M3U is a file format for multimedia playlists. This file points to streams on the net for watching TV channels or listening to radio stations. With a high-quality M3U playlist, you can access free IPTV. In this guide, you will learn how to create a new M3U playlist based on an existing one and how to edit it.
First, you need to learn the structure of an M3U playlist
An M3U playlist is a file in textual format, meaning you can open and edit it with a text editor. We recommend using Notepad++, which you can download from here, but any good text editor will do the job.
The easiest way is to create and edit the file on your computer. In case the file is needed on your Android device, an easy option is to use a USB flash drive to transfer it. Connect the USB flash drive to your computer, copy the file to the USB flash drive, connect the USB flash drive to your Android device, and copy the file to the Android device.
Let’s discuss the structure of the file. An M3U playlist is composed of multiple lines, each line representing a channel. A line is composed of tags. However, different M3U files may have some variations in the format and may use different tags. We will discuss one of those variations, but the concept is the same.
Here is an example of a line from an M3U file:
#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id=”CNNUSA.us” tvg-country=”US” tvg-language=”English” tvg-logo=”https://i.imgur.com/Ivyl5SQ.gif” group-title=”News”,CNN USA (720p) [Geo-blocked] https://turnerlive.warnermediacdn.com/hls/live/586495/cnngo/cnn_slate/VIDEO_0_3564000.m3u8
The line starts with #EXTINF:-1 and ends with the name of the channel, which is CNN USA (720p) [Geo-blocked], and then the URL of the channel, which refers to M3U8 file (the Unicode version of M3U). In between, you find the different tags:
- tag-id – The ID of the channel. In our example, the ID is CNNUSA.us
- tvg-country – The country where the channel originated. In our example, the country is US
- tvg-language – The language spoken in the channel. In our example, the language is English
- tvg-logo – The URL of the channel’s logo, which refers to an image file
- group-title – The group the channels belong to. In our example, the channel CNN belongs to the group News
The tags don’t affect the playback of the channels themselves but only affect the playlist.
Here is how to create your M3U playlist:
An M3U playlist may contain thousands of channels, and from there, you may want only a few. By creating your playlist, you eliminate the need to load many redundant channels you don’t need.
- Click here to download the M3U file we will use in this tutorial
- Open the file with Notepad++
- Create a new file named iptv.m3u
- Copy the lines of the channels you want from the original file to the new file and save it
Here is how to edit your M3U playlist:
- Change the country by changing the value for the tvg-country tag
- Change the language by changing the value for the tvg-language tag
- Change the logo by providing a different URL for the tvg-logo tag
- Change the group by changing the value for the group-title tag
- Change the name of the channel
- Change the URL of the channel
You can use Kodi or IPTV app to load your playlists.
Now you can create and edit M3U playlists and enjoy your collection of channels.