c3dl

CCC Media Downloader - Downloads relive streams and finalized releases from Chaos Communication Congress events.

Installation

# Clone or download
git clone https://github.com/efnats/c3dl.git
cd c3dl

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Make executable (optional)
chmod +x c3dl.py

System-wide installation (optional)

sudo cp c3dl.py /usr/local/bin/c3dl
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/c3dl

Usage

# Download 39c3 in HD (1080p) to ./39c3/
./c3dl.py -c 39c3

# Different quality presets
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 -q sd          # 576p (smaller files)
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 -q webm        # 1080p WebM
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 -q mp3         # Audio only
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 -q opus        # Audio only (smallest)

# Custom output directory
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 -o ~/Videos

# Run once and exit (no loop)
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 --once

# Only releases or only relive streams
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 --releases-only
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 --relive-only

# Longer wait time between checks (5 minutes)
./c3dl.py -c 39c3 -w 300

Options

Option	Description
-c, --congress ID	Congress identifier (required), e.g., 38c3, 39c3
-o, --output-dir DIR	Base output directory (default: current directory)
-q, --quality PRESET	Quality preset (default: hd)
-w, --wait-time SEC	Seconds between checks (default: 120)
-r, --retries N	Number of retry attempts for failed downloads (default: 0)
--once	Run once and exit
--releases-only	Only download finalized releases
--relive-only	Only download relive streams
--dry-run	Show what would be downloaded
--no-color	Disable colored output
--no-cleanup	Disable automatic cleanup (relives, duplicates)
--clean-partial	Remove all partial downloads and exit

Quality Presets

Preset	Format	Resolution	Size per Talk
hd	MP4	1080p	~1-3 GB
sd	MP4	576p	~200-400 MB
webm	WebM	1080p	~500 MB
webm-sd	WebM	576p	~100-200 MB
mp3	MP3	Audio	~30-50 MB
opus	Opus	Audio	~15-30 MB

Output Structure

{output-dir}/
└── {congress}/
    ├── relive/      # Live recordings (available during/shortly after congress)
    │   ├── Talk_Title_1.mp4
    │   └── Talk_Title_2.mp4
    └── releases/    # Finalized releases (post-processed, higher quality)
        ├── talk_title_1.mp4
        └── talk_title_2.mp4

Running as systemd service

Create /etc/systemd/system/c3dl.service:

[Unit]
Description=c3dl - CCC Media Downloader
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=media
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/c3dl -c 39c3 -o /srv/media/ccc
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=60

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Then:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable --now c3dl
sudo journalctl -fu c3dl

Notes

• Releases are fetched from the podcast feed at media.ccc.de/c/{congress}/podcast/{format}.xml
• Relive streams are fetched from streaming.media.ccc.de/{congress}/relive
• Relive streams are available during and shortly after the congress (faster, but only MP4)
• Releases are post-processed and uploaded over the following weeks/months (multiple quality options)
• Smart deduplication: Relive downloads are skipped if a release already exists (fuzzy title matching)
• Auto-cleanup: Relive files are automatically removed when their release becomes available
• Duplicate detection: Duplicates are detected and removed at the start of each cycle (keeps the longer/more complete filename)
• Smart renaming: If a title changes upstream, existing files are renamed instead of re-downloaded
• Quality setting (-q) only applies to releases, not relive streams
• The script uses file locking to prevent multiple instances for the same congress
• Resume support: Interrupted downloads are saved as .part files and automatically resumed
• Retry support: Use -r N to retry failed downloads N times with exponential backoff
• File sizes are verified against the feed – incomplete files are re-downloaded automatically
• Colors are disabled automatically when output is piped (or use --no-color)
• Use --clean-partial to remove all .part files and start fresh
• Use --no-cleanup to disable automatic cleanup of relives and duplicates

License

MIT