Take your playlists on a USB stick or phone

The problem with paths

An .m3u playlist is a list of files. Written with full paths (“D:\Music\Muse\01.flac”), it can no longer find anything on a USB stick or a phone, where the music is stored somewhere else.

With relative paths, the list only says where to find each track starting from its own folder: “../Muse/01.flac”. As long as the music and the playlists are copied together, keeping the same folder structure, the list works anywhere.

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:279,Muse - Madness
../Muse/The 2nd Law/02 Madness.flac

Turning on automatic export

1. 1

   Choose the export folder

   Settings → Storage & data, “Automatic playlist export” group, “Export folder” → “Choose…”. Tip: a “Playlists” folder inside your music folder.

2. 2

   Tick your playlists

   In the same list, or from a playlist’s “…” menu with the “Auto-export” switch.

3. 3

   That’s it

   Each ticked playlist is written to the folder, one file per playlist. “Export now” forces an immediate write.

Files that are always up to date

• The file is rewritten a few seconds after each change to the playlist, after a scan and at startup.
• Smart playlists are exported too, with their current content.
• A file is only rewritten if its content changes: a sync tool doesn’t copy anything for nothing.
• Playlist renamed, deleted or unticked: the old file is removed from the folder.

Format and paths

• Format: .m3u8 (UTF-8) suits almost everything and keeps accents; .m3u for older players.
• Relative paths: on by default. They are written with “/”, read by Android and car stereos as well as by Windows.
• A track stored on a different drive from the export folder can’t have a relative path: it is written with its full path, and the summary says so.
• Tracks from a Navidrome or Jellyfin server, with no file on the disk, are left out.
• File names are made safe for Windows, macOS, Linux and phones’ FAT-formatted cards.

Copying to the USB stick or phone

1. 1

   Copy the whole music folder

   With the “Playlists” folder inside, keeping the subfolders as they are.

2. 2

   Open the playlists on the device

   Most phone music apps, car stereos and portable players recognize .m3u8 files placed next to the music.

3. 3

   Update later

   Copy the folder again, or let a sync tool handle it: only the modified files change.