Filename extensions | |
---|---|
Internet media type | various; see § Internet media types |
Initial release | c. 1996 |
Type of format | Playlist |
Extended to | HTTP Live Streaming playlist |
Jul 17, 2020 A file with.m3u extension is an audio playlist file that points to the actual audio files in a playlist on your computer or from a website. Actually, you can create your own M3U playlist with common media players. And this article will show you how to create M3U playlist with Windows Media player and VLC media player. Playlist Creator M3U, XSPF, WPL, PLS, AxBox. Convert xml playlist to m3u file format. Online Playlist Creator M3U, XSPF, WPL, PLS, AxBox IPTV Online Playlist Creator. The names of channels without channel names Your text (all channels and url-address with the new line!): example. Open your TXT playlist or create a new text document and open it. (Skip this step if what you’re having is a TXT playlist) In the New Text Document, type in exactly #EXTM3U in the first line as the M3U8 file header, and press “Enter” on your keyboard double times.
M3U (MP3 URL[1][2] or Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3Uniform Resource Locator[3] in full) is a computer file format for a multimedia playlist. One common use of the M3U file format is creating a single-entry playlist file pointing to a stream on the Internet. The created file provides easy access to that stream and is often used in downloads from a website, for emailing, and for listening to Internet radio.
Although originally designed for audio files, such as MP3, it is commonly used to point media players to audio and video sources, including online sources. M3U was originally developed by Fraunhofer for use with their Winplay3 software,[4] but numerous media players and software applications now support the format.
Careless handling of M3U playlists has been the cause of vulnerabilities in many music players such as VLC media player,[5]iTunes,[6]Winamp,[7] and many others.[8]
File format[edit]
There is no formal specification for the M3U format; it is a de facto standard.
An M3U file is a plain text file that specifies the locations of one or more media files. The file is saved with the 'm3u' filename extension if the text is encoded in the local system's default non-Unicode encoding (e.g., a Windows codepage), or with the 'm3u8' extension if the text is UTF-8 encoded.[9]
Each entry carries one specification. The specification can be any one of the following:
- an absolute local pathname; e.g., C:My MusicHeavysets.mp3
- a local pathname relative to the M3U file location; e.g. Heavysets.mp3
- a URL
Extended M3U[edit]
The M3U file can also include comments, prefaced by the '#' character. In extended M3U, '#' also introduces extended M3U directives which are terminated by a colon ':' if they support parameters.
Directive | Description | Example | Required | Standard |
---|---|---|---|---|
#EXTM3U | file header, must be the first line of the file | #EXTM3U | 1× | Yes |
#EXTINF: | track information: runtime in seconds and display title of the following resource | #EXTINF:123,Artist Name – Track Title | No | Yes |
additional properties as key-value pairs | #EXTINF:123 logo='cover.jpg',Track Title | No | IPTV | |
#PLAYLIST: | playlist display title | #PLAYLIST:Music TV | 1× | IPTV |
#EXTGRP: | begin named grouping | #EXTGRP:Foreign Channels | No | IPTV |
#EXTALB: | album information, title in particular | #EXTALB:Album Title (2009) | 1× | AL,[10] M3A[11] |
#EXTART: | album artist | #EXTART:Various | 1× | AL,[10] M3A[11] |
#EXTGENRE: | album genre | #EXTGENRE:Jazz Fusion | 1× | AL[10] |
#EXTM3A | playlist for tracks or chapters of an album in a single file | #EXTM3A | 1× | M3A[11] |
#EXTBYT: | file size in bytes | #EXTBYT:34124 | No | M3A[11] |
#EXTBIN: | binary data follows, usually concatenated MP3s | #EXTBIN: | No | M3A[11] |
#EXTENC: | text encoding, must be the second line of the file | #EXTENC: UTF-8 | 1× | No |
#EXTIMG: | cover, logo or other image | #EXTIMG: front cover | No | No |
Apple used the extended M3U format as a base for their HTTP Live Streaming (HLS)[12] which was standardized in 2017 by the IETF as RFC 8216.[13] Therein, a master playlist references segment playlists which usually contain URLs for short parts of the media stream. Some tags only apply to the former type and some only to the latter type of playlist, but they all begin with #EXT-X-
.
