How to Download RTMP Streaming Videos?

If you’d like to download RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol) / RTMPS (RTMP over TLS/SSL) / RTMPE (RTMP Encrypted using a security mechanism developed by Adobe) streaming videos on your computer, then let’s check out in this post how to do so?

Note: RTMP streaming videos are also known as VOD (Video on Demand) streaming videos. Certain websites on the internet also use this protocol to connect 2 or more person via a webcam.

Before we go further into the details of this post, first we need to find a test webpage that is streaming a video using real time messaging protocol. Head over to THIS PAGE on the official site of JW Player and you will be able to find your test RTMP streaming video (MP4 loaded over both RTMP and HTTP).

Download streaming videos using VLC Media Player

VLC Media Player is a great tool for Windows, Mac and Linux based computers that allows you to download various types of videos that are streaming over a network. Follow these steps in order to download RTMP streaming videos using VLC:

1. Before we download a streaming video using VLC, we need to find its streaming URL. For this open the source of THIS WEBPAGE using CTRL+U in your web browser. Now look for any URL that starts with rtmp://, rtmps:// or rtmpe:// – You may want to use the inbuilt Find Function (CTRL+F) in your browser:

If you are able to find a URL which starts with rtmp://, rtmps:// or rtmpe://, then copy the URL into your clipboard and head over to the next step.

2. Open VLC Media Player on your computer >> click on Media and then click on Open Network Stream or press CTRL+N:

A new Open Media Window will pop-up on your screen. On this screen head over to the Network tab and paste the copied URL in Please enter a network URL field. Click on Play button and if the streaming URL is valid then VLC will start playing the video instantly.

Note: If the video URL is invalid then you will get following message in VLC:

Your input can’t be opened: VLC is unable to open the MRL ‘<VIDEO URL>’. Check the log for details.

3. When the video stream is successfully playing in VLC, right click anywhere in the video window and then click on Record:

VLC will now start recording your streaming video until you hit the STOP button or the stream itself ends from the source server.

4. When you click on the STOP button or the stream ends from the source, VLC will save the recorded video file on your machine. To know the location of your recorded file folder, click on Tools >> Preferences >> Input/Codecs and look for the field which says Record Directory or file name:

As per my best knowledge the saved video file will either be in .mp4 or .flv format. Feel free to check out this video file that was streaming over RTMP recorded using VLC media player – Keep in mind that you will notice audio lag and pixelation in this video because it was recorded using a very slow connection. If you have a very fast connection then you won’t face lag/pixelation problem in your recorded video file.