Repository: youtube-dl
Issue: BBC iPlayer 1080p video=12000000.m3u8
Labels: question

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I've discovered that modifying the playlist download URL for BBC iPlayer from

...-video=5070000.m3u8...

to

-video=12000000.m3u8

will give you access to BBC iPlayer content in 1080p50! I discovered this through this post:

https://www.avforums.com/threads/is-there-a-way-to-get-iplayer-content-in-1080p.2319869/post-29211339

Not sure how the poster discovered this and not sure whether this is hidden from known media selectors etc. But please consider how this can be incorporated into youtube-dl or please help describing how I can experiment with customizing the Python code myself.

Example BBC iPlayer URL that works:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0010s0w/panorama-online-abuse-why-do-you-hate-me

get-iplayer finds the following playlist URL:

https://vod-hls-uk.live.cf.md.bbci.co.uk/usp/auth/vod/piff_abr_full_hd/e87ac8-m0010s0v/vf_m0010s0v_d284745f-0e70-4763-a378-3c78576b7a97.ism.hlsv2.ism/vf_m0010s0v_d284745f-0e70-4763-a378-3c78576b7a97.ism.hlsv2-audio_eng_1=128000-video=5070000.m3u8?Expires=1634646622&Signature=j74cyVi0oOcLvl74uJJDTiMcPaZqB1AuiRAMqPiKi2Kar-q7hI5AUokDlQb~fVB8mGu3OjqYBy4SWHnCGbTHH7FyYTaq7F6kJhG2hEU8LRE-RLB~aoqkZcELUw4KYZj7HF8Odcel6ofsYYYtQK2aPctmOnIeJot6M-kQeC2JrtTqj6ZNR2ISmq9LwOeuEx1t5cLN-R6LwvpYCAYwBeFlNPWkXpE8wAcvQI-jI~cLO0tZRnG~hULShJBnG83mMheyBaf2h6CqnAgWIhugT0O2Jzfw3NbDstfq-5INZRGWHe1iIumxQNjK5Vi1NgOempm098mLQC12qq8GNHjXNW-TLQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K2VWLYKQ4HU1FJ

The standard 720p content in .mp4 downloaded with get-iplayer is 1.01GB, ffprobe shows:

Duration: 00:28:59.69, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 5037 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 1280x720 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 4895 kb/s, 50 fps, 50 tbr, 90k tbn, 100 tbc (default)
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 125 kb/s (default)

The modified playlist URL for 1080p is:

https://vod-hls-uk.live.cf.md.bbci.co.uk/usp/auth/vod/piff_abr_full_hd/e87ac8-m0010s0v/vf_m0010s0v_d284745f-0e70-4763-a378-3c78576b7a97.ism.hlsv2.ism/vf_m0010s0v_d284745f-0e70-4763-a378-3c78576b7a97.ism.hlsv2-audio_eng_1=128000-video=12000000.m3u8?Expires=1634646622&Signature=j74cyVi0oOcLvl74uJJDTiMcPaZqB1AuiRAMqPiKi2Kar-q7hI5AUokDlQb~fVB8mGu3OjqYBy4SWHnCGbTHH7FyYTaq7F6kJhG2hEU8LRE-RLB~aoqkZcELUw4KYZj7HF8Odcel6ofsYYYtQK2aPctmOnIeJot6M-kQeC2JrtTqj6ZNR2ISmq9LwOeuEx1t5cLN-R6LwvpYCAYwBeFlNPWkXpE8wAcvQI-jI~cLO0tZRnG~hULShJBnG83mMheyBaf2h6CqnAgWIhugT0O2Jzfw3NbDstfq-5INZRGWHe1iIumxQNjK5Vi1NgOempm098mLQC12qq8GNHjXNW-TLQ__&Key-Pair-Id=K2VWLYKQ4HU1FJ

The 1080p version in .mp4 downloaded with youtube-dl using the modified playlist URL is 1.79GB, ffprobe shows:

  Duration: 00:28:59.69, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 8882 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 8742 kb/s, 50 fps, 50 tbr, 90k tbn, 100 tbc (default)
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 125 kb/s (default)