# How to get proper M3U8 URL for live RTSP stream **URL:** \ **Category:** Wowza Streaming Engine\ **Created:** [July 16, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031 "2013-07-16T12:36:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lukasz\_Skalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aca169/32.png) [@Lukasz\_Skalka](https://community.wowza.com/u/Lukasz_Skalka)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/1 "2013-07-16T12:36:32Z")
Hello, I am re-streaming RTSP as RTMP (on Desktop) and HLS (on iOS). The files I am serving from are in my **content** dir, and they are in the format **file.stream** and contain the direct RTPS stream to source. I am trying to get re-stream to iOS, and trying to get the m3u8 file. However, the content of the file I am getting is: ```auto #EXTM3U #EXT-X-VERSION:3 #EXT-X-STREAM-INF:PROGRAM-ID=1,BANDWIDTH=250000 chunklist.m3u8?wowzasessionid=1189537797 ``` And this does not play. The above strikes me as missing crucial information (codec, resolution, etc) I am getting the m3u8 file at the following url: \//source\_a.stream/playlist.m3u8 Is this the correct URL to grab the m3u8 file from? ---
**Author:** ![Matt\_Young](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.wowza.com/matt_young/32/389_2.png) [@Matt\_Young](https://community.wowza.com/u/Matt_Young)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 2:56pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/2 "2013-07-16T14:56:13Z")
You might try the following: ```auto http://[wowza-ip]:[port]/[application]/_definst_/source_a.stream/playlist.m3u8 ``` ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Lanham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Richard\_Lanham](https://community.wowza.com/u/Richard_Lanham)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/3 "2013-07-16T21:13:39Z")
What you show is what you would expect in a browser from a playlist.m3u8 url. You can also look at the chunklist.m3u8 To play a HLS stream you need to put the playlist.m3u8 url in a browser on the device. You can also use VLC to test. For iOS playback, it is best to use the playlist.m3u8 url in a HTML5 video tag: ```auto cupertinostreaming ``` Richard ---
**Author:** ![Lukasz\_Skalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/aca169/32.png) [@Lukasz\_Skalka](https://community.wowza.com/u/Lukasz_Skalka)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 2:42pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/4 "2013-07-16T14:42:34Z")
> What you show is what you would expect in a browser from a playlist.m3u8 url. You can also look at the chunklist.m3u8 > > To play a HLS stream you need to put the playlist.m3u8 url in a browser on the device. You can also use VLC to test. > > For iOS playback, it is best to use the playlist.m3u8 url in a HTML5 video tag: > > Hmmm, but if I open apple’s test m3u8 ([http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/samples/bipbop/bipbopall.m3u8](http://devimages.apple.com/iphone/samples/bipbop/bipbopall.m3u8)) I do see more information. More, if I hit a “wrong” URL on my wowza server (one that points to content that does not exists), I get the same file. > > In any case, I got the issue resolved. There were two issues: > > 1. The m3u8 was not publishing the codec information. Adding the **cupertinoCalculateCodecs** and **cupertinoCalculateResolution** properties resolved this. Thanks for that pointer! > > 2. Since this is a live stream (re-stream from RTSP source), the stream itself needs to be running first, before there will be anything in the m3u8 file. I had to manually start the stream first, then the m3u8 would have the correct information, and it will work in iOS. ---
**Author:** ![sal\_jefferson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sal\_jefferson](https://community.wowza.com/u/sal_jefferson)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/5 "2013-07-16T14:03:11Z")
You can add codec and metadata to the IOS stream like this: [How to add resolution and codec metadata to iOS streams](https://www.wowza.com/docs/how-to-add-resolution-and-codec-metadata-to-ios-streams) Salvadore ---
**Author:** ![John\_Anderson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e68b1a/32.png) [@John\_Anderson](https://community.wowza.com/u/John_Anderson)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/6 "2013-07-16T16:27:44Z")
I need an answer to the same question. If you put the URL in VLC it will work. But if you put the URL in the browser and it open the playlist.m3u8 file with VLC then VLC fails because it doesn’t know the server information. Codec and metadata are not the issue. John ---
**Author:** ![tintu\_monkb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9d8465/32.png) [@tintu\_monkb](https://community.wowza.com/u/tintu_monkb)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2013, 11:30am UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/7 "2013-11-17T11:30:54Z")
hey i just want to convert rtsp to m3u8. can you help me, this is the url i want to convert to m3u8 rtsp://85.25.199.31:1935/rtp-live/starcric.stream ---
**Author:** ![hunsel\_hunsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c2a13f/32.png) [@hunsel\_hunsel](https://community.wowza.com/u/hunsel_hunsel)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://community.wowza.com/t/how-to-get-proper-m3u8-url-for-live-rtsp-stream/37031/8 "2018-10-22T16:51:05Z")
hello can someone tell me how can i add my m3u or m3u8 to wowza engine and then embed the code into my website? i have m3u/m3u8 channels as url in my pc… i want to stream into my worldpress website