HLS Output — Generate a custom HLS streaming link for your channel

The HLS Output feature lets you generate a custom HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) link for your entire channel — a single .m3u8 URL that plays your channel's scheduled program through any HLS-compatible player. Each link is keyed to a timezone so the schedule plays correctly for that region.

Use HLS links when you want to play your channel content somewhere outside the Fluger player — in a custom embed, a smart TV app, an IPTV player, or any third-party tool that consumes HLS streams.

When you'd use this

  • Custom video players — Video.js, Plyr, JW Player, Bitmovin, Shaka Player. Pass the HLS URL and the channel just plays.
  • Smart TV apps without a Fluger app — IPTV players and smart-TV apps that accept HLS URLs can play your channel.
  • Third-party platforms — many news, education, and enterprise platforms accept HLS sources directly.
  • Per-region scheduling — if you serve audiences in multiple timezones, create one link per timezone so each region sees your schedule shifted correctly.
  • Testing and debugging — VLC, ffplay, and most diagnostic tools can play HLS URLs directly.

If you just want to embed your channel on your own website, you don't need this — use the Embed channel option instead, which gives you a turn-key iframe.

What you'll need

  • A channel with content (videos and/or a schedule). HLS links generate from your channel's programming.
  • A few seconds to pick a name and timezone for each link.

Step 1 — Open the HLS Output dialog

Open your channel from My Channels. In the channel sidebar on the left, click HLS Output. The HLS Links dialog opens.

If you haven't created any HLS links yet, the dialog shows an empty state with a form to create your first one. If you've created links before, they appear in a table at the top, and the form is below it for adding more.

Step 2 — Create a link

In the form, fill in:

  • Link title — a short name for this link, just for your reference. For example: "US East feed", "Europe feed", "Marketing site embed".
  • Select timezone — the timezone the schedule should play in for this link. Pick the timezone that matches your audience. Fluger supports timezones from US/Samoa (GMT -11) through NZ (GMT 12).

Click Create Link. Fluger generates a unique HLS URL and adds it to the table at the top of the dialog.

HLS Links dialog with a created link 'My HLS Link' in GMT -5 timezone, copy and delete icons, and a form below to create more

Step 3 — Copy and use the link

Each row in the table shows the link's Title and Timezone, plus two action icons:

  • Copy — copies the HLS URL to your clipboard so you can paste it into your destination tool
  • Delete — removes the link permanently. The HLS URL stops working immediately.

Paste the URL into your player's stream source field, your IPTV app, your custom embed, or wherever else accepts an HLS source.

Multiple links per channel

You can create as many HLS links as you need. Common reasons to have more than one:

  • Different timezones for different audiences — one link for US East, one for Europe, one for Asia. Each plays the schedule shifted for the region.
  • Different distribution channels — one link for your own website embed, another for a partner's player, so you can track or revoke each separately.
  • Test vs. production — keep a "test" link you can give to QA, and a "production" link for the public.

Troubleshooting

  • "My external player just shows a black screen with the HLS URL." Some players need an explicit MIME type. Try passing application/vnd.apple.mpegurl as the content type if your player asks for it. Also confirm the player supports HLS — older players may need a polyfill like hls.js.
  • "The URL works in VLC but not in my browser." Browsers vary. Chrome, Firefox, and Safari all play HLS natively on Mac/iOS. On other browsers you may need hls.js in your custom player.
  • "The link plays the wrong time slot." The HLS link plays your channel's schedule shifted to the link's timezone. If you set the timezone to GMT 0 but your viewers are in GMT -5, they'll see programming five hours offset. Create a separate link in their timezone, or change the link's timezone.
  • "I want to embed my channel as a webpage, not a raw stream." HLS URLs are raw video streams, not full webpages. For an iframe embed, use the Embed channel code instead.
  • "My HLS URL stopped working." Check that the channel itself hasn't been disabled or deleted. If you deleted the link from this dialog, it stops working immediately — you'd need to create a new one.
  • "Can I get an HLS URL for a live RTMP stream?" Yes — once a live RTMP stream is being ingested into the channel, it plays through the same HLS link your channel uses. See Live Streaming with RTMP for the live setup.

Related

Still stuck? Contact our support team — we'll walk you through it.