MediaSniff

A lightweight cross-browser extension that detects video/audio stream URLs (HLS, DASH, MP4, WebM, audio…) on any page and lets you copy them, open them, or download with one click via vsd (Rust) → N_m3u8DL-RE → yt-dlp → ffmpeg.

Works on Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Firefox (Manifest V3).

Install — one command

Linux (any systemd distro):

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chethan62/mediasniff/main/bootstrap.sh)

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/chethan62/mediasniff/main/bootstrap.ps1 | iex

Clones the repo, installs vsd (Rust, 27 MB binary) + checks deps, and sets up the Grab helper to autostart. Falls back to N_m3u8DL-RE → yt-dlp → ffmpeg. The only thing left is loading the unpacked extension — it prints the exact step at the end. (Set MEDIASNIFF_DIR to choose the clone location.)

Self-healing

If anything breaks (deleted files, missing tools, dead service), run:

./mediasniff-check.sh

It restores the repo from GitHub, rebuilds the extension, installs missing binaries (vsd, yt-dlp), fixes the systemd service path, restarts the grabber, and runs a health + download test. Alias: mediasniff-check.

Features

Stream detection

• Sniffs media requests live via webRequest API; per-tab toolbar badge shows count
• Filters out segments (.ts/.m4s/init), ad/cookie-sync/?error= URLs — you see manifests, not fragments
• Color-coded types: HLS, DASH, MP4, WEBM, AUDIO, TS, MKV, AVI, MOV, WAV, SRT, VTT, ASS
• Type emoji icons (🎬🎵💬📦📄) on every row
• Filter by type + free-text search

Manifest parsing

• HLS master playlists — auto-parsed into collapsible variant rows showing resolution, bitrate, codec
• DASH MPD manifests — auto-parsed with AdaptationSet detection (audio vs video tracks)
• Correct combined / audio-only / video-only variant detection
• File size display via Content-Length capture

Download (Grab)

• One-click Grab — POSTs URL + headers to local grabber helper
• Engine priority: vsd (Rust, 5ms startup) → N_m3u8DL-RE (C#) → yt-dlp → ffmpeg
• vsd auto-merges separate audio/video tracks into one file
• Cookie capture — Cookie header captured + passed to all downloaders for authenticated streams
• Resume support — --enable-resume for N_m3u8DL-RE
• Retry endpoint — POST /retry/<id> to retry failed downloads
• Browser notification on completion
• Live progress (34% → Done✓ / Failed✗)
• Downloads panel lists active jobs
• Quality picker (Best/≤1080p/≤720p/≤480p/Worst) + Subs toggle
• Grab All — batch download every detected URL
• Saves to ~/Downloads

Other actions

• Copy URL, Cmd (copy download command), DM (send to AB Download Manager), Open in new tab
• Cookie + Referer + User-Agent baked into generated commands for protected streams
• Bulk: Copy all URLs, Copy all cmds, Export to .txt / .json / .m3u (opens in VLC)
• Remembers tool choice across sessions

Quick install (Linux)

bash install.sh        # or:  npm run setup

Installs vsd + N_m3u8DL-RE, builds the extension, and registers the Grab helper as an autostart systemd user service. Idempotent — safe to re-run.

Then load the unpacked extension (the one manual step): Chromium / Vivaldi → chrome://extensions → enable Developer mode → Load unpacked → this folder.

Works on any systemd Linux (Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, openSUSE, …). Needs python3 + curl; ffmpeg/yt-dlp recommended.

Manage the helper:

systemctl --user {status,restart,stop} mediasniff-grabber

Windows

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File .\install.ps1

Installs N_m3u8DL-RE (win-x64), checks yt-dlp/ffmpeg, registers Grab helper as a Scheduled Task. Then load unpacked extension.

Install (unpacked)

Chromium and Firefox require opposite MV3 background formats — two manifests: manifest.json (Chromium — service worker) and manifest.firefox.json (Firefox — background.scripts).

Chromium (Chrome / Edge / Brave / Opera / Vivaldi)

1. Open chrome://extensions
2. Enable Developer mode
3. Load unpacked → select this folder

Firefox

1. npm run build — creates dist/firefox/
2. Open about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox
3. Load Temporary Add-on → select dist/firefox/manifest.json
   • …or: npx web-ext run --source-dir dist/firefox
4. Signed XPI: download from releases

Build

npm run build

Outputs:

• dist/chrome/ + mediasniff-chrome-<ver>.zip — Chromium / Chrome Web Store
• dist/firefox/ + mediasniff-firefox-<ver>.zip — Firefox / AMO

Usage

1. Open a page that plays/loads media
2. Click the MediaSniff toolbar icon
3. Use Copy / Cmd / Grab / DM / Open on any row
4. Footer buttons for bulk copy/export

Download engine fallback

vsd (Rust, 27 MB)       → primary: fast startup, machine-readable progress
  ↓ (fallback)
N_m3u8DL-RE (C#, .NET)  → robust HLS/DASH, resume, ad filtering
  ↓ (fallback)
yt-dlp (Python)          → universal: YouTube, 1000+ sites
  ↓ (fallback)
ffmpeg (C)               → direct remux/copy

All engines receive captured Cookie + Referer + User-Agent headers.

Permissions

Permission	Why
webRequest + <all_urls>	observe media response URLs + capture Referer/User-Agent/Cookie
tabs	scope results per tab and open URLs
storage	remember tool choice; persist results across background restarts
notifications	download completion notifications
clipboardWrite	copy buttons

Tests

npm test
# or: node tests/media.test.js && node tests/integration.test.js

• tests/media.test.js — detection, labelling, command generation, shell-quoting safety, exports
• tests/integration.test.js — full capture → detect → persist → command pipeline

CI

GitHub Actions runs npm test + npm run build on every push and PR (.github/workflows/ci.yml).

Self-healing

./mediasniff-check.sh

Restores repo, rebuilds, installs missing tools, fixes service, runs health check + test download.

Credits

HLS/DASH download powered by:

• vsd — Rust stream downloader (fork of clitic/vsd)
• N_m3u8DL-RE — C# stream downloader (fork of nilaoda/N_m3u8DL-RE)
• yt-dlp — universal video downloader
• ffmpeg — media muxing/transcoding

License

MIT © 2026 chethan62