Directive | Example | Description |
---|---|---|
#EXT-X-START: | TIME-OFFSET=0 | |
#EXT-X-INDEPENDENT-SEGMENTS | toggle without parameters | |
#EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE: | VOD or EVENT | |
#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION: | 10 | in seconds |
#EXT-X-VERSION: | 4 | |
#EXT-X-MEDIA-SEQUENCE: | 0 | |
#EXT-X-INDEPENDENT-SEGMENTS | toggle without parameters | |
#EXT-X-MEDIA: | NAME='English', TYPE=AUDIO, GROUP-ID='audio-stereo-64', LANGUAGE='en', DEFAULT=YES, AUTOSELECT=YES, URI='english.m3u8' | |
#EXT-X-STREAM-INF: | BANDWIDTH=1123000, CODECS='avc1.64001f,mp4a.40.2 | parameters have either one combined value or one per stream, separated by commas |
#EXT-X-BYTERANGE: | 1024@256000 | |
#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY | toggle without parameters | |
#EXT-X-DISCONTINUITY-SEQUENCE: | 2 | |
#EXT-X-KEY: | METHOD=NONE | |
#EXT-X-MAP: | URI=MediaInitializationSection | |
#EXT-X-PROGRAM-DATE-TIME: | 2010-02-19T14:54:23.031+08:00 | ISO 8601 format |
#EXT-X-DATERANGE: | ID=foo | |
#EXT-X-I-FRAMES-ONLY | i-frame toggle without parameters | |
#EXT-X-SESSION-DATA: | DATA-ID=com.example.movie.title | |
#EXT-X-SESSION-KEY: | ||
#EXT-X-ENDLIST | end-of-list signal without parameters |
M3U8[edit]
The Unicode version of M3U is M3U8, which uses UTF-8-encoded characters. M3U8 files are the basis for the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) format originally developed by Apple to stream video and radio to iOS devices, and which is now a popular format for adaptive streaming in general.
The 2015 proposal for the HLS playlist format uses UTF-8 exclusively and does not distinguish between the 'm3u' and 'm3u8' file name extensions.[14]
Internet media types[edit]
The only Internet media type registered for M3U and M3U8 is application/vnd.apple.mpegurl
, registered in 2009 and only referring to the playlist format as used in HLS applications.[15][16]
The current proposal for the HLS playlist format acknowledges two media types which it treats as equivalent: application/vnd.apple.mpegurl
and audio/mpegurl
.[14] Likewise, these are the two types recommended for HLS use by Microsoft.[17]
For non-HLS applications, no media types were standardized or registered with the IANA, but a number of media types are nonetheless associated with the historical and ongoing use of the M3U and M3U8 formats for general playlists:
application/mpegurl
application/x-mpegurl
audio/mpegurl
audio/x-mpegurl
[1][2]
These types, plus application/vnd.apple.mpegurl
and application/vnd.apple.mpegurl.audio
, are supported for HLS applications by (for example) Microsoft's Windows 10[17] and Internet Explorer 9,[18] and LG's WebOS.[19]
Examples[edit]
- Example 1
This is an example of an extended M3U file on the Windows platform. Sample.mp3 and Example.ogg are the media files. 123 and 321 are the lengths in seconds.[20] A length of -1 or 0 may be used when the media file is a streaming file, as there is no actual, predefined length value. The value after the length is the title to be shown, which is generally the same as the location of the file which is on the second line. On the Mac OS X and Linux platforms, Unix paths are used.
- Example 2
This example shows how to create an m3u file linking to a specified directory (for example, a flash drive, or CD-ROM). The m3u file should contain only one string: the path to the directory. After starting, the media player will play all contents of the directory:
- Example 3
Here is another example, using relative format. The M3U file is placed in the same directory as the music, and directories must be preserved when moving the playlist to another device if subdirectories are used. This method is more flexible, as it does not rely on the file path staying the same.
This is the same file as above, saved as sample.m3u in C:Documents and SettingsUserMy Music
This format in an M3U allows copying to another device for playback. All files and directories referred to must also be copied.
- Example 4
Here is a mixed example:
Notes:
- Alternative and Classical are sub-directories of the directory that this playlist is stored in.
