What you need
- Your personal M3U link
- A player that accepts a playlist address
- An understanding that this link is a credential
No login yet? Get a free 24-hour trial or choose a plan.
Step-by-step setup
Treat it as a password, because it contains two
The address is shaped http://server:port/get.php with your username and password written into it as parameters. Anyone reading that link owns your subscription until it is reissued. People post it in forums while asking why a channel will not play, weekly. Describe the problem instead; send the link only to support.
Use it to check each person's channels
Open it in VLC on a computer and the whole line-up becomes searchable. Then go through the household by name: the competition one follows, the national channel another wants, the children's channels. Search each. Thirty seconds per person, and it is a definitive answer that no page on this site — ours included — can give you.
Put it wherever a player insists on one
VLC: Media, Open Network Stream. Smart IPTV: paired with a MAC at siptv.app/mylist. Kodi: the IPTV Simple Client add-on and its M3U field. Smarters and TiViMate will accept one too, though on those the login is better and there is no reason to take this route.
Keep it out of anywhere public
Because your username and password sit inside the link itself, posting it in a forum, a support thread or a screenshot hands your subscription to whoever reads it. This happens more often than you would think, usually from somebody asking why a channel will not play. Describe the problem instead and send the link only to support.
Supply the guide separately if asked
Some software wants programme data as its own address, ending xmltv.php with your credentials attached. Support will send it. If your player builds the guide by itself, you are on the login route and none of this applies.
Then leave it alone and set the screens up properly
VLC keeps no favourites, shows no guide and forgets where you were — an instrument rather than a place to spend an evening. Once it has answered your question, configure the household's actual screens with the Xtream login and run the trial there.
Common errors and fixes
It takes forever to open
Simpler players parse every entry before displaying anything and there are thousands. Either move to a player that understands categories, or ask support for a version filtered to your country, which shortens the file dramatically and makes older software usable again.
Some channels play, others refuse
In VLC that is usually a format the default engine declines rather than a channel that is down. Test the same channel in Smarters before reporting anything: a stream that works in one player and not another is telling you about the player.
It stopped after a renewal
A renewal occasionally issues a fresh link. Ask support for the current one. The Xtream credentials usually survive renewals unchanged, which is a modest argument for preferring them wherever a player gives you the choice.
Channel names are missing, only addresses show
Very old players ignore the descriptive metadata and display raw addresses. Your playlist is not damaged. Use current software rather than attempting to repair a file that is already correct.
Other apps that work with IPVARIO
Smart IPTV (SIPTV)
Set up Smart IPTV on a Samsung or LG television: find the MAC, upload your M3U at siptv.app, activate. Ideal for older second sets. 25,000+ channels.
Windows PC and Mac
Watch IPTV on Windows or Mac with IPTV Smarters for desktop, VLC and an M3U link, or the browser player. Nothing to configure. 25,000+ channels.
All setup guides
Every device and app we support, in one place.
Ready to watch on your M3U playlist?
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M3U playlist IPTV FAQ
Why do the free lists online stop working?
They are scraped feeds republished for anyone to take, so an enormous number of people hit a single source simultaneously until it is blocked or collapses — usually within days. Nobody is answerable when it does, and the sites hosting them have a documented history of distributing malware. A paid playlist points at capacity reserved for your account.
When should I prefer the login?
Almost always. The login brings the guide and the catalogue with it; the playlist brings neither. Reserve the playlist for players that speak nothing else, and for the searching job described above.
Can I give it to family?
Inside your household that is what it is for — same subscription, and the tier governs how many of you watch together. Beyond the household you are handing over the account, and the simultaneous limit will make that obvious quickly. Links found published are closed without refund.
Does opening it in VLC use a screen?
While something is playing, yes. A laptop counts exactly as a television does, which catches people out mid-test when somebody is watching in the lounge. Close it when you have finished looking.
Can I open the file to see what is in it?
You can — it is plain text, and opening it in an editor shows every channel name paired with an address. That is the quickest way to check whether a specific channel exists at all, without waiting for a player to load thousands of entries. Search the file for the name somebody in the house cares about; if it is not there, no amount of configuration will produce it.
Will the M3U work in Kodi?
Through the IPTV Simple Client add-on, yes, with the playlist address in its M3U field and the guide address entered separately. Kodi is powerful and fiddly in equal measure. If you are not already a Kodi household, Smarters will get everyone watching considerably faster and with fewer moving parts.
Does the playlist change without me doing anything?
The link stays the same and its contents are refreshed at our end as channels move, which is why players that reload from the link stay current while a saved copy drifts. If a player of yours has been showing the same dead channel for weeks, it is almost certainly holding a stored copy rather than re-reading the link.
Does the on-demand catalogue come through it?
Partly, and untidily — films and box sets arrive as enormous flat groups rather than the browsable library the Xtream login produces. Since the catalogue is what keeps somebody off the main television, judging it through a playlist will understate it badly.
Is the M3U the same account as the login?
Identical — the same line, wrapped differently. The playlist carries your username and password inside the address itself, where the Xtream route keeps them as separate fields. Neither is a second subscription and using both changes nothing about what you are charged or how many screens you may run.
Should I keep a saved copy of the file?
No. A downloaded copy stops updating the moment you save it, so channels that move or are added will never appear. Always point players at the link rather than at a file on disk, which is the whole reason the Keep online option exists in apps that cache it.