This works so long as the media files and M3U file are kept in the same folder just as they were on the original computer. Heres a small, but not exhaustive list of programs that can open M3U documents. You can find more information about MP3 playlists in the m3u file extension entry. M3U (Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 Uniform Resource Locator, MP3 URL) is a computer file format that stores multimedia playlists. And even if you change the computer, the relative path can be identified, but the absolute path (for an example: C:/Files/My Music/Example.mp3) is not. Despite the association with audio and video, M3U files are plain text. The m3u8 file extension is commonly used for m3u playlists in UTF-8 (Unicode) format, which are used by various media players. Tips: Why do I tell you how to recognize the relative path of M3U file? Because you just need to copy & paste the URL, and then you can be free to share video/audio with others. And the M3U URL like '' is the relative path of M3U file. If the audio is being streamed online and no length is set, then you will see -1 here as the pictures shows. The number following the '#EXTINF' section is the audio length in seconds.

M3U is misunderstood in the sense that it is actually just a computer file in the format of a text file that stores a multimedia playlist or a simple URL to the actual audio/video content, usually used for streaming music/video on the internet.Īn M3U file offers the index entries to each music, but it's not a real audio file.Īll M3U files have similarities, but also differences. An M3U file is a simple, plain-text based file that acts as a musical shortcut file.

Open m3u file