M3U: Difference between revisions
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SimonDedman (talk | contribs) crucial info for editing m3u files manually |
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One common use of the M3U file format is creating a playlist file that contains a single entry pointing to a [[Streaming media|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. |
One common use of the M3U file format is creating a playlist file that contains a single entry pointing to a [[Streaming media|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. |
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The file is saved with the "M3U" or "m3u" [[filename extension]]. |
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. |
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"m3u" files properly use the [[Latin-1]] [[charset]]. The unicode version of "m3u" is "m3u8", which can include [[UTF-8]] unicode characters.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} Many applications can treat a m3u file as UTF-8, however.{{Or|date=June 2009}}{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} |
"m3u" files properly use the [[Latin-1]] [[charset]]. The unicode version of "m3u" is "m3u8", which can include [[UTF-8]] unicode characters.{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} Many applications can treat a m3u file as UTF-8, however.{{Or|date=June 2009}}{{Citation needed|date=June 2009}} |
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Revision as of 00:15, 1 October 2009
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| Filename extension |
.m3u |
|---|---|
| Internet media type |
audio/x-mpegurl |
| Type code | M3U |
| Developed by | Nullsoft |
| Type of format | Playlist |
M3U (Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 Uniform Resource Locator[citation needed]) 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 contains the locations of one or more media files that the mediaplayer should play. Each location is placed on a new line. The locations can be either absolute or relative local pathnames (e.g., "C:\My Music\Heavysets.mp3" or "Heavysets.mp3") or they can be URLs. The 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 can include UTF-8 unicode characters.[citation needed] Many applications can treat a m3u file as UTF-8, however.[original research?][citation needed]
Compare with
- Advanced Stream Redirector (ASX)
- PLS (file format)
- XSPF
- B4S (file format) Winamp3 XML based playlist format
- WPL Windows Media Player Playlist
Extended M3U directives
#EXTM3U - header - must be first line of file #EXTINF - extra info - length (seconds), title
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 title C:\Documents and Settings\I\My Music\Sample.mp3 #EXTINF:321,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 title Sample.mp3 #EXTINF:321,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.mp3 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 are not well-supported, for example, the following line:
AnotherPlayList.m3u
External links
- A survey of playlist formats (Lucas Gonze, November 17, 2003)
- M3U (WinAmp) Play List Specification