threefive 3.0.87

threefive is The #1 SCTE-35 Decoder and Encoder on the Planet.

[ threefive ]

https://github.com/superkabuki/threefive

threefive is the industry leading SCTE-35 tool.

• In case you were wondering ....

Need to inject SCTE-35 into HLS? X9k3.

• Decodes SCTE-35 from MPEGTS✔ Base64✔ Bytes✔ DASH✔ Hex ✔ HLS✔ Integers✔ JSON✔ XML✔ XML+Binary✔

• Encodes SCTE-35 to MPEGTS✔ Base64✔ Bytes✔ Hex✔ Integers✔ JSON✔ XML✔ XML+Binary✔

---

[ News ]

• threefive.Stream.decode() now does interpreter detection and uses multiprocessing for python3.11 and python3.14 for a serious speedup.
• Event Descriptors and Property types from the recently published 2026 SCTE-35 Specification part 2 have been added.
• threefive no longer uses setuptools for packaging and I know you don't care.
• threefive now supports Secure Reliable Transport (watch the cool video)

---

[ Latest version is v3.0.87 ]

• threefive cyclomatic complexity score is 1.9337094499294782 ( that's better than the Python standard library) .
• threefive now has NO External Dependencies
  • SRT and AES support is now optional
• threefive is fully python v3.14 compliant
• No more setup tools! threefive now uses a toml file and a Makefile to generate packages,
  • I'm just trying to fit in with the cool python kids.
• New the threefive cli tool has spun off several new cli tools. I had to split the cli up, the help was just way too long.
  • In addition to the threefive cli you also get:
    • scte35bump adjust scte-35 pts in mpegts streams
    • scte35fix change bin data streams back to scte-35
    • scte35hls parse scte-35 from hls tags and segments
    • scte35inject inject scte-35 packets into mpegts streams
    • gums (the Grande Unified unicast and Multicast Server)

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If you parse the output from the threefive cli....

• Comments, errors, and warnings, even printed comments, errors, and warnings, that are not the output, start with an octothorpe '#' and can be stripped, if needed, with sed.

threefive video.ts 2>&1 | sed  -n '/^\#/!p' -  

[ Speed Test ]

pypy3 vs. python3.11 vs. python3.14 running threefive 3.0.0x840c (pre-release)

• Using multiprocessing cuts parsing time in half for python 3.11 even more for python3.14

• single process pypy3 is still faster though.

• The test is to parse a 3.7 GB file for 286 SCTE-35 Cues.

• Results

interpreter	time
pypy3	3.532 secs
python3.11	5.520 secs
python3.14	5.521 secs

• When I did the same test for threefive v3.0.83, pypy3 was 4.1 seconds, python3.11 was 10 seconds, and python3.14 was over 14 secs

[ Try these in your browser ]

Parse SCTE-35 in MPEGTS over HTTP, in your browser with Go, Wasm and Super Karate Death Car

Parse, edit, and convert SCTE-35 Cues in your browser with fastcgi, python3, threefive, and nstuff

Parse SCTE-35 in MPEGTS over HTTP, in your browser with threefive.js,javascript, and a little sed just to keep things interesting.

Decode SCTE-35 data via Http request in a browser, with curl, or whatever with Sassy , SCTE-35 as a Service.

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[ Examples ]

[ Documentation ]

• use threefive on the web

  • threefive SCTE-35 Online Parser hosted on my server_
  • SCTE-35 Online Parser powered by threefive another online parser powered by threefive
  • SCTE-35 As a Service if you can make an http request, you can parse SCTE-35, no install needed.

