RTMPDUMP(1)

rtmpdump 💖 — the RTMP streaming media client, straight out of the General Commands Manual, section 1 (RTMPDUMP(1)). bestie, if you've ever needed to yank a stream off an RTMP server, this is the girl. ok so let's get into it 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

rtmpdump — RTMP streaming media client. that's literally the whole vibe. she dumps media streamed over RTMP. periodt. ✨

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

rtmpdump -r url [-n hostname] [-c port] [-l protocol] [-S host:port]
[-a app] [-t tcUrl] [-p pageUrl] [-s swfUrl] [-f flashVer] [-u auth]
[-C conndata] [-y playpath] [-Y] [-v] [-d subscription] [-e] [-k skip]
[-A start] [-B stop] [-b buffer] [-m timeout] [-T key] [-j JSON]
[-w swfHash] [-x swfSize] [-W swfUrl] [-X swfAge] [-o output] [-#] [-q]
[-V] [-z]
rtmpdump -h

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

rtmpdump is a tool for dumping media content streamed over RTMP. no cap, that's the whole personality.

So here's what she does: she makes a connection to the RTMP server you point her at, and plays the media specified by the url you give her. that url should look like this:

rtmp[t][e]://hostname[:port][/app[/playpath]]

and the range?? plain rtmp, tunneled sessions, AND encrypted sessions — all supported. she's flexible like that 🫶

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👑 OPTIONS 👑

🌐 Network Parameters

these options define how to connect to the media server. the "who am i knocking on the door of" section, basically.

• --rtmp, -r url — URL of the server and media content. the main character of the whole command, fr.
• --host, -n hostname — Overrides the hostname in the RTMP URL. like, "no bestie, we're going here actually."
• --port, -c port — Overrides the port number in the RTMP URL.
• --protocol, -l number — Overrides the protocol in the RTMP URL. the numbers are:

0 = rtmp
1 = rtmpt
2 = rtmpe
3 = rtmpte
4 = rtmps
5 = rtmpts

• --socks, -S host:port — Use the specified SOCKS4 proxy. sneaking through the side door, iconic.

🔌 Connection Parameters

these options define the content of the RTMP Connect request packet. and bestie, listen — if correct values are not provided, the media server will reject the connection attempt. she will simply not let you in. 💀

• --app, -a app — Name of application to connect to on the RTMP server. Overrides the app in the RTMP URL. Sometimes the rtmpdump URL parser cannot determine the app name automatically, so it must be given explicitly using this option. the parser is doing her best, ok, sometimes you gotta help her out.
• --tcUrl, -t url — URL of the target stream. Defaults to rtmp[e]://host[:port]/app/playpath.
• --pageUrl, -p url — URL of the web page in which the media was embedded. By default no value will be sent. silence. mystery. 💅
• --swfUrl, -s url — URL of the SWF player for the media. By default no value will be sent.
• --flashVer, -f version — Version of the Flash plugin used to run the SWF player. The default is "LNX 10,0,32,18".
• --auth, -u string — An authentication string to be appended to the Connect message. Using this option will append a Boolean TRUE and then the specified string. This option is only used by some particular servers and is deprecated. The more general --conn option should be used instead.

ngl, skip this one if you can. she's old. use --conn. it's giving legacy behaviour 🙈

• --conn, -C type:data — Append arbitrary AMF data to the Connect message. The type must be B for Boolean, N for number, S for string, O for object, or Z for null. For Booleans the data must be either 0 or 1 for FALSE or TRUE, respectively. Likewise for Objects the data must be 0 or 1 to end or begin an object, respectively. Data items in subobjects may be named, by prefixing the type with 'N' and specifying the name before the value, e.g. NB:myFlag:1. This option may be used multiple times to construct arbitrary AMF sequences. E.g.

-C B:1 -C S:authMe -C O:1 -C NN:code:1.23 -C NS:flag:ok -C O:0

like, stack them, chain them, build your little AMF tower. slay ✨

⏯️ Session Parameters

these options take effect after the Connect request has succeeded. we got in, now what.

