E2iPlayer can download videos to your HDD/USB stick with its built-in download manager (DM), to watch them later or use them with a media server (Plex, Jellyfin, Kodi, …).

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1. In a host, select a video (or audio) item.
2. Press GREEN (Download). GREEN is only shown for items that can be downloaded.
3. If the item has several links, the Select link list opens. Pick a mirror, just like for playback.
4. The item is added to the queue. By default the download manager opens right away (Show download manager after adding new item); otherwise you get "File [...] was added to downloading queue."

Before adding, E2iPlayer checks the downloads folder:

• If it doesn't exist or is not on a real drive, you are asked to choose a folder.
• At least 1.5 GB free space is required. Otherwise you get "There is no enough free space in the folder …".

Many items at once: BLUE → Download all items of this page, or mark rows with BLUE → Select and choose Download marked items (n). See Batch download below.

From a running video: if a video plays in buffering mode, press RECORD (or MENU → Stop playback with buffer save in the external player). The part that is already buffered is moved to the download manager and the download continues there.

• On the E2iPlayer home screen: YELLOW (Download manager), or BLUE (More) → Download manager.
• Inside a host: BLUE → Download manager.
• From your PC: the web interface has the same download manager.

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The header shows Manager status: STARTED or STOPPED.

Key	Function
OK	Opens the Select action menu for the selected item (see below).
GREEN	Start / Stop the queue. Stop also stops all running downloads.
YELLOW	Switch between Downloads (the queue) and Archive (video and audio files already in the downloads folder, also .mp3 and .aac).
RED	Enable reordering / Disable reordering. Only available while the manager is stopped and the queue is shown.
BLUE	Find item: type part of a file name. One match jumps to it, several matches open a list. Shown when the list has more than one entry.
1–9	Jump to the first file starting with that letter (T9, like on a phone). Can be switched off with T9 letter jump in lists.
UP / DOWN	Move the selection.
EXIT	Close the screen. Downloads continue in the background.

Status	Meaning
PENDING	Waiting in the queue.
Loading	Batch download: the links of this item are being looked up.
DOWNLOADING	Running. The row shows size (or duration for streams), percent and speed.
DOWNLOADED	Finished.
ABORTED	Stopped before the end (by you, or the connection broke). The partial file stays on disk.
DOWNLOAD ERROR	Failed. For an item of a batch download the row says why (no valid links, captcha needed, host error, timeout, …).

Each row also shows which downloader is used, e.g. [wget] or [hlsdl m3u8].

What you can do depends on the status:

Status	Options
Pending	Promote item (moves it to the top of the queue), Remove item
Downloading	Play with [...] player, Stop downloading
Loading (batch)	Stop downloading: gives up the lookup, the item ends as DOWNLOAD ERROR ("Cancelled.")
Downloaded	Play with [...] player, Remove file, Rename file, Download again
Aborted	Play with [...] player, Continue downloading (wget, curl and hlsdl, see below), Download again, Remove file
Download error	Download again, Remove file (a batch item that never got a file: Remove item)
Archive	Play with [...] player, Remove file, Rename file

• Play with [...] player: two entries, your first and second player (see Playback and subtitles). With Automatically turn on external subtitles (external movie player config), a subtitle file with the same name next to the video (.srt, .vtt, …) is loaded automatically.
• Remove file: deletes the video and its sidecar files (.txt, .jpg) and .iptv.cmd file.
• Rename file: renames the video; its .txt/.jpg files are renamed as well.
• Download again: starts again from the beginning (an old hlsdl resume file is removed first).
• Stop downloading: ends the download right away (for wget, curl and hlsdl the tool itself is ended, so nothing is written to the file afterwards). The item becomes ABORTED and the partial file stays.

1. Stop the manager (GREEN → Stop).
2. Press RED (Enable reordering).
3. Select a pending item and press OK. It is picked up and shown as >> name << (MOVING).
4. Move it with UP / DOWN and press OK again to drop it.
5. RED again (or GREEN Start) ends reordering.

Only pending items can be moved. For a single item, Promote item is quicker.

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In a host list (or inside a favourites group):

• BLUE → Download all items of this page takes all downloadable rows of the current page. You are asked "Add n items to the download queue?".
• BLUE → Select (or Select all), mark rows with OK, then BLUE → Download marked items (n) takes only the marked rows.

Which rows are taken (video and audio rows that can be saved as favourites, not in the XXX host; live streams, locked PIN hosts, items already queued or downloaded are skipped) is explained on Playlists and selection. You get "n items added to the download queue, n skipped."

In the download manager:

• The rows are added at once as PENDING, with the title as name. Their links are looked up only when their turn comes, because hoster links expire after a while. The item then shows Loading, and when a link is found the normal download starts.
• Only one item is looked up at a time. Between two lookups of the same host E2iPlayer waits Pause between the batch lookups of one host [s] (Settings → Downloading, default 20 s), because sites like s.to block visitors without a login after many requests in a short time.
• A lookup runs in the background, also while E2iPlayer is closed. Nothing is opened on the TV: an item that would need a captcha or MyE2i, has no valid link, fails in the host, has an unsupported protocol or takes longer than 240 seconds ends as DOWNLOAD ERROR with the reason, and the queue goes on.
• Download again looks up the links again.
• When the last item of a batch is finished, one notification shows the result, e.g. "8 of 10 downloaded" with the titles that failed (green: all, orange: some, red: none). Items you removed from the queue are not counted.
• Stopping the manager (GREEN Stop) while an item is looked up puts it back to the front of the queue.

