How to download a RTMP Stream to a local FLV file using RTMPDump for Mac
Let’s say you are using a Mac and would like to download an online video stream of a live concert and save it as a .FLV file. Usually, these files are in a rtmp://<PATH TO FILE>.mp4 format.
Here is a quick guide to help you do that:
1. Download RMTPDump for Mac OSX 10.7 (other versions can be found here).
2. Extract the rtmpdump binary file from the zip and move it into the /Applications folder
3. Next you will need to find the exact URL of the stream to download. An easy way to find it is by looking for a Share/”Embed” option near the video you are watching. Copy and Paste the entire embed code block into a text editor and search for “rmtp”. Once you find it, copy the entire file path to the clipboard/text file. For example: rtmp://cp100692.edgefcs.net/ondemand/mp4:hd/0712/1207121820_final_eifo_hayeled_768Kbps_360p.mp4
4. Now open a Terminal and run the following command:
/Applications/rtmpdump -r "<PATH TO STREAM FILE>" -W "http://media.kelbymediagroup.com/players/player-4.6-licensed.swf" -o <OUTPUT FILENAME>.flv
For example – here’s how I grabbed a concert of the Eifo Hayeled rock band:
/Applications/rtmpdump -r "rtmp://cp100692.edgefcs.net/ondemand/mp4:hd/0712/1207121820_final_eifo_hayeled_768Kbps_360p.mp4" -W "http://media.kelbymediagroup.com/players/player-4.6-licensed.swf" -o ./Eifo_Hayeled_2012_Reunion.flv
The process should take a few minutes depending on the size of the stream file and your internet connection speed.
5. Finally, you will find a local copy of the stream as an .flv file that can be played using VLC