• install

• command line tools

  • threefive decode SCTE-35 on the command line
  • scte35bump adjust SCTE-35 PTS in MPEGTS streams
  • scte35fix ffmpeg changes scte-35 streams into bin data, scte35fix changes them back.
  • scte35hls scte35hls parses hls and ABR hls for scte-35. All hls scte-35 tags are supported_
  • scte35inject scte35inject inject scte-35 into mpegts.
  • gums gums is a multicast sender(server) for video

• library

  • Using the threefive.Cue class
  • Using the threefive library decode SCTE-35 with less than ten lines of code
  • • threefive Classes threefive is OO, made to subclass
      • Cue Class this class you'll use often
      • Stream Class this is the class for parsing MPEGTS

• SCTE-35 Sidecar Files threefive supports SCTE-35 sidecar files

• SCTE-35 HLS parse SCTE-35 in HLS_

• SCTE-35 XML and More XML threefive can parse and encode SCTE-35 xml

• Encode SCTE-35 threefive can encode SCTE-35 in every SCTE-35 format

• Make your threefive script an executable with cython threefive is compatible with all python tools

[Install]

• python3 via pip

python3 -mpip install threefive

• pypy3 via pip

pypy3 -mpip install threefive

• To add SRT support

python3 -m pip install srtfu

• To add Automatic AES decryption

python3 -mpip install pyaes

• From the git repo

git clone https://github.com/superkabuki/scte35.git
cd threefive
make install

• I've jazzed up the makefile to make it easier to install for different python versions and pypy3

git clone https://github.com/superkabuki/scte35.git
cd threefive

make install py3=pypy3

# OR

make install py3=python3.14

# works for any python in your path or use a full path if needed.

---

[Quick Start]

[CLI]

• The default action is to read a SCTE-35 input and write a SCTE-35 output.

---

[ Parse SCTE-35 from MPEGTS ]

• SCTE-35 Input: MPEGTS
• Protocols: pipes, files, stdin, http(s), multicast,SRT and UDP.
• SCTE-35 Output: JSON (default) base64, bytes, hex, int, xml, and xmlbin.

SCTE-35 Input	Protocol	SCTE-35 Output	Command
MPEGTS	file	JSON	threefive video.ts
.	https	base64	threefive https://example.com/video.ts base64
.	multicast	bytes	threefive udp://@235.3.5:3535 bytes
.	SRT	hex	threefive srt://1.2.3.4:4201 hex
.	UDP	int	threefive udp://10.10.10.10:1011 int
.	Pipe	xml	cat video.ts | threefive xml
.	stdin	xml+bin	threefive xmlbin < video.ts

---

[ Parse SCTE-35 Cues ]

• The default output is JSON
• SCTE-35 Inputs: base64, hex, int, JSON,int,xml,and xmlbin.
• SCTE-35 Outputs: base64, bytes, hex, int,JSON, xml, and xmlbin.
• Any Input can be used with Any Output

Here are several examples.

SCTE-35 Input	SCTE-35 Output	Command
base64	JSON	threefive '/DAWAAAAAAAAAP/wBQb+AKmKxwAACzuu2Q=='
.	bytes	threefive '/DAWAAAAAAAAAP/wBQb+AKmKxwAACzuu2Q==' bytes
.	hex	threefive '/DAWAAAAAAAAAP/wBQb+AKmKxwAACzuu2Q==' hex
.	xml	threefive '/DAWAAAAAAAAAP/wBQb+AKmKxwAACzuu2Q==' xml
hex	JSON	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fe00a98ac700000b3baed9
.	base64	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fe00a98ac700000b3baed9 base64
.	int	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fe00a98ac700000b3baed9 int
.	xmlbin	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fe00a98ac700000b3baed9 xmlbin
int	JSON	threefive 1583008701074197245727019716796221242036302348025116111908569
.	hex	threefive 1583008701074197245727019716796221242036302348025116111908569 hex
.	xml	threefive 1583008701074197245727019716796221242036302348025116111908569 xml
JSON	base64	threefive < json.json base64
.	bytes	threefive < json.json bytes
.	xml	threefive < json.json xml
xml	JSON	threefive < xml.xml
xmlbin	int	threefive < xmlbin.xml int

---

[Additional functionality]

• threefive has several additional features, mostly related to MPEGTS streams.
• threefive has built in help, just type threefive help
• This table shows how to use them.

