BBC's iPlayer – A Little Known Resource for Downloading Expiry-free

 

Just a quick 'heads up' on a very useful tool I came across some years ago for downloading BBC programmes direct from iPlayer servers – and have used regularly ever since.

As a committed user of BBC’s services for many years previously, I joined the online viewing revolution and started using iPlayer in the early 2010s. Not being particularly keen on ‘live’ streaming, and in any case having a limited broadband download allowance at the time, I took to selective downloading of anything that particularly took my interest. As for the old VCR recordings we all remember making in the 80s and 90s, the problem was finding time to actually watch what I'd recorded. I quickly became tired of discovering that much of what I'd painstakingly downloaded from iPlayer, and had finally got round to looking at, had already expired, and was unreadable due to DRM-protection. 

A workround was therefore a must, and fortunately one presented itself in the form of GetiPlayer.

This software was produced by some highly talented amateurs in response to the gap in flexibility of use left by iPlayer's copyright-induced restrictions, and has been around since the early 2010s. I have used it successfully for both video and audio broadcasts over the past 12 years. I would recommend it to anyone who regularly accesses iPlayer content and is tired of having it expire before they get a chance to view or listen to it. As a command-line processor, GetiPlayer does require a bit more work to set up and get used to, but is definitely worth the effort.

An added advantage of direct downloading in this way is that any programme currently available on the iPlayer servers can be accessed via its unique Programme ID (PID) – you're not limited to what's available to download from the iPlayer app itself. This includes audio broadcasts that are available to stream on iPlayer, but are not offered for download as podcasts (i.e. a substantial proportion of the BBC's audio offerings).

The software is also perfectly legal for personal use, provided you have a valid TV licence, and it is virus-free.

Why not take a look ? – it might just revolutionise your viewing/listening habits….

To help you get started, I have produced a step-by step guide to setting up the software on a Windows pc and using it to download programmes using their PIDs – head over to the GetiPlayer page on my website for some more info on how to download the guide and get up and running. There's also a command line compiler available which you can download to make life easier generating command lines when using the software. This now includes the facility to download matching subtitle (.srt) files for each programme if you need them.

Please note that this guide isn't intended to be exhaustive - the GetiPlayer package is fully documented on GitHub and elsewhere, and will do a lot more besides just download broadcasts via their PIDs. The guide is just meant to help you dispel some of the complex functionality available, and focus on what's really needed to start downloading DRM-free files. 

Suggestions for any improvements welcome via the comments option. 

Happy GetiPlaying….

Viv

First published 1.2.23

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