IPTV M3U Playlists & Electronic Program Guide (EPG)
Learn how M3U playlists, Xtream Codes APIs, and XMLTV program guides power your television streaming experience.
What is an M3U Playlist?
An M3U (Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer 3 Uniform Resource Locator) file or URL is a plain-text playlist format that points your IPTV player to multimedia stream sources on remote servers. Each entry contains stream metadata: channel name, logo URL, group category (e.g. US Sports, UK Entertainment, VOD Movies), and the exact HLS/MPEG-TS streaming URL.
M3U vs. Xtream Codes API
While standard M3U links work well on basic media players like VLC, the Xtream Codes API format is preferred for modern IPTV apps such as Hot Player and TiviMate. With Xtream Codes, you simply input:
- Server URL: (e.g., http://server.lexonstream.com:8080)
- Username: Your personal account identifier
- Password: Your encrypted account token
Xtream Codes enables automatic category sorting, live VOD synchronization, subtitle selection, and built-in EPG mapping.
How Electronic Program Guides (EPG) Work
The Electronic Program Guide (EPG) is the on-screen interactive schedule that shows what programs are currently airing and what is scheduled next. Lexonstream IPTV provides high-accuracy XMLTV EPG data covering thousands of global channels with 7-day future schedules and channel icons.