Glossary

IPTV Glossary

Short, clear definitions of terms you often meet in the IPTV world. Every term links to the free tools related to the subject.

IPTV: Internet Protocol Television. Delivering television broadcasts over the internet (an IP network) instead of satellite, cable or terrestrial broadcast. IPTV is a technology; it is separate from the content provider: an app only plays the stream.Göktürk IPTV Setup Guide IPTV Device Compatibility Finder
M3U: The most common plain-text format for IPTV channel lists. It consists of an #EXTM3U header and, for each channel, an #EXTINF line and a stream address. Information such as channel name, group, logo and EPG id is carried in attributes on the #EXTINF line.M3U Validator M3U Editor M3U Cleaner
M3U8: UTF-8 encoded M3U. In IPTV channel lists it carries the same structure as M3U. The same extension is also used for HLS stream playlists; these two file types are different things (one lists many channels, the other the pieces of one stream).M3U to M3U8 Converter HLS Stream Tester
Xtream Codes: A panel and API standard widely used by IPTV providers. A user gets a server address, username and password; players use these three to pull channel, movie and series lists through player_api.php. The same details give M3U from get.php and EPG from xmltv.php.Xtream to M3U Converter Xtream Login Tester Xtream API URL Builder
Stalker / Ministra Portal: The portal system used by set-top boxes such as MAG and Formuler. Login is not by username and password but by the device's MAC address; the provider registers the MAC address on the portal.Stalker Portal URL Builder MAG / Stalker Portal Setup Guide
MAC address: The hardware identity of a network device; 12 hexadecimal characters (00:1A:79:AB:CD:EF). It is used as the account identity in Stalker portal systems. Use only your own device's MAC address.Stalker Portal URL Builder
EPG: Electronic Program Guide. The schedule of what is on now and next on the channels. In IPTV it is usually distributed as an XMLTV file.M3U EPG Matcher XMLTV / EPG Viewer EPG URL Tester
XMLTV: An XML format that keeps program guide data as channels (<channel>) and programmes (<programme>). Times are written with a time zone suffix such as 20260101200000 +0300. It is the de facto standard for EPG.XMLTV Validator XMLTV Channel Filter XMLTV Merger
tvg-id: The attribute that links a channel in M3U to a channel id in XMLTV. For the guide to show, the tvg-id must match the XMLTV channel id letter for letter.M3U EPG Matcher EPG Channel ID Finder
tvg-logo / tvg-name: tvg-logo carries the channel's logo address and tvg-name the name used for matching in EPG. Players fetch the logo from this address.M3U Logo and tvg-id Filler
group-title: The attribute that says which group (category) a channel belongs to. It shapes the player's menu structure.M3U Group Editor Xtream Category to M3U Group Remapper
#EXTINF: The line that defines each channel in M3U: #EXTINF:-1 tvg-id="..." group-title="...",Channel Name. The number is the duration (-1 for live).M3U Validator
VOD: Video on Demand. Recorded content such as movies and series, as opposed to live streams. On Xtream it sits under the /movie/ and /series/ paths.Xtream VOD/Series Exporter M3U to STRM Converter
HLS: HTTP Live Streaming. A stream protocol that splits video into small pieces and serves them with an .m3u8 playlist, with adaptive quality. Browsers and Apple devices play HLS.Online M3U8 Player HLS Stream Tester Stream Codec and Bitrate Info
MPEG-TS: A transport format widely used for live streams (.ts extension). It works with low latency but does not play directly in browsers. It is the default output on Xtream servers.TS to M3U8 URL Converter Xtream Stream URL Builder
Bitrate: The amount of data a stream uses per second (Mbps). It varies with resolution, codec and content: Full HD is about 8 Mbps and 4K about 25 Mbps (H.264).IPTV Bandwidth Calculator IPTV Data Usage Calculator
Codec (H.264, HEVC, AV1): The algorithm that compresses and decompresses video. H.264 (AVC) works on every device; HEVC/H.265 and AV1 use less data at the same quality but need hardware support. For audio AAC, AC3, EAC3 and DTS are used.Stream Codec and Bitrate Info HLS Stream Tester
Buffering: The player pausing and waiting because it cannot get enough data from the network. It is caused by speed, Wi-Fi, the provider route, DNS or server load.IPTV Buffering Fix Wizard IPTV Speed Test
Jitter and latency: Latency is the round-trip time of a request to the server; jitter is the fluctuation of that time between consecutive requests. High jitter causes occasional stalls in a stream.Stream Latency Test Server Ping Test
CORS: Cross-Origin Resource Sharing. A security rule where the browser stops a page from reading a resource on another domain unless the server allows it. It is the most common reason IPTV streams do not open in a browser.CORS Tester
User-Agent: The header with which a client introduces itself to the server (VLC, TiviMate, Chrome…). Some IPTV servers reply only to known player identities.M3U User-Agent / Referer Adder HTTP Header Viewer
DNS: The system that turns domain names into IP addresses. A slow or restricted DNS can slow access to some servers; alternatives such as Cloudflare and Google can be tried.DNS Chooser for IPTV
Catch-up / Timeshift: The ability to watch a programme that aired in the past for a limited time. In M3U it is defined with the catchup, catchup-days and catchup-source attributes.M3U Analyzer
Bouquet: The file (userbouquet.*.tv) that holds channel groups on Enigma2 receivers (Dreambox, VU+). IPTV channels are added to a bouquet with service lines.Enigma2 Bouquet Generator
STRM: A tiny text file containing only a stream address. Jellyfin, Emby and Kodi add it to the library as if it were a real video file.M3U to STRM Converter Jellyfin Live TV Setup Guide
PVR IPTV Simple Client: The add-on that plays live TV from M3U and XMLTV sources in Kodi.Kodi PVR IPTV Simple Config Generator
HDHomeRun: The network tuner device interface that Plex, Jellyfin and Emby recognise. Threadfin and xTeVe present an IPTV list as a virtual HDHomeRun.Plex + Threadfin / xTeVe Setup Guide
Stremio add-on: A modular add-on (defined by manifest.json) that adds content sources and catalogs to Stremio-compatible apps. Göktürk IPTV supports Stremio add-ons.Göktürk IPTV Setup Guide
Debrid: Services that cache torrent sources on their own high-speed servers and turn them into directly playable links (such as Real-Debrid and AllDebrid).Göktürk IPTV Setup Guide

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