M3U8 Proxy Server

A lightweight Node.js/Express proxy server for M3U8 streaming URLs that bypasses CORS issues and rewrites streaming URLs.

Features

• ✅ CORS Bypass - Proxy CORS-blocked M3U8 files
• ✅ URL Rewriting - Automatically rewrites relative and absolute URLs in M3U8 content
• ✅ Recursive Proxying - Handles nested M3U8 files (variant streams, index files)
• ✅ Segment Proxying - Can proxy video segments (.ts, .m4s files)
• ✅ Simple API - Single endpoint with URL parameter

Installation

npm install

Usage

Start the server

npm start

The server will run on http://localhost:8080 by default.

Proxy an M3U8 file

http://localhost:8080/proxy?url={m3u8_url}

Example:

http://localhost:8080/proxy?url=https://example.com/playlist.m3u8

URL Parameters

• url (required) - The full URL of the M3U8 file to proxy

Response

• M3U8 files - Returns with rewritten URLs pointing back through the proxy
• Media files - Returns the raw file (segments, etc.)
• Errors - Returns JSON error responses

How It Works

1. Request received - User requests http://localhost:8080/proxy?url=https://example.com/stream.m3u8
2. Fetch M3U8 - Server fetches the M3U8 file from the provided URL
3. Parse Content - Identifies M3U8 playlists vs. media files
4. Rewrite URLs - Converts all URLs (relative and absolute) to go through the proxy
5. Set CORS Headers - Adds CORS headers to the response
6. Return Content - Returns the modified M3U8 or the raw media file

URL Rewriting Examples

Original M3U8:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=2332661
/playlist/index.m3u8

#EXTINF:5.005,
https://cdn.example.com/segment-1.ts

Rewritten by proxy:

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=2332661
http://localhost:8080/proxy?url=https://example.com/playlist/index.m3u8

#EXTINF:5.005,
http://localhost:8080/proxy?url=https://cdn.example.com/segment-1.ts

Environment Variables

• PORT - Server port (default: 8080)

PORT=3000 npm start

Use Cases

1. Bypass CORS - Stream content blocked by CORS policies
2. Unified Domain - Consolidate requests from multiple CDN/servers through one endpoint
3. URL Rewriting - Modify streaming URLs for compatibility with players
4. Security - Hide actual streaming server URLs from clients

API Endpoints

GET /

Returns API information and usage examples.

GET /health

Returns server health status.

GET /proxy?url=<url>

Main proxy endpoint. Fetches and proxies M3U8 or media files.

Error Handling

• 400 - Missing or invalid URL parameter
• 404 - Resource not found on the remote server
• 408 - Request timeout
• 500 - Server error

Error responses are returned as JSON:

{
  "error": "Error description",
  "message": "Detailed error message"
}

Limitations

• No caching (each request fetches fresh content)
• No authentication forwarding (credentials must be in the URL)
• Timeouts set to 10 seconds
• No bandwidth throttling

Security Notes

• Be cautious with URLs that contain authentication tokens
• The proxy will expose the original URLs in the request logs
• Consider implementing IP whitelisting or rate limiting in production

License

MIT