Tool to download FC2 live streams

• Python 3.8
• ffmpeg

• 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

To install the latest stable version:

pip install --upgrade fc2-live-dl

To install the latest development version:

pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/HoloArchivists/fc2-live-dl.git#egg=fc2-live-dl

docker pull ghcr.io/holoarchivists/fc2-live-dl:latest

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]
                   [--wait-for-quality-timeout WAIT_FOR_QUALITY_TIMEOUT]
                   [--poll-interval POLL_INTERVAL]
                   [--log-level {silent,error,warn,info,debug,trace}]
                   [--trust-env-proxy] [--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.
  --wait-for-quality-timeout WAIT_FOR_QUALITY_TIMEOUT
                        If the requested quality is not available, keep
                        retrying up to this many seconds before falling back
                        to the next best quality. Default is 15 seconds.
  --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.
  --trust-env-proxy     Trust environment variables for proxy settings.
  --dump-websocket      Dump all websocket communication to a file for
                        debugging

To use a HTTP proxy, pass the --trust-env-proxy flag and set your proxy settings in the HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, WS_PROXY or WSS_PROXY environment variables. If not present, proxy settings are taken from the ~/.netrc file.

For more information, check aiohttp's documentation.

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:

{
  "autofc2": {
    "log_level": "info"
  },
  "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_for_quality_timeout": 15,
    "wait_poll_interval": 5,
    "cookies_file": null,
    "remux": true,
    "keep_intermediates": false,
    "extract_audio": true,
    "trust_env_proxy": false
  },
  "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).

You can run autofc2 using the Docker image by mounting your config json and your output directory, as well as overriding the default cmd with autofc2 like so:

# The following mounts `./autofc2.json` into the correct location in the docker
# container, as well as an `/recordings` folder for the recordings. You'll need to
# set the `outtmpl` to something like `/recordings/%(channel_name)s ...`
docker run --rm \
  -v $(pwd)/autofc2.json:/app/autofc2.json:ro \
  -v $(pwd)/recordings:/recordings \
  ghcr.io/holoarchivists/fc2-live-dl:latest \
  autofc2 --config /app/autofc2.json

The above command runs the container in the foreground. If you want it to keep running in the background, you can replace the --rm flag with -d.

⚠️ IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you set your outtmpl properly to match the bind mounts (-v), and test that the files are properly saved to your computer. You will lose your recordings if you don't configure this properly!

You can also use docker-compose to keep your config in a single file:

• Download the docker-compose.autofc2.yml file into some folder, and name it docker-compose.yml.

• Place your autofc2.json in the same folder and modify the outtmpl so it starts with /recordings/:

  "outtmpl": "/recordings/%(channel_name)s %(_en_name)s/%(date)s %(title)s.%(ext)s"
  

• Run it!

  # Prepare the recordings directory with the right permissions
  mkdir ./recordings && chown 1000:1000 ./recordings
  
  # Run the thing
  docker-compose up -d
  
  # Check the logs
  docker-compose logs -f
  
  # If you wanna kill it
  docker-compose down

• 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.

• Tested to work under Linux. It should work on Windows, but no guarantees. If you're facing any issues on Windows, please file an issue.
• 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.