Example playlists for HTTP Live Streaming

Overview

HTTP Live Streaming sends audio and video as a series of small files, typically of about 6 seconds duration, called media segment files. An index file, or playlist, provides an ordered list of the URLs of the media segment files. Index files for HTTP Live Streaming are saved as M3U8 playlists, an extension of the M3U format used for MP3 playlists. The URL of the index file is accessed by clients, which then request the indexed files in sequence.

You can use the Apple HTTP Live Streaming tools to generate playlists. These tools are frequently updated and you can get them from Downloads for Apple Developers if you’re a member of the Apple Developer Program. See Using Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) Tools for more information about the individual tools.

Topics

Basic playlists

• Video on Demand playlist construction
• Live Playlist (sliding window) construction
• Event playlist construction
• Creating a Multivariant Playlist

Modified playlists

• Incorporating Ads into a Playlist
• Adding alternate media to a playlist

See Also

Stream creation

• About the EXT-X-VERSION tag