M3U playlist setup

Configure an M3U provider as an input, integrate EPG, and publish an M3U output.

M3U is the universal playlist format supported by virtually every IPTV provider and media player. This guide shows you how to load M3U playlists, attach EPG sources and publish processed playlists to clients.

Step 1: Define an M3U input

1. Add the input to source.yml

   source.yml

   inputs:
     - type: m3u
       name: my_m3u_provider
       url: http://provider.example/playlist.m3u
   

   Use file:// to load a local playlist file:

   source.yml

   inputs:
     - type: m3u
       name: local_list
       url: file:///home/tuliprox/playlists/channels.m3u
   
2. Create a source and target

   Wire the input to a target and set the output type to m3u:

   source.yml

   templates:
     - name: ALL_CHAN
       value: 'Group ~ ".*"'
   inputs:
     - type: m3u
       name: my_m3u_provider
       url: http://provider.example/playlist.m3u
   sources:
     - inputs:
         - my_m3u_provider
       targets:
         - name: all_channels
           output:
             - type: m3u
           filter: "!ALL_CHAN!"
   
3. Configure api-proxy.yml

   api-proxy.yml

   server:
     - name: default
       protocol: http
       host: 192.168.1.41
       port: 8901
       timezone: Europe/Berlin
       message: Welcome to tuliprox
   user:
     - target: all_channels
       credentials:
         - username: user1
           password: secret
           proxy: redirect
           server: default
   

The M3U playlist is then available at:

http://host:port/get.php?username=user1&password=secret

Or using the REST-friendly alias:

http://host:port/m3u?username=user1&password=secret

EPG (XMLTV) integration

Attach one or more EPG sources to the input using the epg block:

source.yml

inputs:
  - type: m3u
    name: my_m3u_provider
    url: http://provider.example/playlist.m3u
    epg:
      sources:
        - url: http://provider.example/epg.xml
          priority: -1
        - url: auto
          priority: -2
          logo_override: true
      smart_match:
        enabled: true
        fuzzy_matching: true
        match_threshold: 80
        best_match_threshold: 99

url: auto tells tuliprox to use the EPG URL embedded in the M3U playlist itself, if present.

Clients retrieve the EPG at:

http://host:port/xmltv.php?username=user1&password=secret

M3U output options

Field	Description
filename	Custom filename for the generated M3U file
include_type_in_url	Append the content type to stream URLs
mask_redirect_url	Mask the provider URL in redirect responses
filter	Additional per-output filter expression

Example:

output:
  - type: m3u
    filename: my_channels.m3u
    include_type_in_url: true

Batch M3U sources

Use m3u_batch to load many provider URLs from a CSV file:

source.yml

inputs:
  - type: m3u_batch
    name: batch_providers
    url: batch://providers.csv

The CSV file must have these columns:

Column	Description
url	Provider playlist URL
max_connections	Maximum concurrent connections
priority	Failover priority (lower = higher priority)

Alternatively, use an m3u input with a batch:// URL — tuliprox treats it the same as m3u_batch.

Common issues

Playlist is empty after update

Verify the URL is reachable from the tuliprox host:

curl -I "http://provider.example/playlist.m3u"

For file:// URLs confirm the path exists and tuliprox has read permission.

EPG not populating

EPG matching depends on the tvg-id attribute in the M3U entries matching channel IDs in the XMLTV data. Enable smart_match with fuzzy_matching to handle minor name differences.

Groups or channel names look wrong

M3U attribute parsing reads group-title and tvg-name from #EXTINF lines. Check the raw playlist to confirm those attributes are present. Use the rename and mapping features to normalise names after import.

Client requests timeout on large playlists

For very large playlists consider enabling disk_based_processing: true in config.yml to reduce peak memory usage during updates.