Description	How To Use
Inject SCTE35 packets	threefive inject -i in.video -s sidecar.txt -o out.ts
Show raw SCTE35 packets	threefive packets udp://@235.35.3.5:3535
Copy MPEGTS stream to stdout at realtime speed	threefive rt input.ts
Create SCTE35 sidecar file	threefive sidecar video.ts
Show streams in mpegts stream	threefive show https://example.com/video.ts
Show iframes in mpegts stream	threefive iframes srt://10.10.1.3:9000
Show PTS values from mpegts stream	threefive pts udp://192.168.1.10:9000
Proxy the mpegts stream to stdout	threefive proxy https://wexample.com/video.ts

---

Other tools

threefive also comes with:

scte35bump

• bump adjusts SCTE-35 PTS in an MPEGTS stream

$ scte35bump -h
usage: scte35bump [-h] [-i INFILE] [-o OUTFILE] [-s SECS]

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INFILE, --infile INFILE
                        Input source, stdin, file, http(s), udp, or multicast
                        mpegts [default: sys.stdin.buffer]
  -o OUTFILE, --outfile OUTFILE
                        Output file [default: sys.stdout.buffer]
  -s SECS, --secs SECS  Adjustment to apply to SCTE-35 Cues. [default: 0.0]

scte35bump is part of threefive.

---

gums

• the Grande Udp Multicast Server

$ gums -h
usage: gums [-h] [-i INPUT] [-a ADDR] [-b BIND_ADDR] [-t TTL]

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -i INPUT, --input INPUT
                        like "/home/a/vid.ts" or "https://futzu.com/xaa.ts"
                        [default: sys.stdin.buffer]
  -a ADDR, --addr ADDR  Destination IP:Port [default: 235.35.3.5:3535]
  -b BIND_ADDR, --bind_addr BIND_ADDR
                        Local IP to bind [default: 0.0.0.0]
  -t TTL, --ttl TTL     Multicast TTL (1 - 255) [default: 32]

gums is part of threefive.

scte35hls

• parse HLS for SCTE-35. Supports all HLS SCTE-35 tags.

$ scte35hls -h

[ threefive hls ]

[ Help ]

    To display this help:
	scte35hls help

[ Input ]
    threefive hls takes an m3u8 URI as input.
    M3U8 formats supported:
        * master  ( When a master.m3u8 used,
                   threefive hls parses the first rendition it finds )
        * rendition
    Segment types supported:
    * AAC
    * AC3
    * MPEGTS
    *codecs:
        * video
            * mpeg2, h.264, h.265
        * audio
            * mpeg2, aac, ac3, mp3

scte35fix

• when ffmpeg changes a SCTE-35 stream to bin data stream, scte35fix changes it back.

$ scte35fix -h

  scte35fix checks MPEGTS for SCTE-35 Streams
  that have been change to bin data (type 0x06)
  and changes them back to SCTE-35 (type 0x86) streams.
  Output files are created in the current directory
  and prefixed with 'sixfix-'.
  Only bin data streams containing SCTE-35 will be converted.
  Multiple files can be specified on the command line.
  Wild cards work too.

  Example Usage:
        scte35fix video.ts
        scte35fix video1.ts video2.ts
        scte35fix video*.ts
        scte35fix https://example.com/video.ts
        scte35fix srt://10.10.10.13:4201
scte35fix is part of threefive.

[XML]

• XML New! updated 05/01/2025

[HLS]

• Advanced Parsing of SCTE-35 in HLS with threefive All HLS SCTE-35 tags, Sidecar Files, AAC ID3 Header Timestamps, SCTE-35 filters... Who loves you baby?

[SCTE-35 As a Service]

• Decode SCTE-35 without installing anything. If you can make an https request, you can use Sassy to decode SCTE-35. .

[Classes]

• The python built in help is always the most up to date docs for the library.

a@fu:~/build7/threefive$ pypy3

>>>> from threefive import Stream
>>>> help(Stream)

• Class Structure
• Cue Class Cue is the main SCTE-35 class to use.
• Stream Class The Stream class handles MPEGTS SCTE-35 streams local, Http(s), UDP, and Multicast.

