diff --git a/tests/test_hls_parsing.py b/tests/test_hls_parsing.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..489509ad
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_hls_parsing.py
@@ -0,0 +1,384 @@
+"""Tests for HLS-related methods on ``HiFiClient``:
+
+- ``_parse_hls_playlist(text, playlist_url)`` — parses m3u8 playlists
+- ``_demux_flac(input_path, output_path)`` — ffmpeg demuxing error paths
+
+The parsing logic is identical in ``tidal_download_client.py``; these tests
+cover the shared behavior via ``hifi_client.HiFiClient``.
+"""
+
+import shutil
+import subprocess
+import sys
+import types
+from pathlib import Path
+from unittest.mock import patch
+
+import pytest
+
+
+# ── stubs for module-level imports ────────────────────────────────────────
+
+if "spotipy" not in sys.modules:
+    spotipy = types.ModuleType("spotipy")
+    spotipy.Spotify = object
+    oauth2 = types.ModuleType("spotipy.oauth2")
+    oauth2.SpotifyOAuth = object
+    oauth2.SpotifyClientCredentials = object
+    spotipy.oauth2 = oauth2
+    sys.modules["spotipy"] = spotipy
+    sys.modules["spotipy.oauth2"] = oauth2
+
+if "config.settings" not in sys.modules:
+    config_pkg = types.ModuleType("config")
+    settings_mod = types.ModuleType("config.settings")
+
+    class _DummyConfigManager:
+        def get(self, key, default=None):
+            return default
+
+        def get_active_media_server(self):
+            return "primary"
+
+    settings_mod.config_manager = _DummyConfigManager()
+    config_pkg.settings = settings_mod
+    sys.modules["config"] = config_pkg
+    sys.modules["config.settings"] = settings_mod
+
+
+from core.hifi_client import HiFiClient  # noqa: E402
+
+
+# ── fixture ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def client(tmp_path):
+    """HiFiClient with a temp download dir and no DB dependency."""
+    return HiFiClient(download_path=str(tmp_path / "downloads"))
+
+
+# ── _parse_hls_playlist: master playlist ─────────────────────────────────
+
+MASTER_PLAYLIST = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-VERSION:3
+#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=256000,CODECS="mp4a.40.2"
+stream/low.m3u8
+#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=512000,CODECS="mp4a.40.5"
+stream/high.m3u8
+"""
+
+
+def test_parse_master_playlist_returns_variant_uri(client):
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        MASTER_PLAYLIST, "https://cdn.example.com/master.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init is None
+    assert segments == ["https://cdn.example.com/stream/low.m3u8"]
+
+
+def test_parse_master_playlist_picks_first_variant(client):
+    """Master playlists should return only the first variant URI."""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        MASTER_PLAYLIST, "https://cdn.example.com/master.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert len(segments) == 1
+
+
+def test_parse_master_playlist_resolves_relative_uri(client):
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        MASTER_PLAYLIST, "https://cdn.example.com/playlists/master.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert segments[0] == "https://cdn.example.com/playlists/stream/low.m3u8"
+
+
+# ── _parse_hls_playlist: variant playlist with init segment ──────────────
+
+VARIANT_WITH_INIT = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-VERSION:6
+#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:4
+#EXT-X-MAP:URI="init.mp4"
+#EXTINF:3.840000,
+seg001.m4s
+#EXTINF:3.840000,
+seg002.m4s
+#EXTINF:2.560000,
+seg003.m4s
+"""
+
+
+def test_parse_variant_with_init_returns_init_and_segments(client):
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        VARIANT_WITH_INIT, "https://cdn.example.com/variant.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init == "https://cdn.example.com/init.mp4"
+    assert segments == [
+        "https://cdn.example.com/seg001.m4s",
+        "https://cdn.example.com/seg002.m4s",
+        "https://cdn.example.com/seg003.m4s",
+    ]
+
+
+def test_parse_variant_with_init_resolves_relative_uris(client):
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        VARIANT_WITH_INIT, "https://cdn.example.com/audio/variant.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init == "https://cdn.example.com/audio/init.mp4"
+    assert segments[0] == "https://cdn.example.com/audio/seg001.m4s"
+
+
+def test_parse_variant_with_absolute_init_uri(client):
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-MAP:URI="https://other.cdn/init.mp4"
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+https://cdn.example.com/seg001.m4s
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/variant.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init == "https://other.cdn/init.mp4"
+    assert segments == ["https://cdn.example.com/seg001.m4s"]
+
+
+# ── _parse_hls_playlist: variant playlist without init segment ───────────
+
+VARIANT_NO_INIT = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-VERSION:3
+#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:10
+#EXTINF:9.984000,
+seg001.ts
+#EXTINF:9.984000,
+seg002.ts
+#EXT-X-ENDLIST
+"""
+
+
+def test_parse_variant_without_init_returns_none_init(client):
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        VARIANT_NO_INIT, "https://cdn.example.com/variant.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init is None
+    assert segments == [
+        "https://cdn.example.com/seg001.ts",
+        "https://cdn.example.com/seg002.ts",
+    ]
+
+
+# ── _parse_hls_playlist: error cases ─────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_parse_empty_playlist_raises_value_error(client):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="No segment URIs"):
+        client._parse_hls_playlist("#EXTM3U", "https://cdn.example.com/x.m3u8")
+
+
+def test_parse_only_tags_raises_value_error(client):
+    """Playlist with only header and MAP tag but no segment URIs."""