• --playpath, -y path — Overrides the playpath parsed from the RTMP URL. Sometimes the rtmpdump URL parser cannot determine the correct playpath automatically, so it must be given explicitly using this option. again — parser tries her best, you fill in the gaps 🫶
• --playlist, -Y — Issue a set_playlist command before sending the play command. The playlist will just contain the current playpath.
• --live, -v — Specify that the media is a live stream. No resuming or seeking in live streams is possible. it's happening now, bestie, you can't rewind the moment 😭
• --subscribe, -d stream — Name of live stream to subscribe to. Defaults to playpath.
• --realtime, -R — Download approximately in realtime, without attempting to speed up via Pause/Unpause commands ("the BUFX hack"). Useful for servers that jump backwards in time at the Unpause command. Resuming and seeking in realtime streams is still possible. so yes, you can still seek here. iconic. ⭐
• --resume, -e — Resume an incomplete RTMP download. we finish what we started 💅
• --skip, -k num — Skip num keyframes when looking for the last keyframe from which to resume. This may be useful if a regular attempt to resume fails. The default is 0.
• --start, -A num — Start at num seconds into the stream. Not valid for live streams.
• --stop, -B num — Stop at num seconds into the stream.
• --buffer, -b num — Set buffer time to num milliseconds. The default is 36000000. yeah, that's a lot of milliseconds. she's not shy.
• --timeout, -m num — Timeout the session after num seconds without receiving any data from the server. The default is 120.

🔐 Security Parameters

these options handle additional authentication requests from the server. the "prove you're allowed to be here" section.

• --token, -T key — Key for SecureToken response, used if the server requires SecureToken authentication.
• --jtv, -j JSON — JSON token used by legacy Justin.tv servers. Invokes NetStream.Authenticate.UsherToken. (legacy servers, we love a throwback 💜)
• --swfhash, -w hexstring — SHA256 hash of the decompressed SWF file. This option may be needed if the server uses SWF Verification, but see the --swfVfy option below. The hash is 32 bytes, and must be given in hexadecimal. The --swfsize option must always be used with this option.
• --swfsize, -x num — Size of the decompressed SWF file. This option may be needed if the server uses SWF Verification, but see the --swfVfy option below. The --swfhash option must always be used with this option.

these two are a package deal, bestie. they do not go anywhere without each other. 🎀

• --swfVfy, -W url — URL of the SWF player for this media. This option replaces all three of the --swfUrl, --swfhash, and --swfsize options. When this option is used, the SWF player is retrieved from the specified URL and the hash and size are computed automatically. Also the information is cached in a .swfinfo file in the user's home directory, so that it doesn't need to be retrieved and recalculated every time rtmpdump is run. The .swfinfo file records the URL, the time it was fetched, the modification timestamp of the SWF file, its size, and its hash. By default, the cached info will be used for 30 days before re-checking. she remembers things so you don't have to, queen behaviour 👑
• --swfAge, -X days — Specify how many days to use the cached SWF info before re-checking. Use 0 to always check the SWF URL. Note that if the check shows that the SWF file has the same modification timestamp as before, it will not be retrieved again.

🎁 Miscellaneous

the extras. the little sprinkles on top. 🍓

• --flv, -o output — Specify the output file name. If the name is - or is omitted, the stream is written to stdout. pipe it, redirect it, live your truth.
• --hashes, -# — Display streaming progress with a hash mark for each 1% of progress, instead of a byte counter.
• --quiet, -q — Suppress all command output. shhh. 🤫
• --verbose, -V — Verbose command output.
• --debug, -z — Debug level output. Extremely verbose, including hex dumps of all packet data. like, extremely. hex dumps of literally all of it. 💀
• --help, -h — Print a summary of command options.

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🚪 EXIT STATUS 🚪

the "how did it go" report card:

• 0 — Successful program execution. ate and left no crumbs 💅
• 1 — Unrecoverable error. 😭
• 2 — Incomplete transfer, resuming may get further. so close bestie, try --resume

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🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• HOME — The value of $HOME is used as the location for the .swfinfo file.

📁 FILES 📁

• $HOME/.swfinfo — Cache of SWF Verification information.

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• rtmpgw(8)

💖 AUTHORS 💖

Andrej Stepanchuk, Howard Chu, The Flvstreamer Team <http://rtmpdump.mplayerhq.hu>

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okay that's the whole page, bestie, you're fully caught up. this was RTMPDump v2.4, dated 2012-07-24, and yeah — she's been iconic since way before you got here 🦋✨ thank you for coming to my ted talk, mwah 💋