It displays quality levels (resolution, bandwidth, codec, frame rate), audio tracks (language, codec), subtitle tracks, segment count and duration, target duration, and encryption/DRM information. For master playlists, you see the full adaptive bitrate ladder.
Free HLS Stream Analyzer & M3U8 Inspector
Paste an M3U8 URL. The manifest is fetched and read in your browser, and nothing is sent to a server.
What it reads
Paste a URL. The manifest is fetched and parsed in your browser, then laid out in full: every rendition with its bandwidth and resolution, the codecs declared for each one, audio tracks, subtitle tracks, segment timing. A master playlist lists the variants. A media playlist lists the segments for one variant. This follows the first into the second.
What the results tell you
One rendition means no adaptive ladder. A weak connection has nothing to fall back to, so it stalls. Renditions bunched at similar bitrates are worse than useless: they cost encoding time without widening the range that matters. And a declared codec the target device cannot decode gives you audio over a black frame, which is the failure people most often misread as a dead link.
Segment duration is the other one to watch. Long segments raise latency. Very short ones multiply requests until the overhead itself becomes the problem, which on a mobile connection arrives sooner than most people expect. If the manifest will not load at all, that is a different question and the stream checker answers it faster. No URL to hand? Take one of the HLS test streams.
Frequently Asked Questions
What information does the HLS analyzer show?
Does this work with DASH streams too?
This tool is specifically designed for HLS/M3U8 streams. For DASH (.mpd) streams, the stream checker tool can verify if the URL is accessible and responding.
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