Playlist file format

[Robert@abilina.org]

I have a large number of .m3u files created
with an older version of winamp. The files
are basically text files, with one line per
song. The latest version of winamp will no
longer accept these files, and when I examine
a newly created .m3u file, the format is clearly different.

Questions: is there any documentation available on the new .m3u file format?

Is there anyway to get the new winamp to accept or convert these older files to the newer format?

The extra lines in the new .m3u files apparently adds new features to the program. What are these new features?

[bluetooth]

The new M3U files have the first line:
#EXTM3U

then they have a line of extended info:
#EXTINF:n,x
where n is the length in seconds of the track (- if length is unknown) and x is the actual text to display in the playlist editor
finally, the second line of each entry is the full path or ULR of the file:
drive:\path\file.mp3

For example:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,http://mp3-2.thesync.com/geeks26.mp3 http://mp3-2.thesync.com/geeks26.mp3
#EXTINF:132,James Horner - Murron's Burial (from Braveheart) ~ Soundtrack
D:\MP3s\Sound Tracks\James Horner - Braveheart\07. Murron's Burial.mp3


I hope this helps somewhat.

~Adam

[Robert@abilina.org]

Thanks, Adam---that was just what I needed!

[David Fang]

Hi Adam,

I read your reply.

Does Winamp 2.61 always follow this playlist format? For my case, the playlist generated by Winamp 2.61 does not write out the drive letter. Also, sometimes when the list is long (40 plus tracks) the extended info for each track is omitted entirely. I'm very puzzled, since I'm writing some codes to extract info from the playlist. How can I ensure a consistent file format?

- David

[Mr. Ice]

the track information the winamp writes to the file depends on where the mp3 files are, and where you save the playlist.

for example, if the song c:\mp3\stuff\hi.mp3 is in the playlist, and you save the playlist to c:\mp3\stuff\ the playlist will record hi.mp3 as the filename. if you save the playlist to d:\ the playlist will record c:\mp3\stuff\hi.mp3

if you're writing code to extract data from the playlist file, just add the ability to skip the extended data line if it isn't there.