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Importing M3U playlists into Jellyfin

A step-by-step guide to getting an M3U or M3U8 music playlist into Jellyfin, with the path rules Jellyfin applies and how to fix skipped entries.

Last updated 2 November 2026

Jellyfin is a free, open-source media server. It can pick up M3U playlists that sit inside your music library. Jellyfin’s documentation doesn’t describe this yet, so this guide is based on how the Jellyfin server’s own code handles playlist files.

What Jellyfin reads

  • File types: .m3u, .m3u8, .pls, .wpl and .zpl.
  • Where: inside a folder of a music library, or of a library without a set content type. Playlist files in other library types are not picked up.
  • Text encoding: detected automatically, with UTF-8 as the fallback. Saving as UTF-8 (.m3u8) is the safest choice.

Step by step

  1. Find your library path. In Jellyfin’s dashboard, look at the folders of your music library, for example /data/music. This is the path as Jellyfin sees it, which can differ from the path on your computer.
  2. Fix the paths in the playlist. Every entry must point to a music file inside that library. Either:
    • use relative paths from the folder where you’ll put the playlist (for example Artist/Album/01-song.flac), or
    • use absolute paths starting with the library path (for example /data/music/Artist/Album/01-song.flac).
  3. Save as UTF-8. Export from M3U.Click as .m3u8.
  4. Copy the playlist into a folder of the music library.
  5. Scan the library from Jellyfin’s dashboard. The playlist appears under Playlists.

Why some entries are missing

Jellyfin keeps an entry only if both are true:

  • its path is inside one of your library folders, and
  • Jellyfin has already added that file to the library.

So entries disappear when:

  • the path points to your computer instead of the server (C:\Users\…);
  • the folder names differ in upper and lower case (Linux servers treat Music and music as different folders);
  • the file is in a folder that isn’t part of a library;
  • the library scan hasn’t reached the file yet. Scan again and wait for it to finish.

Jellyfin can’t export M3U files

Jellyfin has no built-in way to save its playlists as M3U files. It is an open feature request. If you need a playlist from Jellyfin in another player, you can build it in M3U.Click from the files themselves, or from stream links, which contain your access token (see below).

In Jellyfin’s web app, Copy Stream URL in an item’s menu gives you an address that includes your access token. Anyone who has the address can use it with your access rights. Keep such playlists private, don’t share them, and lock backups that contain them with a password. M3U.Click is designed to hide tokens like this on screen and warn you before sharing.

Next steps

Sources

We checked what this guide says about other software against these official sources. Their menus and features can change between versions.