M3U
M3U is an open playlist format for media files that are grouped together as a list. Originally developed for MP3 files ( M3U stands for MP3 URL) to any media formats through the M3U files can be displayed. The M3U format is supported by most media players as a playlist. An alternative playlist format is PLS.
Specification
M3U is a free editable text file. The specification was developed in the late 90s and is now supported by most media players.
A distinction is made between the following formats:
- Simple M3U
- Extended M3U
Simple M3U
In simple M3U, either the full file name can be specified with absolute or relative path or a URL to a file on a Web server.
Example:
Title 1.mp3 Pop \ My \ title 2.ogg C: \ Documents and Settings \ All Users \ Documents \ My Music \ title 3.flac http://www.example.com/musik/titel4.mp3 In this example, the file title 1.mp3 in the same directory as the M3U file, title 2.ogg is located two folders within the M3U file for title 3.flac was an absolute path is specified and titel4.mp3 located on a Web server. Furthermore, lines beginning with '#', treated as a comment (ie not read).
Extended M3U
In contrast to the simple M3U additional metadata and header data area are used in the extended M3U.
Example:
# EXTM3U # EXTINF: 221, Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody Title 1.mp3 # EXTINF: 473, Dire Straits - Walk Of Life Pop \ My \ title 2.ogg # EXTINF: 264 ,冨 田 勲- Boléro C: \ Documents and Settings \ All Users \ Documents \ My Music \ title irgendeinenummer.flac # EXTINF: 504, Bob Marley - Buffalo Soldier http://www.seite.invalid/musik/titel4.mp3 The first line # EXTM3U is the introduction of header data and specifies the format of M3U, with extended M3US is always the first line # EXTM3U to use.
After the first line, followed by the actual content of the M3U. 2 lines are required for each media file:
- The first line always begins with # EXTINF: , followed by the length of the media file in whole seconds. After the length of a comma as a delimiter is used, followed by the name of the media file, which is used for display in the media player. As in PLS format - - If the specified length is smaller than the actual length, the length specified is ignored. ( Substituting the length to -1, it is also not considered. )
- The second line is identical to the specification of simple M3US, here is the full file name is specified with an absolute or relative path or a URL to a file on a Web server.
However, there are also mixed forms in which individual items can occur without a # EXTINF line.
Unix ( Mac OS X / Linux)
On Linux and Mac OS X M3US are constructed analogously. The paths of the DOS / Windows-specific drive letter, and the name is omitted in the directory hierarchy are Unix - compliant separated with a normal slash [ /]. A typical example of an extended M3U file could therefore look like this:
# EXTM3U # EXTINF: 123, All - Our song / media / My hard drive / path / to / my / Songs / All / Our album / Our Lied.flac # EXTINF: 321, All - Your song Path / to / my / Songs / All / Our album / Your Lied.ogg # EXTINF: 231, All - Liedlos. . / Your hard drive / path / to / your / Songs / All / Our Album/Liedlos.m4a # EXTINF: 213, All - Your Song http://www.beispiel.org/musik/Alle-Unser_Album-Euer_Lied.mp3 # EXTINF: 0, All - I ~ / Music / All / Ich.wma # EXTINF: -1, all - all Alle.mp4 The usual place for hinged external hard drives [ / media / disk name]. The abbreviation [ ~ ] is often used for the user folder (usually [/ home / UserName ] ). Two points as directory information ([.. ] ) is used under DOS / Windows and Unix-like systems, all as specified for the parent directory.