fc2-live-dl 2.0.1

Download live streams from FC2

fc2-live-dl

Tool to download FC2 live streams

Requirements

• Python 3.8
• ffmpeg

Features

• Wait for a stream to start and automatically start recording
• Save comment/chat logs
• Authenticate with cookies (Netscape format, same one used with youtube-dl)
• Remux recordings to .mp4/.m4a after it's done
• Continuously monitor multiple streams in parallel and automatically start downloading when any of them goes online

Installation

pip install fc2-live-dl

Usage

fc2-live-dl https://live.fc2.com/<...>

usage: fc2-live-dl [-h] [-v]
                   [--quality {150Kbps,400Kbps,1.2Mbps,2Mbps,3Mbps,sound}]
                   [--latency {low,high,mid}] [--threads THREADS] [-o OUTPUT]
                   [--no-remux] [-k] [-x] [--cookies COOKIES] [--write-chat]
                   [--write-info-json] [--write-thumbnail] [--wait]
                   [--poll-interval POLL_INTERVAL]
                   [--log-level {silent,error,warn,info,debug,trace}]
                   [--dump-websocket]
                   url

positional arguments:
  url                   A live.fc2.com URL.

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -v, --version         show program's version number and exit
  --quality {150Kbps,400Kbps,1.2Mbps,2Mbps,3Mbps,sound}
                        Quality of the stream to download. Default is 3Mbps.
  --latency {low,high,mid}
                        Stream latency. Select a higher latency if experiencing
                        stability issues. Default is mid.
  --threads THREADS     The size of the thread pool used to download segments.
                        Default is 1.
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        Set the output filename format. Supports formatting
                        options similar to youtube-dl. Default is '%(date)s
                        %(title)s (%(channel_name)s).%(ext)s'

                        Available format options:
                            channel_id (string): ID of the broadcast
                            channel_name (string): broadcaster's profile name
                            date (string): local date YYYY-MM-DD
                            time (string): local time HHMMSS
                            ext (string): file extension
                            title (string): title of the live broadcast
  --no-remux            Do not remux recordings into mp4/m4a after it is
                        finished.
  -k, --keep-intermediates
                        Keep the raw .ts recordings after it has been remuxed.
  -x, --extract-audio   Generate an audio-only copy of the stream.
  --cookies COOKIES     Path to a cookies file.
  --write-chat          Save live chat into a json file.
  --write-info-json     Dump output stream information into a json file.
  --write-thumbnail     Download thumbnail into a file
  --wait                Wait until the broadcast goes live, then start
                        recording.
  --poll-interval POLL_INTERVAL
                        How many seconds between checks to see if broadcast is
                        live. Default is 5.
  --log-level {silent,error,warn,info,debug,trace}
                        Log level verbosity. Default is info.
  --dump-websocket      Dump all websocket communication to a file for
                        debugging

autofc2

Monitor multiple channels at the same time, and automatically start downloading when any of them goes online

autofc2 --config autofc2.json

Where the autofc2.json file looks like this:

{
  "default_params": {
    "quality": "3Mbps",
    "latency": "mid",
    "threads": 4,
    "outtmpl": "%(channel_name)s %(_en_name)s/%(date)s %(title)s.%(ext)s",
    "write_chat": false,
    "write_info_json": false,
    "write_thumbnail": false,
    "wait_for_live": true,
    "wait_poll_interval": 5,
    "cookies_file": null,
    "remux": true,
    "keep_intermediates": false,
    "extract_audio": true
  },
  "channels": {
    "91544481": {
      "_en_name": "Necoma Karin",
      "quality": "sound",
      "write_thumbnail": true
    },
    "72364867": { "_en_name": "Uno Sakura" },
    "40740626": { "_en_name": "Komae Nadeshiko" },
    "81840800": { "_en_name": "Ronomiya Hinagiku" }
  }
}

The default_params object will be the parameters applied to all of the channels. Check the usage section above for more information on each parameter. Note that wait_for_live needs to be set to true for the script to work properly. You can also override the parameters per-channel.

Arbitrary parameters can be specified by prefixing them with _, and will be accessible in outtmpl. This is useful for specifying custom filenames just like in the example above. In the example I'm using _en_name, but you can use anything as long as it starts with _.

NOTE Windows users: When specifying a file path (e.g. for cookies) in the json, double up your backslashes, for example: "cookies_file": "C:\\Documents\\cookies.txt".

Once configured, you can run the script:

autofc2 --config autofc2.json

If you need to change the config json, feel free to change it while the script is running. It will reload the file if it detects any changes. Note that parameters will not be updated for ongoing streams (i.e. if the script is recording a stream and you change its settings, it will continue recording with the old settings and will only apply the new configuration to future recordings).

Notes

• FC2 does not allow multiple connections to the same stream, so you can't watch in the browser while downloading. You can instead preview the file being downloaded using mpv or vlc. Alternatively, log in with an account on your browser.
• Recording only starts from when you start the tool. This tool cannot "seek back" and record streams from the start.
• If you can't run fc2-live-dl or autofc2, try uninstalling and reinstalling with pip uninstall fc2-live-dl.

Known issues

• Tested to work under Linux. It should work on Windows, but no guarantees. If you're facing any issues on Windows, try running it under WSL.
• autofc2 will freak out over a private/paid streams.
• --wait doesn't work sometimes because FC2 would announce that the stream is live before the playlist is available. Use autofc2 if you want to make sure streams get saved.
• When monitoring many channels with autofc2, if you face any 5xx errors, try increasing the wait_poll_interval to something higher.