The Stream Detector: detect and copy Stream URLs for use in other programs

The Stream Detector is a browser extension for Mozilla's Firefox web browser that lists stream URLs that it detects on pages in its interface. These URLs can be copied directly or copied as ready made commands for tools such as yt-dlp or FFmpeg.

Using the application is simple and straightforward. Just install the extension in Firefox to get started. It adds an icon to Firefox's main toolbar that highlights available streams and provides interaction options when it is activated by the user.

In best case, all it takes is to click on the icon of the extension and click on one of the streams to copy its full URL; this alone may be useful, for instance to copy an audio or video stream for use in another application.

The default option copies the regular URL of the stream, but you may change that by using the Copy stream URL as menu.

Kodi URLs can be copied, and you may also copy ready-made commands for popular applications such as yt-dlp, Streamlink, or FFmpeg.

The extension supports several stream formats according to the description:

This addon provides an easy way to keep track of M3U8/MPD/F4M/ISM playlists and VTT/SRT/TTML/TTML2/DFXP subtitles used by Apple HLS, Adobe HDS, MPEG-DASH, and Microsoft Smooth Streaming streams.

The main menu that is displayed when you click on the extension's icon in the Firefox toolbar, displays other options. By default, only the streams found on the active tab are listed. You may switch to an all tabs listing or a previous session listing.

A filter option is provided to quickly find a specific stream on the page, and to copy all URLs in one operation.

The options of the extension list more than a dozen customization preferences.

Here you can change the default click action, e.g. from copying the URL to copying a command for one of the supported applications.

Other options include adding custom commands, if supported, using a HTTP proxy server or external download manager, or using the tab titles as filenames for the output files.

Twitter and Facebook are blacklisted by the extension by default, and the developer notes that the extension may not work on major sites because of the use of proprietary technologies.

Closing Words

The Stream Detector is a helper extension that lists detected streams. Users who use download applications to download these streams, and users who need the stream URL to play it in other applications, may find this extension for Firefox useful.

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