)
• 🔄 Multiple output formats (direct URL, M3U playlist, redirect)
• 🎯 Smart quality selection with H.264 preference for TV compatibility
• 🐳 Docker support with health checks
• 🌐 CORS enabled for web applications
• ⚡ Fast and lightweight Express.js server

Quick Start

Using Docker (Recommended)

# Using pre-built image (recommended)
docker pull su14iman/yt-hls-server:latest
docker run -p 8000:8000 -e TZ=Europe/Berlin su14iman/yt-hls-server:latest

# Or clone and use docker-compose
git clone https://github.com/su14iman/yt-hls-server.git
cd yt-hls-server
docker-compose up -d

# Or build and run manually
docker build -t yt-hls-server .
docker run -p 8000:8000 yt-hls-server

Local Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Make sure yt-dlp is installed
pip3 install -U yt-dlp

# Start the server
node index.js

The server will start on http://localhost:8000

API Endpoints

1. Get HLS URL (JSON Response)

GET /hls_url?url=<youtube_url>&h=<target_height>&min=<min_height>

Parameters:

• url (required): YouTube Live stream URL
• h (optional): Target height (e.g., 720, 1080)
• min (optional): Minimum acceptable height

Example:

curl "http://localhost:8000/hls_url?url=https://www.youtube.com/@AlekhbariahSY/live&h=720"

2. Generate M3U Playlist

GET /playlist.m3u?url=<youtube_url>&name=<channel_name>&logo=<logo_url>&group=<group_name>&tvg_id=<id>&h=<height>&min=<min_height>

Parameters:

• url (required): YouTube Live stream URL
• name (optional): Channel display name (default: "YouTube Live")
• logo (optional): Channel logo URL
• group (optional): IPTV group name (default: "YouTube")
• tvg_id (optional): TVG ID for EPG
• h (optional): Target height
• min (optional): Minimum height

Example:

curl "http://localhost:8000/playlist.m3u?url=https://www.youtube.com/@AlekhbariahSY/live&name=Al%20Ekhbariah&h=720"

3. Direct Redirect to Stream

GET /redirect.m3u8?url=<youtube_url>&h=<height>&min=<min_height>

Returns a 302 redirect directly to the HLS stream URL.

Example:

curl -L "http://localhost:8000/redirect.m3u8?url=https://www.youtube.com/@AlekhbariahSY/live&h=1080"

4. Health Check

GET /

Returns "OK" for health monitoring.

Quality Selection

The server uses intelligent quality selection:

1. Target Height (h): Prefers streams at or below the target resolution
2. Minimum Height (min): Filters out streams below this resolution
3. Codec Preference: Prioritizes H.264 streams for better TV compatibility
4. Bitrate: Higher bitrate streams are preferred when resolution is equal

Quality Examples:

• h=720: Get best stream ≤ 720p
• min=480: Only streams ≥ 480p
• h=1080&min=720: Prefer 1080p, but accept 720p+ if 1080p unavailable

Use Cases

IPTV Integration

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="news1" tvg-logo="https://example.com/logo.png" group-title="News",News Channel
http://your-server:8000/redirect.m3u8?url=https://www.youtube.com/@newschannel/live&h=720

Media Player

# VLC
vlc "http://localhost:8000/redirect.m3u8?url=https://www.youtube.com/@channel/live"

# FFmpeg
ffmpeg -i "http://localhost:8000/hls_url?url=https://www.youtube.com/@channel/live" output.mp4

Web Application

const response = await fetch('/hls_url?url=https://www.youtube.com/@channel/live&h=720');
const hlsUrl = await response.text();
// Use with HLS.js or similar player

Environment Variables

• PORT: Server port (default: 8000)
• TZ: Timezone for Docker container (default: Europe/Berlin)

Docker Configuration

The included docker-compose.yml provides:

• Health checks every 30 seconds
• Automatic restart unless stopped
• Log rotation (10MB max, 3 files)
• Timezone configuration

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• yt-dlp (automatically installed in Docker)
• Python 3 (for yt-dlp)
• FFmpeg (for some stream processing)