---

[threefive now supports SRT]

• ( You have to unmute the audio )

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/a323ea90-867f-480f-a55f-e9339263e511

• more SRT and threefive info

• checkout SRTfu

---

[more]

• Online SCTE-35 Parser Supporte Base64, Bytes,Hex,Int, Json, Xml, and Xml+binary.

• Encode SCTE-35 Some encoding code examples.

---

Python3 vs Pypy3 running threefive

• ( You have to unmute the audio )

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/9e88fb38-6ad0-487a-a801-90faba9d72c6

---

Using the library

• Let me show you how easy threefive is to use.

• reading SCTE-35 xml from a file

a@fu:~/threefive$ pypy3
Python 3.9.16 (7.3.11+dfsg-2+deb12u3, Dec 30 2024, 22:36:23)
[PyPy 7.3.11 with GCC 12.2.0] on linux
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>>> from threefive import reader
>>>> from threefive import Cue
>>>> data =reader('/home/a/xml.xml').read()

• load it into a threefive.Cue instance

>>>> cue = Cue(data)

• Show the data as JSON

>>>> cue.show()
{
    "info_section": {
        "table_id": "0xfc",
        "section_syntax_indicator": false,
        "private": false,
        "sap_type": "0x03",
        "sap_details": "No Sap Type",
        "section_length": 92,
        "protocol_version": 0,
        "encrypted_packet": false,
        "encryption_algorithm": 0,
        "pts_adjustment": 0.0,
        "cw_index": "0x00",
        "tier": "0x0fff",
        "splice_command_length": 15,
        "splice_command_type": 5,
        "descriptor_loop_length": 60,
        "crc": "0x7632935"
    },
    "command": {
        "command_length": 15,
        "command_type": 5,
        "name": "Splice Insert",
        "break_auto_return": false,
        "break_duration": 180.0,
        "splice_event_id": 1073743095,
        "splice_event_cancel_indicator": false,
        "out_of_network_indicator": true,
        "program_splice_flag": false,
        "duration_flag": true,
        "splice_immediate_flag": false,
        "event_id_compliance_flag": true,
        "unique_program_id": 1,
        "avail_num": 12,
        "avails_expected": 5
    },
    "descriptors": [
        {
            "tag": 0,
            "identifier": "CUEI",
            "name": "Avail Descriptor",
            "provider_avail_id": 12,
            "descriptor_length": 8
        },
        {
            "tag": 0,
            "identifier": "CUEI",
            "name": "Avail Descriptor",
            "provider_avail_id": 13,
            "descriptor_length": 8
        },
      

    ]
}

• convert the data back to xml

>>>> print(cue.xml())
<scte35:SpliceInfoSection xmlns:scte35="https://scte.org/schemas/35"  ptsAdjustment="0" protocolVersion="0" sapType="3" tier="4095">
   <scte35:SpliceInsert spliceEventId="1073743095" spliceEventCancelIndicator="false" spliceImmediateFlag="false" eventIdComplianceFlag="true" availNum="12" availsExpected="5" outOfNetworkIndicator="true" uniqueProgramId="1">
      <scte35:BreakDuration autoReturn="false" duration="16200000"/>
   </scte35:SpliceInsert>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="12"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="13"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="14"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="15"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="16"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="17"/>
</scte35:SpliceInfoSection>

• convert to xml+binary

>>>> print(cue.xmlbin())
<scte35:Signal xmlns:scte35="https://scte.org/schemas/35">
    <scte35:Binary>/DBcAAAAAAAAAP/wDwVAAAT3f69+APcxQAABDAUAPAAIQ1VFSQAAAAwACENVRUkAAAANAAhDVUVJAAAADgAIQ1VFSQAAAA8ACENVRUkAAAAQAAhDVUVJAAAAEQdjKTU=</scte35:Binary>
</scte35:Signal>

• convert to base64

>>>> print(cue.base64())
/DBcAAAAAAAAAP/wDwVAAAT3f69+APcxQAABDAUAPAAIQ1VFSQAAAAwACENVRUkAAAANAAhDVUVJAAAADgAIQ1VFSQAAAA8ACENVRUkAAAAQAAhDVUVJAAAAEQdjKTU=