- 'Song' and 'New Song' are in sub-directories of the directory that this playlist is stored in.
- 'Stuff' is in the same directory that the playlist is stored in.
- 'Foo' is in the specified (Windows) volume and directory, which may or may not be the same directory the playlist is in.
- 'Bar' is in a different directory at the same level as the playlist directory. The double-dots reference the parent directory of the playlist directory, then into the sub-directory 'Other Music' to reach 'Bar'.
- 'Listen' is a Shoutcast stream.
- 'Mine' is an MP3 stored on a web server.
- Example 5
References to other M3U playlists, for example, are generally not well-supported.
- Example 6
M3u Video Playlist Creator Free
The following is an example of a M3U playlist file for 'Jar of Flies' album by 'Alice in Chains' that was created by Mp3tag with the following custom option settings:[21][22][23]
- playlist extended info format =
'%artist% - %title%'
- playlist filename format =
'%artist%_%album%_00_Playlist.m3u'
- tag to filename conversion format =
'%artist%_%album%_$num(%track%,2)_%title%'
Software[edit]
Tag editors[edit]
The following tag editor software allows users to edit the ID3 tags in MP3 files, and has support for creating M3U files.
- Linux
- EasyTAG, puddletag.
- Windows
- Mp3tag, puddletag.
Media players[edit]
- Multi-platform
Program | Platforms | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | Mac | Linux | Other | |
Amarok | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Audacious | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Banshee | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Clementine | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GNOME Videos | No | No | Yes | No |
Kodi | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
MPlayer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
mpv | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
VLC media player | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
iTunes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
- Android
- Astro Player,[24][25][26]Kodi, N7Player,[27][28] Musicolet[29]
- Mac
- Nintendo
- New Nintendo 3DS (including XL and 2DS XL variants) with Internet Browser app
- Nintendo Switch with the YouTube (site-specific) app
- Wii U with the Internet Browser or YouTube app
- Windows
- foobar2000, JRiver Media Center, JuK, MediaMonkey, PotPlayer, Winamp, Windows Media Player, XMPlay[30]
See also[edit]
- Other playlist file formats
- ASX - Windows media
- PLS - SHOUTcast
- XSPF - Xiph.Org Foundation
- WPL - Windows Media Player
References[edit]
- ^ abFraunhofer Gesellschaft, Fraunhofer Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen-A (1996-10-30). 'WinPlay3 - Windows real-time ISO/MPEG Audio Layer 3 Player'. Archived from the original on 1997-06-06. Retrieved 2018-01-21.
- ^ abGruett, Matt. 'M3U FILES AND STREAMING'. LockerGnome. Archived from the original on 2001-04-26.
- ^Nero. 'Nero MediaHome 4 - Manual'(PDF). Archived(PDF) from the original on 2015-09-05.
- ^'WINAMP.COM | Winamp Documentation'. June 6, 2002. Archived from the original on 2002-06-06.
- ^'VideoLAN-SA-0804 (CVE-2007-6683)'. 2008.
Arbitrary file overwrite and other abuses through M3U parser and browsers plugins.
- ^'CVE-2012-0677: Heap-based buffer overflow in Apple iTunes before 10.6.3 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands'. cve.circl.lu.
- ^'CVE-2000-0624: Buffer overflow in Winamp 2.64 and earlier allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands via a long #EXTINF: ext'. www.cvedetails.com.
- ^'247 search results'. Packet Storm. Retrieved 2018-01-23.
- ^'Nero 2015 Platinum - System Requirements'.
MP3 URL + UTF-8 (M3U8)
- ^ abc'Album List for Winamp'. albumlist.sourceforge.net.
- ^ abcde'Data'. birdcagesoft. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^'About the Common Media Application Format with HTTP Live Streaming | Apple Developer Documentation'. developer.apple.com.
- ^R. Pantos; W. May (August 2007). '4.3 Playlist Tags'. RFC 8216: HTTP Live Streaming. Ietf Request for Comments (RFC) Pages - Test. IETF. ISSN2070-1721.
- ^ abPantos, Roger; May, William. 'HTTP Live Streaming'. tools.ietf.org.
- ^'Media Types'. www.iana.org.
