X M3U Converter 1.1

Version 1.1 adds the tools people kept asking for: merging several playlists into one, sorting and deduplicating entries, a checker that tells you exactly which tracks are missing, drag and drop, and a full command-line mode for anyone who wants to script conversions.

It exists for two everyday situations: a player that refuses to open the playlist format you have, and a playlist where every track suddenly shows up greyed out because the folder it points to no longer exists.

Both problems are common and both are trivial to fix once you stop trying to hand-edit the file.

A 400-track playlist is not something anyone should be repairing line by line in Notepad.

X M3U Converter handles the rewrite in one pass, either in your browser or through the free Windows app.

The format problem: when a player won't open your playlist

Every media player has its own preferred playlist format, and they do not all read each other's. Winamp and most internet radio directories produce PLS files.

Windows Media Player writes WPL and, for older streaming redirectors, ASX. VLC Media Player, AIMP and most web players also read the open XSPF standard.

The plain M3U and UTF-8 M3U8 formats are the closest thing to a universal default, which is exactly why converting to M3U8 is the safest move when a file won't load anywhere.

X M3U Converter reads any of these and writes any of the others - plus a plain TXT file list for scripts and tools - preserving track titles and durations (the #EXTINF metadata) wherever the target format supports them.

If you have built a library in foobar2000 or MediaMonkey and want to hand a playlist to someone running VLC, the conversion takes one click and the titles survive the trip. The same applies in reverse for the dozens of players catalogued in the multimedia tools section.

M3U versus M3U8 - the difference that actually matters

These are the same format with one distinction: text encoding. M3U8 is UTF-8, so it handles accented characters, non-Latin scripts and emoji in file names correctly.

M3U does not, which is why a playlist of tracks with Japanese or Cyrillic filenames can play perfectly on the machine that created it and fail completely on another. If any path in your playlist contains anything beyond plain ASCII, choose M3U8 as the output and the encoding problem disappears.

The path problem: playlists that break when you move files

The more frustrating failure is the playlist that opens fine but plays nothing, with every entry dimmed. This happens because playlists store locations, not the audio itself.

Move your library from C:\Music to a new D:\Audio drive, reorganise folders, or migrate to a new PC, and every absolute path inside the playlist now points at nothing.

Version 1.1 makes this repair much less of a guessing game. The new Check paths button goes through every entry and tells you what it found: tracks that exist, tracks that are missing, and web URLs (which it sensibly skips).

Missing files are listed by name, with relative paths resolved against the playlist's own folder, so you can see exactly what broke before you fix anything.

Then Find and replace in paths swaps the old root (C:\Music) for the new one (D:\Audio) across every entry at once, and Filename only strips folder information entirely, leaving just the track names so a player can relocate the files itself. For XSPF files, which store locations as file:// URIs rather than plain paths, the conversion is handled automatically in both directions.

This makes the tool a natural companion to library and editing software rather than a replacement for it. After splitting an album with CUE Splitter, trimming tracks in mp3DirectCut or Audacity, or retagging files in Mp3tag, regenerating a clean playlist that points at the new files is the last step, and it belongs in the same workflow as the rest of your audio editors.

New in 1.1: merge, sort, deduplicate

The headline addition is merging. Tick Merge all into one playlist on the Batch tab, add as many playlists as you like - mixed formats are fine, an M3U and a PLS and a WPL can all go in together - and the app writes a single combined playlist in whatever format you choose, in the order you listed them.

It pairs naturally with the new Deduplicate tool, which removes tracks that appear in more than one source.

Deduplication is smart about Windows path quirks: C:\Music\a.mp3 and c:/music/a.mp3 count as the same file, the first occurrence is kept, and the app reports how many entries it removed.

Sort A-Z / Z-A orders entries by title (falling back to filename), which finally makes a merged mega-playlist browsable. And the output editor now has proper undo: Ctrl+Z steps back through your hand edits and even reverses an accidental format-change regeneration, so one wrong click no longer costs you your work.

Quality-of-life additions round it out. You can now drag playlists from Explorer and drop them anywhere on the window - one file opens in the Convert tab, several files go straight to Batch.

A Recent button next to Browse remembers your last eight playlists and quietly drops any that have since been deleted.

For power users: the command line

Version 1.1 adds a full command-line mode, so conversions can run from scripts and scheduled tasks without opening the window at all:

X-M3U-Converter.exe --in a.m3u --to pls --out a.pls

Repeat --in to feed it several playlists, then add --merge, --dedup or --sort as needed.

Path handling is covered too, with --path-mode accepting keep, absolute, relative, filename or replace (paired with --find and --replace).

Output prints normally when run from cmd or PowerShell, and a safety guard appends _converted to the filename rather than ever overwriting your source playlist.

Two ways to run it: browser or Windows app

The online version of M3U Converter runs entirely in your browser.

Nothing is uploaded - the conversion is done in local JavaScript, so the playlist and the file paths inside it never leave your computer. That matters more than it sounds, because playlist files reveal your full directory structure and often your username.

For a one-off conversion it is the fastest route: drop the file in, pick the output format, download.

The free Windows app covers everything the browser cannot: batch conversion of whole folders, merging, sorting, deduplication, the broken-path checker, true absolute and relative path resolution, and the command line - all still completely offline, with your settings remembered between sessions.

It is a small, dependency-free installer that runs on Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11. You can pick it up from the X M3U Converter download page; full technical notes and changelog are on the developer's site.

Where it fits with the rest of your toolkit

Playlist conversion is one stage in a larger media chain, and the related browser tools here cover the adjacent steps.

If your playlists point at streams rather than local files, the Stream Extractor pulls M3U8, HLS and radio URLs out of web pages, and the Playlist Builder assembles them into a portable file you can then convert here.

To turn a video playlist into an audio one, the YouTube Playlist to M3U tool generates the list and the online audio converter handles the format change; for heavier batch transcoding, the desktop X Audio Converter takes over.

Once a playlist is built and converted, you can test it immediately in the browser-based web player, which loads M3U, M3U8 and PLS directly, or the dedicated HEVC player for video entries.

Frequently asked questions

Is my playlist uploaded anywhere?
No. The online conversion runs in your browser. The playlist and every path inside it stay on your computer, and the Windows app is fully offline.

How do I convert M3U to PLS or the reverse?
Load the file, choose the output format, download. Titles and durations carry over automatically, and the same applies to M3U8, XSPF, WPL, ASX and plain text in any direction.

Can it fix a playlist that broke after I moved my music?
Yes. Run Check paths to see exactly which tracks are missing, then use find and replace in paths to swap the old folder or drive for the new one across every entry - or filename only to let the player relocate tracks itself.

Can I merge several playlists into one?
Yes, in the Windows app. Add your playlists on the Batch tab, tick "Merge all into one playlist" and save. Mixed source formats are fine, and Deduplicate removes tracks that appear in more than one source.

Can I convert many playlists at once?
The browser tool does one at a time. For batch conversion of a whole folder - or scripted conversion from the command line - use the free Windows app.

X M3U Converter is freeware, runs on Windows 7 through 11, and the current release is version 1.1.