Forum Discussion

ad34754932's avatar
ad34754932
Roku Guru
3 years ago

Does Roku Have Playlist m3u Support?

The Roku Media Player is not recognizing the m3u playlist files that are links to the actual audio files on USB drive.   Does Roku Ultra not support m3u files?

9 Replies

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  • RokuNimfa-C's avatar
    RokuNimfa-C
    Retired Moderator

    Hi ad34754932

    Thanks for your inquiry. 

    Does the music files are the only ones not working? Have you tried to manually scan all the audio files to build a database of your content? Use the steps described below.

    1. Launch Roku Media Player
    2. Select the icon for All, Video, Audio, or Photo
    3. On the Select Media device screen, make sure the icon for your USB drive is highlighted in the center of your screen
    4. Press Star on your Roku remote to display information about your USB drive.
    5. Select Scan
      • Note: If Roku Media Player already built a database of the content on your USB drive, Scan may not appear.

    Please be guided through this link if you are encountering errors accessing the Roku Media Player: How to use Roku Media Player to play your videos, music and photos

    Kindly keep us posted on how it goes. 


    Regards, 
    Nimfa

    • ad34754932's avatar
      ad34754932
      Roku Guru

      Hello,

      I did a re-scan of the USB Drive.  It then found my sample Playlist m3u however it wouldn't recognize links:

      "No compatible media found in Playlist_Dan.m3u"

      I created the playlist using Text Edit on MacOS:

      /Volumes/KMUSIC/Phil Collins/The Singles Disc 2/05 Phil Collins - One More Night.mp3
      /Volumes/KMUSIC/Poco/Legend/05 - Love Comes Love Goes.mp3
      /Volumes/KMUSIC/Outfield, The/Play Deep/01 - Say It Isn't So.mp3
      /Volumes/KMUSIC/Romantics, The/Super Hits/02 Talking In Your Sleep.mp3
      /Volumes/KMUSIC/Jump, Little Children/Vertigo/09 - Words Of Wisdom.mp3

      So these links work on MacOS but not on Roku.   Is there a Universal way to specify folder path so works on all platforms?

      • AvsGunnar's avatar
        AvsGunnar
        Community Streaming Expert

        ad34754932 

        Try creating a M3U playlist in the following format. (you should be able to use any text editor and just save as m3u file type.)

        #EXTM3U
        #EXTINF:,One More Night.mp3
        Volumes/KMUSIC/Phil Collins/The Singles Disc 2/05 Phil Collins - One More Night.mp3
        #EXTINF:,Love Comes Love Goes.mp3
        Volumes/KMUSIC/Poco/Legend/05 - Love Comes Love Goes.mp3
        #EXTINF:,Say It Isn't So.mp3
        Volumes/KMUSIC/Outfield, The/Play Deep/01 - Say It Isn't So.mp3

        -------

        In the above, make sure you specify the file is a M3U by including #EXTM3U at the head (first line) of playlist.  In the #EXTINF line (this is the title that displays/shows), make sure to include the " " before the title unless you include the length of the track/song (generally the number of seconds.  A 3 min song would be formatted as #EXTINFO:90,SongName)  You do not need to add a track length, but need this comma so the title will display.

        Just have to make sure that your file tree structure is correct when using playlists with Roku.  Different media players will treat different characters differently and Roku Media Player (RMP) can be a bit finicky.

        Try eliminating that first " " preceding "Volumes" directory in your m3u file and see if that is was your sticky point.

        -------

        There is a discussion on another thread https://community.roku.com/t5/Features-settings-updates/What-is-the-specific-usb-m3u-file-format-for-playlist-on-Ultra/m-p/853279 where the file folder location is discussed (with links to other threads as well for further info), and atc98092 addresses how to create PLS file formats if you want to try that playlist format as well.