Here is a complete list of everything you need to set up Acestream on Mac: where to find good streams, how to correctly copy and paste acestream links and how to fix lagging and buffering.

Use Acestream Securely Acestream involves using peer-to-peer (P2P) services. Sometimes these are a legal grey area depending on your geographic location. I use NordVPN (disclosure: affiliate link, please consider using this link if you find this guide useful, thank you!) More information regarding how they keep your data private from their FAQ. Using a VPN also allows you to stream from sites that are restricted to certain countries (geo-unblock).

Setup Acestream on Mac

Acestream is designed for Windows, so it requires some workarounds to getting it working on a Mac. Luckily, you can follow this fairly straightforward guide in the video below.

Update December 2015: added video

It involves installing a media centre application called Kodi, which acts as a front end interface for Acestream, which is the software that does that actual streaming.

Go to the Kodi downloads, and select “MacOS”.

Where to Find Rugby Acestream Links (or any sport)

Once you have Kodi downloaded and installed, it’s time to find some live streams!

I am a rugby fan, but you can use this tip for almost any sport you like to watch (e.g. football, tennis, NFL…).

Step 1: check the rugby match thread on reddit (available on the day of the game). You may find an acestream link there, posted by a user. If not, go to step 2.

Step 2: Go to Flashscore rugby to find which TV channels are showing the game. Hover over the TV icon on the right to see which channels are showing the game:

When you have your preferred channel in mind, go to step 3.

Step 3: find your TV channel on this website. Post any links you find in the Reddit match thread, it’s nice to be nice.

Tip 1: If you speak a language other than English, sometimes you can get a better stream, as English streams are often in high demand.

Tip 2: If your stream is giving trouble, look for a stream with a lower bitrate (the number listed in Kbps on the link in step 3.) Higher bitrate, e.g. 3000Kbps = crystal clear HD, but you need a fast internet connection to handle that action! I find lower bitrates perfectly watchable, they are usually ~720p quality.

Correct Format for Acestream Links

Make sure you copy and paste the entire acestream link as highlighted below (if you copy only part of the link, it will most likely not work).

How to Open an Acestream Link in Kodi

Fix AceStream Buffering on Mac

Open Kodi. Right-click the menu item for AceStream in the menu bar at the top of your screen, click “Options”. Set the live buffer to 30 seconds. This means that our stream is 30 seconds behind the live broadcast. If our connection is poor, the buffer will run out and our stream will lag. If you still have problems with lagging, increase the buffer. If you have a very fast connection, you can try decreasing it so you are closer to the live broadcast. Disk cache- I set mine to 3 (meaning 3Gb). This is the maximum size that you want Acestream to store the live video on your hard drive. Go to Advanced settings. Set total maximum connections to 500.

The steps above are highlighted here:

Done!