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-VERSION:6
+#EXT-X-MAP:URI="init.mp4"
+"""
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="No segment URIs"):
+        client._parse_hls_playlist(playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/x.m3u8")
+
+
+def test_parse_only_extm3u_raises_value_error(client):
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="No segment URIs"):
+        client._parse_hls_playlist("#EXTM3U\n", "https://cdn.example.com/x.m3u8")
+
+
+# ── _parse_hls_playlist: edge cases ──────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_parse_skips_blank_lines(client):
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+
+#EXT-X-MAP:URI="init.mp4"
+
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+
+seg001.m4s
+
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/x.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init == "https://cdn.example.com/init.mp4"
+    assert segments == ["https://cdn.example.com/seg001.m4s"]
+
+
+def test_parse_skips_unknown_tags(client):
+    """Tags like #EXT-X-VERSION, #EXT-X-TARGETDURATION should be ignored."""
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-VERSION:3
+#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:10
+#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE:0
+#EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD
+#EXTINF:5.0,
+seg001.ts
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/x.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init is None
+    assert segments == ["https://cdn.example.com/seg001.ts"]
+
+
+def test_parse_captures_last_map_tag(client):
+    """If multiple EXT-X-MAP tags appear, the last one wins (overwrites init_uri)."""
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-MAP:URI="init-first.mp4"
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+seg001.m4s
+#EXT-X-MAP:URI="init-second.mp4"
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+seg002.m4s
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/x.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init == "https://cdn.example.com/init-second.mp4"
+    assert len(segments) == 2
+
+
+def test_parse_master_breaks_on_first_variant(client):
+    """Parser should stop after finding the first variant URI."""
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=256000
+variant-low.m3u8
+#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=512000
+variant-high.m3u8
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+should-not-appear.ts
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/master.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init is None
+    assert segments == ["https://cdn.example.com/variant-low.m3u8"]
+
+
+def test_parse_master_skips_comment_after_stream_inf(client):
+    """The line immediately after #EXT-X-STREAM-INF must be a non-comment URI."""
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXT-X-STREAM-INF:BANDWIDTH=256000
+# some comment
+variant.m3u8
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/master.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert segments == ["https://cdn.example.com/variant.m3u8"]
+
+
+def test_parse_handles_mixed_absolute_and_relative_uris(client):
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+https://cdn-a.example.com/seg001.m4s
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+seg002.m4s
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+https://cdn-b.example.com/seg003.m4s
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/variant.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert segments == [
+        "https://cdn-a.example.com/seg001.m4s",
+        "https://cdn.example.com/seg002.m4s",
+        "https://cdn-b.example.com/seg003.m4s",
+    ]
+
+
+def test_parse_single_segment(client):
+    playlist = """\
+#EXTM3U
+#EXTINF:3.0,
+only-segment.m4s
+"""
+    init, segments = client._parse_hls_playlist(
+        playlist, "https://cdn.example.com/x.m3u8"
+    )
+    assert init is None
+    assert segments == ["https://cdn.example.com/only-segment.m4s"]
+
+
+# ── _demux_flac: error paths ─────────────────────────────────────────────
+
+
+def test_demux_flac_raises_when_ffmpeg_not_found(client, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """When ffmpeg is nowhere on PATH and not in tools/, RuntimeError is raised."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr("shutil.which", lambda _: None)
+    inp = tmp_path / "input.mp4"
+    inp.touch()
+    out = tmp_path / "output.flac"
+
+    with patch.object(Path, "exists", return_value=False):
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="ffmpeg is required"):
+            client._demux_flac(inp, out)
+
+
+def test_demux_flac_raises_on_ffmpeg_failure(client, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """When ffmpeg exits non-zero, RuntimeError includes stderr."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr("shutil.which", lambda _: "/usr/bin/ffmpeg")
+
+    inp = tmp_path / "input.mp4"
+    inp.touch()
+    out = tmp_path / "output.flac"
+
+    fake_result = subprocess.CalledProcessError(
+        returncode=1,
+        cmd=["ffmpeg"],
+        stderr="Invalid data found when processing input",
+    )
+
+    with patch("subprocess.run", side_effect=fake_result):
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="ffmpeg failed"):
+            client._demux_flac(inp, out)
+
+
+def test_demux_flac_uses_tools_dir_fallback(client, tmp_path, monkeypatch):
+    """When shutil.which fails but tools/ffmpeg exists, it should be used."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr("shutil.which", lambda _: None)
+
+    inp = tmp_path / "input.mp4"
+    inp.touch()
+    out = tmp_path / "output.flac"
+
+    tools_dir = Path(__file__).parent.parent / "tools"
+
+    original_exists = Path.exists
+    original_which = shutil.which
+
+    def fake_exists(self):
+        if str(self) == str(tools_dir / "ffmpeg"):
+            return True
+        return original_exists(self)
+
+    def fake_which(name):
+        if name == "ffmpeg":
+            return None
+        return original_which(name)
+
+    monkeypatch.setattr(shutil, "which", fake_which)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(Path, "exists", fake_exists)
+
+    fake_result = subprocess.CalledProcessError(
+        returncode=1, cmd=["ffmpeg"], stderr="fail"
+    )
+    with patch("subprocess.run", side_effect=fake_result) as mock_run:
+        with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="ffmpeg failed"):
+            client._demux_flac(inp, out)
+
+    call_args = mock_run.call_args[0][0]
+    assert call_args[0] == str(tools_dir / "ffmpeg")