diff --git a/backend/main.py b/backend/main.py
index c65f9f3..858a032 100644
--- a/backend/main.py
+++ b/backend/main.py
@@ -258,6 +258,36 @@ def stream_video():
         if debug_enabled:
             dbg(f"upstream status={resp.status_code} content_type={resp.headers.get('Content-Type')} content_length={resp.headers.get('Content-Length')}")
 
+        content_iter = None
+        first_chunk = b""
+        if request.method != 'HEAD':
+            content_iter = resp.iter_content(chunk_size=1024 * 16)
+            try:
+                first_chunk = next(content_iter)
+            except StopIteration:
+                first_chunk = b""
+
+            def looks_like_m3u8(chunk):
+                if not chunk:
+                    return False
+                sample = chunk.lstrip(b'\xef\xbb\xbf')
+                return b'#EXTM3U' in sample[:1024]
+
+            if looks_like_m3u8(first_chunk):
+                remaining = b"".join(chunk for chunk in content_iter if chunk)
+                body_bytes = first_chunk + remaining
+                base_url = resp.url
+                encoding = resp.encoding
+                resp.close()
+                dbg("detected m3u8 by content sniff")
+                return proxy_hls_playlist(
+                    target_url,
+                    referer_hint=referer,
+                    prefetched_body=body_bytes,
+                    prefetched_base_url=base_url,
+                    prefetched_encoding=encoding,
+                )
+
         hop_by_hop = {
             'connection', 'keep-alive', 'proxy-authenticate', 'proxy-authorization',
             'te', 'trailers', 'transfer-encoding', 'upgrade'
@@ -291,7 +321,9 @@ def stream_video():
 
         def generate():
             try:
-                for chunk in resp.iter_content(chunk_size=1024 * 16):
+                if first_chunk:
+                    yield first_chunk
+                for chunk in content_iter or resp.iter_content(chunk_size=1024 * 16):
                     if chunk:
                         yield chunk
             finally:
@@ -299,26 +331,21 @@ def stream_video():
 
         return Response(generate(), status=resp.status_code, headers=forwarded_headers)
 
-    def proxy_hls_playlist(playlist_url, referer_hint=None):
-        dbg(f"proxy_hls_playlist url={playlist_url} referer_hint={referer_hint}")
-        headers = build_upstream_headers(referer_hint or "")
-        if 'User-Agent' not in headers:
-            headers['User-Agent'] = 'Mozilla/5.0'
-        if 'Accept' not in headers:
-            headers['Accept'] = '*/*'
-        resp = session.get(playlist_url, headers=headers, timeout=30)
-        resp.raise_for_status()
-        base_url = resp.url
-        if referer_hint:
-            referer = referer_hint
-        else:
-            referer = f"{urllib.parse.urlparse(base_url).scheme}://{urllib.parse.urlparse(base_url).netloc}/"
+    def decode_playlist_body(body_bytes, encoding=None):
+        if not body_bytes:
+            return ""
+        enc = encoding or "utf-8"
+        try:
+            return body_bytes.decode(enc, errors="replace")
+        except LookupError:
+            return body_bytes.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
 
+    def rewrite_hls_playlist(body_text, base_url, referer):
         def proxied_url(target):
             absolute = urljoin(base_url, target)
             return f"/api/stream?url={urllib.parse.quote(absolute, safe='')}&referer={urllib.parse.quote(referer, safe='')}"
 
-        lines = resp.text.splitlines()
+        lines = body_text.splitlines()
         rewritten = []
         for line in lines:
             stripped = line.strip()
@@ -333,12 +360,36 @@ def stream_video():
                 rewritten.append(line)
                 continue
             rewritten.append(proxied_url(stripped))
-        if request.method == 'HEAD':
-            return Response("", status=200, content_type='application/vnd.apple.mpegurl')
 
         body = "\n".join(rewritten)
         return Response(body, status=200, content_type='application/vnd.apple.mpegurl')
 
+    def proxy_hls_playlist(playlist_url, referer_hint=None, prefetched_body=None, prefetched_base_url=None, prefetched_encoding=None):
+        dbg(f"proxy_hls_playlist url={playlist_url} referer_hint={referer_hint}")
+        base_url = prefetched_base_url or playlist_url
+        body_text = None
+        if prefetched_body is None:
+            headers = build_upstream_headers(referer_hint or "")
+            if 'User-Agent' not in headers:
+                headers['User-Agent'] = 'Mozilla/5.0'
+            if 'Accept' not in headers:
+                headers['Accept'] = '*/*'
+            resp = session.get(playlist_url, headers=headers, timeout=30)
+            resp.raise_for_status()
+            base_url = resp.url
+            body_text = resp.text
+        else:
+            body_text = decode_playlist_body(prefetched_body, prefetched_encoding)
+
+        if referer_hint:
+            referer = referer_hint
+        else:
+            referer = f"{urllib.parse.urlparse(base_url).scheme}://{urllib.parse.urlparse(base_url).netloc}/"
+
+        if request.method == 'HEAD':
+            return Response("", status=200, content_type='application/vnd.apple.mpegurl')
+        return rewrite_hls_playlist(body_text, base_url, referer)
+
     if is_hls(video_url):
         try:
             dbg("detected input as hls")