M3U8 Cross-Origin Proxy Server

A lightweight proxy server for bypassing CORS restrictions when streaming M3U8 content.

Features

• Proxy M3U8 playlist files with rewritten URLs
• Proxy TS segment files
• Automatic URL resolution and rewriting
• CORS headers support
• Custom headers support
• Domain-specific header templates for anti-hotlinking bypass
• TS segment caching with cache control headers
• Dynamic header assignment based on request domains
• Error handling

Installation

1. Clone the repository
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

Configuration

Create a .env file with the following variables:

HOST=localhost
PORT=3000
PUBLIC_URL=http://localhost:3000
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://example.com,https://another-domain.com

Usage

Start the server:

npm start

For development with auto-restart:

npm run dev

API Endpoints

M3U8 Proxy

GET /proxy?url={m3u8_url}&headers={optional_headers}

Parameters:

• url (required): The URL of the M3U8 playlist
• headers (optional): JSON-encoded headers to send with the request

TS Segment Proxy

GET /ts-proxy?url={segment_url}&headers={optional_headers}

Parameters:

• url (required): The URL of the TS segment
• headers (optional): JSON-encoded headers to send with the request

Example Usage

To proxy an M3U8 playlist:

http://localhost:3000/proxy?url=https://example.com/playlist.m3u8

To proxy an M3U8 playlist with custom headers:

http://localhost:3000/proxy?url=https://example.com/playlist.m3u8&headers={"Authorization":"Bearer token"}

Domain-Specific Headers

The proxy automatically applies domain-specific headers to bypass anti-hotlinking protections. These headers are defined in domainTemplates.js and include:

• User-Agent strings specific to each domain
• Accept headers that match typical browser requests
• Origin and Referer headers that match the domain
• Other domain-specific headers required for access

The system automatically detects the domain from the URL and applies the appropriate headers. Custom headers provided via the headers parameter will be merged with the domain-specific headers.

Caching

TS segments are cached in memory for 5 minutes to improve performance and reduce redundant network requests. Cached responses include appropriate cache control headers for client-side caching.

Cache headers:

• X-Cache: HIT - Response was served from cache
• X-Cache: MISS - Response was fetched from the origin server

Docker

You can also run this proxy server using Docker:

1. Build the Docker image:

   docker build -t m3u8-proxy .

2. Run the container:

   docker run -p 3000:3000 -e HOST=0.0.0.0 -e PORT=3000 m3u8-proxy

3. Or run with custom environment variables:

   docker run -p 3000:3000 -e HOST=0.0.0.0 -e PORT=3000 -e ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://yourdomain.com m3u8-proxy

How It Works

1. The M3U8 proxy fetches the playlist and rewrites all URLs to point back to this proxy server
2. When a player requests a segment, it goes through the TS proxy
3. All requests include proper CORS headers

License

MIT