What you need first
- Your own RIPTV M3U link, sent over WhatsApp
- Any player able to load an M3U URL
No line yet? Take the free 24-hour run first — start the trial, then pick a term in dollars once it plays.
Getting it going
Check you actually need it
Does your player support Xtream Codes? Smarters, TiviMate and the majority do — in that case use it and you can close this tab, since Xtream brings the guide data along too. Reserve the M3U link for players that refuse a login, VLC and Kodi being the two you will meet most.
Copy it, and protect it
Look in the activation message, where it appears as http://server:port/get.php with your credentials attached to the end. Guard it as carefully as a password — anyone who has that link effectively has your subscription.
Hand it to the player
Over to the player. In VLC, open Media then Open Network Stream. For Smart IPTV, use siptv.app/mylist. On Kodi, reach for the IPTV Simple Client and paste the link into its M3U URL box. Smarters and TiviMate will accept one under M3U playlist as well, though on that pair the Xtream login treats you better.
Point it at the guide if asked
The odd player keeps its EPG apart. That guide lives on the very same host, its address finishing in xmltv.php with your login appended, and we will pass it to you whenever a player insists on it separately.
When the picture plays up
It takes an age to load
A playlist that size can run into the thousands of entries, and a bare-bones player insists on parsing the lot before a single channel appears. Either graduate to a player that sorts by category, such as TiviMate or Smarters, or ask us to send an M3U cut down to just the US channels.
The guide comes up empty on an M3U setup
A plain playlist frequently carries no schedule data of its own. Aim the player at the separate EPG address that finishes in xmltv.php, which we are glad to send, or move over to the Xtream login where the guide is folded in already.
Other apps worth loading
Smart IPTV (SIPTV)
SIPTV pairs a Samsung or LG TV with its MAC address, not a login. How to read that MAC, register your RIPTV list at siptv.app, and use the free week.
Windows PC and Mac
Three routes to RIPTV on a computer: the Smarters desktop app, your M3U link loaded in VLC, or the browser player that installs nothing on the machine.
All the setup guides
Every screen and app we walk through, gathered in one place.
Watching on your M3U playlist tonight?
Plans from $15 a month, 25,000+ channels, and it plays under 15 minutes after one WhatsApp message.
M3U playlist — your questions
Why do the free GitHub M3U lists keep dying?
Each one is a bundle of scraped streams thrown up for the public to help themselves, so a single source gets swarmed by thousands of strangers all at once. Before long — usually a matter of days — the host either blocks the crowd or simply keels over, and there is nobody to complain to. Worse, the sites handing these lists around are a favorite vector for malware. A paid playlist reports to your account and no one else's, and that is the entire difference.
Is the M3U link the same as the Xtream login?
They lead to one and the same account, only in different formats. The M3U is a single long URL, while the Xtream login breaks that apart into a host, a username and a password. Most current players favor Xtream, so save the M3U for the odd app that will take nothing else.