AceStream Launcher

AceStream Launcher is a small utility that lets you open AceStream links (content IDs) directly in your preferred media player, e.g., VLC, MPV, or another player with more customization.It is an alternative to using AceStream player. 

TO play any acestream links, you need: 

• AceStream Engine 
• AceStream Launcher 
• A Terminal 

 

The AceStream Engine runs in the background (a must) and handles the peer‑to‑peer streaming. Without the engine, the launcher will not be able to fetch streams. 

 

Installation of AceStream Engine and AceStream Launcher (Arch Linux): 

 

yay -S acestream-engine acestream-launcher 

 

How to play acestream id with acestream-launcher 

 To play an AceStream ID with acestream-launcher, you simply run the launcher in a Terminal with the AceStream URL or ID as the argument, and optionally specify your preferred media player. By default, it uses mpv player, but you can set VLC or another player if you prefer. 

The following are some workable AceStream IDs that I am using:

BT Sport / ESPN [UK]

    fc5089d8e1519872fdf951779ccbca913acc9bce

ESPN HD [US]

    4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442

ESPN2 [US]

    664eb5fe460b96941aed633959a845b185cd8394

FOX Sports 1 HD [US]

    c9c062941fbecb16ce29437f346ea7177d720898

FOX Sports 2 HD [US]

    cba8d369eac629b577750edb90370cd1c5fb03b7

Sky Sports Arena [UK]

    d317a003e8047da2c36a2a2bb2289578c9a3b79c

Sky Sports Cricket [UK]

    6d95e4b0893e155cc674b84e0763150c445d3ddd

Sky Sports Football [UK]

    8dbe2d515e9131fa311353537736f8c94be9b26d

Sky Sports Main Event [UK]

    eab7aeef0218ce8b0752e596e4792b69eda4df5e

BT Sport / ESPN [UK]

    fc5089d8e1519872fdf951779ccbca913acc9bce

BT Sport 1 [UK]

    efc60cfe5e3a349baa02bcc49f6647c21a9c3c5b

BT Sport 2 [UK]

    d63d8a57cf471394bfa9f619bbd68b01ae27a801

BT Sport 3 [UK]

    5f966c123759de46dff29c379266b7a403452033

NBA TV [US]

    e72d03fb9694164317260f684470be9ab781ed95

Tennis Channel (UK) (720p)

    8091334c82e8720fc6aa05ff0bd6d343c5bfecbf

Eurosport 1 HD [RU]

    1b0bc4d4dcd609d3c092712e721392b199f50a62

Eurosport 2 HD [RU]

    6176281b9c46a5621a0e88524f8dc621f173b8e0

Sky Sports Football [UK]

    8dbe2d515e9131fa311353537736f8c94be9b26d

SuperTennis HD

    b58dbf92765976b308695f62dea94b00b40730ee

Tennis Channel (UK) (720p)

    8091334c82e8720fc6aa05ff0bd6d343c5bfecbf

NFL Network HD [us]

    10e514ecccea1ec53736aae6486c15c1cce9379e

 

 

The command format for playing any of the above links is: 

    acestream-launcher "acestream://Acestream ID" 

 

Run this command in a Terminal, and it will open in mpv player by default. 

Foe example, if I want to watch in MPV the ESPN HD [US] channel, with conten ID:                 

   

    4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442

Then I have to type the following in a Terminal,

    acestream-launcher acestream://4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442

OR

    acestream-launcher "acestream://4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442"

If I want to watch in VLC, then type

    acestream-launcher acestream://4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442 --p vlc

By replacing VLC with Celluloid, or Smplayer, or Haruna, then you can specify the player to your desire.

If you want a smoother playback you can add "--hls" as follows:

acestream-launcher acestream://4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442 --p vlc --hls

***Alternately, you may enter these in a Terminal to achieve the same result:

    vlc "http://127.0.0.1:6878/ace/getstream?id=4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442"

    mpv "http://127.0.0.1:6878/ace/getstream?id=4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442"

    celluloid "http://127.0.0.1:6878/ace/getstream?id=4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442"

    haruna "http://127.0.0.1:6878/ace/getstream?id=4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442"

You can do these without the quote marks as well. This method works faster and better!


Moreover, you can also use this format

    http://127.0.0.1:6878/ace/getstream?id=CONTENT_ID

to open an AceStream link in those that have the function of opening an URL field like VLC, Celluloid and Smplayer.

For the case of VLC:

• Open VLC.
• Go to Media → Open Network Stream.
• In the URL field, paste the following format:

http://127.0.0.1:6878/ace/getstream?id=4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442

Click Play. VLC will connect to the AceStream Engine, fetch peers, and start streaming.

The is also true for celluloid and smplayer.

 

NOTE:

The above methods work well on EndeavourOS but not CachyOS. This is due to CachyOS's aggressive kernel optimizations and package modifications.

However, I found 

vlc "http://127.0.0.1:6878/ace/getstream?id=4b4907de51ec11087d4bed5876f2a0c68264f442"

method worked.