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• New downloads wait as PENDING until the manager is started (GREEN). With Start download manager per default switched on, it starts automatically when you open E2iPlayer.
• Number of downloaded files simultaneously sets how many downloads run at the same time (default 1).
• Downloads keep running when you leave E2iPlayer and watch TV. When you open E2iPlayer again, you see the same queue.
• The queue is only kept in memory. After a GUI restart or reboot, the queue is gone. Finished and partial files stay in the downloads folder and show up in the Archive.

When a download ends, a small window in the top right corner shows the file name and the result: DOWNLOADED (green), INTERRUPTED (orange) or FAILED (red). This can be switched off or shortened in Settings → Downloading.

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Select the ABORTED item → OK → Continue downloading, and make sure the manager is started. The download continues where it stopped.

• Normal files (wget or curl): always offered. If the link has expired or the server doesn't support resuming, the item stays ABORTED (curl: "Range request not supported (resume failed)."). Use Download again.
• HLS/m3u8 videos (hlsdl): the download continues from the last finished segment; the incomplete end of the file is cut off first. This needs hlsdl v0.31 or newer. While the download runs, hlsdl keeps a small helper file <file name>.hlsdl.resume next to the video. Continue downloading is only offered when that file exists and the installed hlsdl supports it; otherwise only Download again is shown. Download again and removing the item or its file also remove the helper file. Recordings of live streams can't be continued.
• Other streams (DASH, merged audio+video, RTMP, f4m) cannot be resumed. They only offer Download again, which starts from the beginning.

Which hlsdl version is installed is shown on the System page of the Info screen (BLUE → Info). Update it from your image's feed if it is older than v0.31.

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E2iPlayer picks the tool automatically:

Kind of link	Downloader
Normal file (http/https/ftp)	wget (default) or curl, set in Settings → Downloading → Program for file downloads. If curl is missing, wget is used.
HLS / m3u8 streams	hlsdl
HLS streams of servers that block every normal client (HTTP 403, e.g. vidzy)	curl-impersonate hls: fetches the playlist and segments with the TLS fingerprint of Chrome and writes one .ts file. Needs the package curl-impersonate from the feed (see Install → Helper programs); without it you get "curl-impersonate is not installed on the receiver …". Also used for buffered playback of these streams.
DASH (mpd) and some special streams	ffmpeg
Separate audio + video (e.g. YouTube)	MergeDownloader: downloads both parts and joins them with ffmpeg
f4m	f4mdump
RTMP	rtmpdump

If a tool is missing, you get "Downloader … does not work properly" or 'Utility "…" can not be found.' Install it from your image's feed. The Info screen (BLUE → Info → System) shows which tools are installed.

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• Files are saved in the Downloads location (default /hdd/movie/) as <title>.<extension>. Characters that are not allowed in file names (/ : * ? " < > |) are replaced by -.
• If a file with the same name already exists, the new one is called <title> 2.<extension>, <title> 3.<extension>, … (the number goes before the extension, so media servers still sort and match it).
• The file format depends on the source and on three settings in Settings → Downloading:
  • File format of HLS (M3U8) downloads and File format of single video files (FFmpeg): Automatic (default) keeps the format of the source: an MP4 stays .mp4, an HLS stream becomes .ts (radio streams .aac), separate audio + video parts become .mkv. MKV, MP4 or TS convert to that format.
  • File format of DASH (MPD) downloads: MKV (default), MP4 or TS.
  • If a host sets its own format, that one is used. So a finished file may get a different extension than the one shown while downloading.
• For separate audio + video downloads (e.g. YouTube), E2iPlayer notices when the file already exists and shows "Download already exists" instead of downloading it again.

Normalised names (Normalize item / file names, default on): some hosts give titles and file names in a media-server friendly form:

• Show - S01E02 - Title
• Title (2024)
• Show - Title (2024-05-01)

Used by most hosts: all hosts on the host standard (e.g. the mediathek hosts, serienstream, hdfilme, cineb, kinoking, 7reels).

Sidecar files (Create sidecar files (.txt/.jpg), default on): after a complete download, some hosts save the description as <name>.txt and the cover as <name>.jpg next to the video. Media servers and file browsers can show them. Supported by most hosts (all hosts on the host standard, and e.g. YouTube and filmpalast).

.iptv.cmd files: only kept when the debug log is on (see How to create debug logs). Otherwise they are deleted automatically.

Downloaded marker: items you have downloaded are shown in the host lists with a colour and a small marker (Mark downloaded items in Settings → Service configuration). A recording of a live stream (GREEN on a live row) is saved, but the row gets no marker.

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• Web interface: Download manager → Watch on a finished item downloads the file to your PC. See Web interface.
• FTP / network share: the files are in the downloads folder (default /hdd/movie/).

Problem	Solution
Nothing happens after adding	The manager is stopped. Press GREEN Start, or switch on Start download manager per default.
"File can not be downloaded. Protocol [...] is unsupported"	This stream type (e.g. some live streams) can't be downloaded.
"File [...] is already in the downloading queue."	It is already waiting in the queue.
"Error occurs during download."	The detail line says why (host not found, timeout, SSL, HTTP error). Try again later or use another mirror.
Download stops at the same point every time	The link has probably expired. Use Download again, or add the item again from the host.

More messages are explained in Troubleshooting / FAQ.