• convert to hex

>>>> print(cue.hex())
0xfc305c00000000000000fff00f05400004f77faf7e00f7314000010c05003c0008435545490000000c0008435545490000000d0008435545490000000e0008435545490000000f000843554549000000100008435545490000001107632935

• show just the splice command

>>>> cue.command.show()
{
    "command_length": 15,
    "command_type": 5,
    "name": "Splice Insert",
    "break_auto_return": false,
    "break_duration": 180.0,
    "splice_event_id": 1073743095,
    "splice_event_cancel_indicator": false,
    "out_of_network_indicator": true,
    "program_splice_flag": false,
    "duration_flag": true,
    "splice_immediate_flag": false,
    "event_id_compliance_flag": true,
    "unique_program_id": 1,
    "avail_num": 12,
    "avails_expected": 5
}

• edit the break duration

>>>> cue.command.break_duration=30
>>>> cue.command.show()
{
    "command_length": 15,
    "command_type": 5,
    "name": "Splice Insert",
    "break_auto_return": false,
    "break_duration": 30,
    "splice_event_id": 1073743095,
    "splice_event_cancel_indicator": false,
    "out_of_network_indicator": true,
    "program_splice_flag": false,
    "duration_flag": true,
    "splice_immediate_flag": false,
    "event_id_compliance_flag": true,
    "unique_program_id": 1,
    "avail_num": 12,
    "avails_expected": 5
}

• re-encode to base64 with the new duration

>>>> cue.base64()
'/DBcAAAAAAAAAP/wDwVAAAT3f69+ACky4AABDAUAPAAIQ1VFSQAAAAwACENVRUkAAAANAAhDVUVJAAAADgAIQ1VFSQAAAA8ACENVRUkAAAAQAAhDVUVJAAAAEe1FB6g='

• re-encode to xml with the new duration

>>>> print(cue.xml())
<scte35:SpliceInfoSection xmlns:scte35="https://scte.org/schemas/35"  ptsAdjustment="0" protocolVersion="0" sapType="3" tier="4095">
   <scte35:SpliceInsert spliceEventId="1073743095" spliceEventCancelIndicator="false" spliceImmediateFlag="false" eventIdComplianceFlag="true" availNum="12" availsExpected="5" outOfNetworkIndicator="true" uniqueProgramId="1">
      <scte35:BreakDuration autoReturn="false" duration="2700000"/>
   </scte35:SpliceInsert>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="12"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="13"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="14"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="15"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="16"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="17"/>
</scte35:SpliceInfoSection>

• show just the descriptors

>>>> _ = [d.show() for d in cue.descriptors]
{
    "tag": 0,
    "identifier": "CUEI",
    "name": "Avail Descriptor",
    "provider_avail_id": 12,
    "descriptor_length": 8
}
{
    "tag": 0,
    "identifier": "CUEI",
    "name": "Avail Descriptor",
    "provider_avail_id": 13,
    "descriptor_length": 8
}
{
    "tag": 0,
    "identifier": "CUEI",
    "name": "Avail Descriptor",
    "provider_avail_id": 14,
    "descriptor_length": 8
}
{
    "tag": 0,
    "identifier": "CUEI",
    "name": "Avail Descriptor",
    "provider_avail_id": 15,
    "descriptor_length": 8
}
{
    "tag": 0,
    "identifier": "CUEI",
    "name": "Avail Descriptor",
    "provider_avail_id": 16,
    "descriptor_length": 8
}
{
    "tag": 0,
    "identifier": "CUEI",
    "name": "Avail Descriptor",
    "provider_avail_id": 17,
    "descriptor_length": 8
}

