.m3u
| Filename extensions |
.m3u, .m3u8
|
|---|---|
| Internet media type | various; see § Internet media types |
| Type of format | Playlist |
| Extended to | HTTP Live Streaming playlist |
M3U 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 that company's Winplay3 software, but numerous media players and software applications now support the format.
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.
Each entry carries one specification. The specification can be any one of the following:
The M3U file can also include comments, prefaced by the "#" character. In extended M3U, "#" also introduces extended M3U directives.
The following are M3U extensions:
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 Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH) in general.
The current proposal for the HLS playlist format uses UTF-8 exclusively and does not distinguish between the "m3u" and "m3u8" file name extensions.
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.
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