M3U
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| Filename extension | .m3u |
|---|---|
| Internet media type | audio/x-mpegurl |
| Type code | M3U |
| Developed by | Nullsoft |
| Type of format | Playlist |
M3U is a computer file format that stores multimedia playlists. It was originally implemented in Winamp, although it is now supported by many applications.
An M3U file is a plain text file that specifies the locations of one or more media files that the media player should play. Each line carries one specification. The specification can be one of:
- an absolute local pathname e.g., C:\My Music\Heavysets.mp3
- a local pathname relative to the M3U file location e.g. Heavysets.mp3
- a URL.
The M3U file can also include comments, prefaced by the "#" character. In extended M3U, "#" also introduces extended M3U directives.
One common use of the M3U file format is creating a playlist file that contains a single entry pointing to a stream on the Internet. The created file provides easy access to that stream and can be used for things like downloading from a website or for emailing, or for Internet radio listening.
The file is saved with the "M3U" or "m3u" filename extension, and - if edited in a text editor - must be encoded in the ANSI (Windows-1252) format in order to be understood by media players.
"m3u" files properly use the Latin-1 charset. The unicode version of "m3u" is "m3u8", which uses UTF-8 unicode characters.
Contents |
[edit] Extended M3U directives
#EXTM3U - header - must be first line of file #EXTINF - extra info - length (seconds), title
It is a common convention to include the artist in the title, separated by a dash, e.g.,
#EXTINF - extra info - length (seconds), artist '-' title
[edit] Example
Here 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. A length of -1 may be used when the media file is a streaming file, as there is no predefined actual 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.
#EXTM3U #EXTINF:123,Sample Artist - Sample title C:\Documents and Settings\I\My Music\Sample.mp3 #EXTINF:321,Example Artist - Example title C:\Documents and Settings\I\My Music\Greatest Hits\Example.ogg
This example shows how to create an m3u file linking to a specified folder (Flash drive, CD-ROM, for example). The m3u file should contain only one string: the path to the folder. After starting up, the media player will play all contents of the folder:
C:\Music
Here is another example, in relative format. The M3U file is placed in the same folder as the music, and directories must be preserved when moving the playlist to another device if subfolders are used. This method is more compatible as it doesn't rely on the file path staying the same.
This is the same file as above, saved as sample.m3u in C:\Documents and Settings\I\My Music\
#EXTM3U #EXTINF:123,Sample Artist - Sample title Sample.mp3 #EXTINF:321,Example Artist - Example title Greatest Hits\Example.ogg
This format in an M3U allows you to copy it to another device for playback, if you copy all files and folders it refers to.
Here is a mixed example.
Alternative\Band - Song.mp3 Classical\Other Band - New Song.mp3 Stuff.mp3 D:\More Music\Foo.mp3 http://www.example.com:8000/Listen.pls http://www.example.com/~user/Mine.mp3
- Alternative and Classical are sub-directories of the directory that this playlist is stored in.
- "Song" and "New Song" are in sub-directories 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.
- "Listen" is a Shoutcast stream.
- "Mine" is an MP3 stored on a web server.
References to other M3U playlists, for example,
AnotherPlayList.m3u
are generally not well supported.
[edit] See also
- Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX)
- PLS
- XSPF
- B4S - Winamp3 XML based playlist format
- Windows Media Player Playlist (WPL)
[edit] External links
- A survey of playlist formats (Lucas Gonze, November 17, 2003)
- M3U (WinAmp) Play List Specification
- HTTP Live Streaming (M3U extension)
