FILExt - The File Extension Source

Details for file extension .M3U are on this page. Because there is no central registry for file extensions and their associated programs there may be multiple entries on this page. And, because there are many (some say over a million) such associations not all may be listed here. A search on the file extension you submitted shows 1 record(s).

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The details for each of these are shown below. The best FILExt can do for you is provide the details we know about. Selecting the information that applies to your particular situation is up to you. Use any hints provided. If the information here is not helpful, FILExt is sorry; but as a research site FILExt cannot provide personal support. If you need further information you might try the research tips on the FILExt Help Me page.

Extension: M3U
Program and/or Extension Function [What's This?]		Company [What's This?]
MP3 Playlist File
Specific Notes [What's This?]
Generally known as a Winamp Playlist file, this format has been adopted by a wide variety of MP3 players. You can also use this file for redirection on a website. Use a text editor to create an .M3U file that contains a single line: the full URL to the .MP3 file (e.g., MYAUDIO.M3U contains http://mysite.com/myaudio.mp3 as its only entry). Use ASCII mode to upload the .M3U file and binary mode to upload the .MP3 file. Be certain the server has audio/mpeg as the MIME type for the .MP3 file extension and audio/x-mpegurl for the .M3U file extension. You can then link to the .M3U file with the following HTML code: <a href="myaudio.m3u" type="audio/x-mpegurl">Play My Audio</a>. Some also use this file extension to redirect .OGG files although this is a non-standard use. The method is similar substituting .OGG and MIME type application/ogg for the media file in the above. ..... [Search for M3U file errors with this scan.]
MIME Type [What's This?]	File Classification [What's This?]	Associated Links [What's This?]
audio/x-mpegurl audio/mpeg-url application/x-winamp-playlist audio/scpls audio/x-scpls		Winamp MattBatt iAM-player Windows Media Player Musicmatch AudioPlayer
Identifying Characters [What's This?]
Hex: 23 45 58 54 4D 33 55 0D 0A ASCII: #EXTM3U
Program ID [What's This?]
(None or Unknown)
General Notes [What's This?]
Various programs use this extension; too many to list individually. Take clues from the location of the file as a possible pointer to exactly which program is producing the file. The file's date and time can also help if you know which programs you were running when the file was written.
This is record 7004 last modified on 2006-03-10.

System Info for File Extension .M3U

FILExt has been given permission to display the file extension database produced by the Associate This! program. Some of that data has already been included into the main FILExt database; but, not all. Those entries which have not yet been incorporated are shown below in the hope that they will be of some use. Data collected by FILExt on registered file extensions from user systems is also in the display. Be aware this is raw data which may require further research on your part to fully understand. In particular, look at the Program ID. Often a company will put the program's name into the short ID that Windows uses to open registered file extensions. If that's not the case, look at the complete path to the EXE file. Often, programs will install themselves into directories that give either the program or company name. The program name itself may also be used as the EXE file name. These listings are particularly important since they represent listings that are in actual use by users who have sumbitted data to FILExt and therefore these listings can point you to the most likely candidate should there be multiple entries in the FILExt main database.

MIME Type Info for File Extension .M3U

FILExt has been given permission to display a MIME type database collected by Anthony R. Nemmer. Some of that data has already been included into the main FILExt database; but, not all. Those entries which have not yet been incorporated are shown below in the hope that they will be of some use. Be aware this is raw data which may require further research on your part to fully understand. MIME type listings often contain the name of a program or, at a minimum, a type of file as the leading text in the MIME type.

General Info

• If the extension you are looking for is of the form .??_ the file is likely a compressed file and part of an install routine. When the install program runs it will expand the file and replace the underscore with the proper letter for the file type.
• If the file is sent as an audio file with any three-character extension it may be a dictation file where the extension is the dictator's initials; playable by BCB Voice Systems software (see ??? extension). The file could likewise be a dictation file in TrueSpeech format. Use Windows Sound Recorder and/or Media Player to play these back.
• If the extension you are looking for has a number at the end or is only a number and there were no results consider entering the same extension format using zero or one as some programs produce numbered split files but when the split can be extensive (e.g., .000-.999) only the first entry is in the database.

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