What is a .m3u file?
M3U Playlist · Audio · Fraunhofer / Nullsoft (Winamp) · 1990s
An .m3u file is a playlist: a plain-text list of paths or URLs pointing to the songs or videos to play, in order. It holds no audio itself, only references to the media files.
What is a .m3u file used for?
Each line of an M3U is a file path or a web URL. An extended M3U begins with #EXTM3U and adds #EXTINF lines with track titles and durations. Because it only points at media, moving or renaming the referenced files breaks the playlist.
Almost every media player (VLC, Winamp, iTunes) opens M3U. The UTF-8 variant is M3U8, which is also the backbone of HLS streaming.
What opens a .m3u file?
The .m3u format opens in the following apps, grouped by operating system. If one app does not work, try another from the same list.
Windows
- VLC
- Winamp
- Windows Media Player
macOS
- VLC
- Music (iTunes)
Linux
- VLC
- Rhythmbox
- any text editor
Open a .m3u file step by step
- Confirm the file really is a .m3u. Drop it into the WhatFileType identifier, which reads its signature in your browser without uploading anything.
- On Windows, open it with VLC or Winamp.
- On Mac, use VLC or Music (iTunes).
- On Linux, try VLC or Rhythmbox.
- Still stuck? Convert the .m3u to pls, which opens more widely.
Why can't I open my .m3u file?
Almost always because no installed app understands M3U. Install one of the apps above, or convert the file to a format your existing software already reads. If double-clicking opens the wrong program instead of nothing at all, the file association is set to the wrong app rather than the file being broken.
The other possibility is that the file is not really a .m3u at all. Drop it into the file identifier to check it by its bytes instead of its name. Nothing is uploaded.
How to convert a .m3u file
You can convert a .m3u file to pls, xspf using a conversion tool or the export menu of an app that opens it.
M3U has no fixed magic number, so there is no signature table on this page. Its bytes alone do not prove the format: identification relies on the extension, the structure of the content and the program that created it. The magic-numbers reference lists the formats that do carry one.
Frequently asked questions
What is a .m3u file?
An .m3u file is a playlist: a plain-text list of paths or URLs pointing to the songs or videos to play, in order. It holds no audio itself, only references to the media files.
How do I open an .m3u file?
Open it in a media player like VLC, which loads the listed tracks. A text editor shows the raw list of paths and URLs.
Why won't my M3U playlist find its songs?
M3U stores file paths, not the audio. If the music files moved, were renamed, or are on another computer, the player cannot find them.
What is the difference between M3U and M3U8?
They are the same playlist format; M3U8 is saved as UTF-8, so it handles non-English characters and is used for HLS internet streaming.
Related formats
Sources
Details on this page were checked against authoritative references. How sources are ranked and what is deliberately left out is set out in the methodology.