M3U playlist or Xtream login: what's the difference?
An M3U playlist is a list of stream addresses; an Xtream login is a server, username and password that let a player ask the provider for its whole catalog. If you're offered both, use the Xtream login: it brings film details, a guide for each channel and your account's expiry.
The short answer
- M3U playlist: a text file listing stream addresses, with names, logos and categories. The guide is a separate XMLTV file.
- Xtream login: a server address, a username and a password. The player asks the provider's server for channels, films, series, details and the guide.
- Which to use: the Xtream login, if your provider gives you one, because it carries more. Use M3U when that's all you have, or when the source is a tuner, a DVR server or a playlist you made.
What an M3U playlist is
M3U is a plain text format. A line of details comes before each stream's address:
#EXTM3U url-tvg="http://example.com/epg.xml.gz"#EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="news.example" tvg-logo="http://example.com/logo.png" group-title="News",Example Newshttp://example.com/live/1001.ts
From that a player gets a name, a logo, a category (group-title) and an address for each entry, and a guide link if the first line names one. Films and series are just more entries: a title and perhaps a poster, with no plot or cast. The whole list is one file, downloaded again each time it's refreshed, and from a large provider that file can be very large.
M3U is also what home tuners and DVR software speak. If you run an HDHomeRun, Tvheadend or similar, see HDHomeRun and Tvheadend on iPhone.
What an Xtream login is
Xtream Codes was the name of panel software that many IPTV services once ran on. The original software is long gone, but the way it talks to apps lived on, and a great many servers still speak it, which is why players call it an Xtream login or the Xtream Codes API. There's no published specification, so servers differ in the details.
You get three things: a server address with a port, a username and a password. With them a player can ask for:
- live channels, films and series, each in the provider's categories;
- details where the provider fills them in: plot, cast, director, rating, release date, seasons and episodes;
- a guide for each channel, with no separate link to find;
- the account itself: when it expires and how many connections it allows.
Spotting an Xtream login inside a link
Providers often send what looks like a playlist link but is really an Xtream login:
http://example.com:8080/get.php?username=YOURNAME&password=YOURPASS&type=m3u_plus&output=ts
The giveaway is get.php with a username and password in it. Links with player_api.php or xmltv.php carry the same login. Read it like this:
- Server: everything before
/get.php, herehttp://example.com:8080 - Username: what comes after
username= - Password: what comes after
password=
Type those into a player's Xtream sign-in. In Vela you don't have to pick it apart: choose M3U Playlist, paste the whole link, and Vela signs in with the Xtream login inside it.
Side by side
- What you enter: M3U takes one link or a file, plus a guide link; Xtream takes a server, a username and a password.
- The guide: M3U needs a separate XMLTV link, or has none; Xtream includes it for each channel the provider has listings for.
- Film and series details: M3U gives a title and perhaps a poster; Xtream gives plot, cast and more where the provider has them.
- Account expiry and connection limit: not shown with M3U; shown with Xtream.
- Home tuners and DVR software: M3U, yes; Xtream, usually not.
Vela takes both, and you can keep one of each as separate providers in Account and switch between them. Setting up an IPTV player on iPhone has the steps.
Vela includes no channels or content. Use it only with a subscription or playlist you're entitled to use.