• pop off the last descriptor and re-encode to xml

>>>> cue.descriptors.pop()
{'tag': 0, 'identifier': 'CUEI', 'name': 'Avail Descriptor', 'private_data': None, 'provider_avail_id': 17, 'descriptor_length': 8}
>>>> print(cue.xml())
<scte35:SpliceInfoSection xmlns:scte35="https://scte.org/schemas/35"  ptsAdjustment="0" protocolVersion="0" sapType="3" tier="4095">
   <scte35:SpliceInsert spliceEventId="1073743095" spliceEventCancelIndicator="false" spliceImmediateFlag="false" eventIdComplianceFlag="true" availNum="12" availsExpected="5" outOfNetworkIndicator="true" uniqueProgramId="1">
      <scte35:BreakDuration autoReturn="false" duration="2700000"/>
   </scte35:SpliceInsert>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="12"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="13"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="14"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="15"/>
   <scte35:AvailDescriptor providerAvailId="16"/>
</scte35:SpliceInfoSection>

[ The Cli tool ]

The cli tool installs automatically with pip or the Makefile.

• SCTE-35 Inputs
• SCTE-35 Outputs
• Parse MPEGTS streams for SCTE-35
• Display MPEGTS iframes
• Display raw SCTE-35 packets from video streams

Inputs

• Most inputs are auto-detected.
• stdin is auto selected and auto detected.
• SCTE-35 data is printed to stderr
• stdout is used when piping video
• mpegts can be specified by file name or URI.

threefive udp://@235.2.5.35:3535

• If a file comtains a SCTE-35 cue as a string( base64,hex,int,json,or xml+bin), redirect the file contents.

  threefive < json.json  

• quoted strings(( base64,hex,int,json or xml+bin), can be passed directly on the command line as well.

threefive '/DAWAAAAAAAAAP/wBQb+ztd7owAAdIbbmw=='

Input Type	Cli Example
Base64	threefive '/DAsAAAAAyiYAP/wCgUAAAABf1+ZmQEBABECD0NVRUkAAAAAf4ABADUAAC2XQZU='
Hex	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fed605225b0000b0b65f3b
HLS	threefive hls https://example.com/master.m3u8
JSON	threefive < json.json
Xmlbin	js threefive < xmlbin.xml

Streams

Protocol	Cli Example
File	threefive video.ts
Http(s)	threefive https://example.com/video.ts
Stdin	threefive < video.ts
UDP Multicast	threefive udp://@235.35.3.5:9999
UDP Unicast	threefive udp://10.0.0.7:5555

Outputs

• output type is determined by the key words base64, bytes, hex, int, json, and xmlbin.
• json is the default.
• Any input can be returned as any output
  • examples Base64 to Hex etc...)

Output Type	Cli Example
Base 64	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fed605225b0000b0b65f3b base64
Bytes	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fed605225b0000b0b65f3b bytes
Hex	threefive '/DAsAAAAAyiYAP/wCgUAAAABf1+ZmQEBABECD0NVRUkAAAAAf4ABADUAAC2XQZU=' hex
Integer	threefive '/DAsAAAAAyiYAP/wCgUAAAABf1+ZmQEBABECD0NVRUkAAAAAf4ABADUAAC2XQZU=' int
JSON	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fed605225b0000b0b65f3b json
Xml+bin	threefive 0xfc301600000000000000fff00506fed605225b0000b0b65f3b xmlbin

---

Iframes

• Show iframes PTS in an MPEGTS video

threefive iframes https://example.com/video.ts

---

packets

• Print raw SCTE-35 packets from multicast mpegts video

threefive packets udp://@235.35.3.5:3535

---

proxy

• Parse a https stream and write raw video to stdout

threefive proxy video.ts

---

pts

• Print PTS from mpegts video

threefive pts video.ts

---

sidecar

• Parse a stream, write pts,write SCTE-35 Cues to sidecar.txt

threefive sidecar video.ts

---

show

• Probe mpegts video ( kind of like ffprobe )

 threefive show video.ts

---

version

• Show version

 threefive version

---

help

• Help

 threefive help

---

iodisco.com/scte35

---

Install |SCTE-35 Cli | Cue Class | Stream Class | Online SCTE-35 Parser | SCTE-35 Examples | SCTE-35 XML and More XML | threefive runs Four Times Faster on pypy3