M3U
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| File extension: | .m3u |
|---|---|
| MIME type: | audio/x-mpegurl |
| Developed by: | Nullsoft |
| Type of format: | Playlist |
M3U (MPEG Audio Layer 3 URL) is a computer file format that stores multimedia playlists. It was originally implemented in Winamp, although it is now supported by many applications, including VLC media player, XMMS, foobar2000, JuK, Real Player, Windows Media Player, iTunes, QuickTime Player, Yahoo! Music Engine, JetAudio, RokuLabs SoundBridge, and Playstation Portable.
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\Chanson.mp3" or "Chanson.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.
The unicode version of "m3u" is "m3u8", it can include UTF-8 unicode characters.
[edit] Compare with
[edit] External links
- Definition of basic M3U format. Also includes PLS.
- Definition of the extended M3U format. - If you're trying to hand-code an m3u file, this is what you want.
- A survey of playlist formats
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