- ^'Data'. iana. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
- ^ ab'Simplified Adaptive Video Streaming: Announcing support for HLS and DASH in Windows 10 – IEBlog'. blogs.msdn.microsoft.com.
- ^'HTMLVideoElement'. MDN Web Docs.
- ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-12.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^'DigiLinX Application Note - Creating Playlists to Work with the Streaming Music Manager'(PDF). 2007-10-05.
- ^'Mp3tag Help - Configuration > Export'. help.mp3tag.de.
- ^'Mp3tag Help - Configuration > Playlist'. help.mp3tag.de.
- ^'Mp3tag Help - Scripting functions'. help.mp3tag.de.
- ^'Loading...'astroplayer.com. Archived from the original on December 1, 2009.
- ^'Astro Player (old) - Sidenis LLC'. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
- ^'Astro Player - Sidenis LLC'. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
- ^'n7player Music Player - Apps on Google Play'. play.google.com.
- ^'n7player 1.0 - Apps on Google Play'. play.google.com.
- ^'Musicolet Music Player [No ads] - Apps on Google Play'. play.google.com. Retrieved 2020-11-02.
- ^Hindley, Nathan. 'XMPlay 3.8.2'. XMPlay. Un4seen Developments. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
External links[edit]
- 'Unofficial M3U and PLS file specification'. Forum. Tech Support Greatest Hits. WinAmp. 2008 [2001].
- Gonze, Lucas (2003). 'Survey of playlist formats'. Draft.
- May, W. (2017). Pantos, R. (ed.). 'HTTP Live Streaming specification'. Draft. IETF.
Includes M3U and M3U8
Playlists are the list of songs or videos, set in the desired order by the user. Playlists are mostly created for mp3, wma and aac files, i.e. songs.
Related:
M3u Video Playlist Creator Software
There are many software available which create playlists easily. Here are some of the best applications chosen from them. Playlist Creator Software Download
1. M3U Playlist Creator
Simply copy this batch file to any folder containing mp3, flac files and double-click on it. It creates an m3u playlist. It handles special (non-ASCII) characters in the file names, since it is checking the active ANSI code page of the current Windows, and sets it to the dos command terminal window.
Key Features
- Portable and smaller in size.
- Simple interface and very easy to use.
- Works on all Windows platforms.
2. Music Player by Leopard V7
M3u Playlist Maker
This application has powerful equalizer and searches quickly for music files. This is one of the best music and audio player. Creating playlist is very easily done in this application. It also has customisable skins available.
Key Features
- Support all the most popular music file formats.
- Browse and play your music by albums, artists, songs, playlists, and folders.
- SHAKE phone to change playing music and custom playlist.
3. Music Folder Player Free by ZorillaSoft
Music Folder Player was made for people who don’t like to see music displayed based on artist, album, track or playlists. For users who prefer organizing their audio tracks in the folder, this is the right player and music organizer for them.
Key features
- Show folder hierarchy like in a file manager for larger collections.
- Virtual folder with favourite songs.
- Car/Sports mode with big buttons.
4. Playlist Creator
Playlist Creator is a free and feature-rich, yet simple-to-use software utility that enables the user to put together playlists with numerous audio tracks and prepare them for playback on the computer or external devices. It offers support for CDA, FLAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, AVI, MPEG, MPG, OGM and WMV files, together with PLS and M3U playlist formats for the output files.
Key Features
- Fast and effective playlist creator.
- Rapid setup and intuitive user interface.
- Add files and create playlists easily.
5. Dynamic Playlist Creator
M3u Video Playlist Creator Youtube
Dynamic Playlist Creator is an entirely free program to manage music collection in an easy way. The user can create and change playlist in real time. Music can be chosen with just a few clicks.
Create M3u Playlist Windows 10
Key Features
- Dynamic Playlist Creator supports editing metadata (design and specification of data structure) of multimedia file formats. The aim of this option is to sort and correct music collections.
- The interface can be configured according to users need and taste.
- Add album art, remote playback (streaming), scans the system for media files and supported formats: mo3, midi, mpeg-1, wav, mod, wma, m4a, flac, etc.
These are some of the best playlist creator software chosen from the hundreds of similar applications. Millions of users have already downloaded and use these apps to manage their playlists. These are the best application available in the market.
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