Is it necessary to define runtime/"run time" in m3u playlist file or is there a way around it?

Question

E.g. in the m3u file below, the running times are listed as 419, 260 and 255.

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 #EXTM3U
 #EXTINF:419,Alice In Chains - Rotten Apple
 Alice In Chains_Jar Of Flies_01_Rotten Apple.mp3
 #EXTINF:260,Alice In Chains - Nutshell
 Alice In Chains_Jar Of Flies_02_Nutshell.mp3
 #EXTINF:255,Alice In Chains - I Stay Away

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• Is it possible to write an m3u file without these properties?

  • Or just include some kind of default?

    • Are there repercussions?

Answer 1

I think this depends a lot on what is going to read the playlist.

The most basic m3u file just contains the list of files (or URLs) without any of the '#' lines. In this format the player will have to read the files if it wants to know their duration. This could be slow especially for URLs.

Answer 2

There is no standard for m3u. The time is optional. You can enter just "1" for time if you want. Furthermore, the entire line is optional:

#EXTINF:419,Alice In Chains - Rotten Apple
 Alice In Chains_Jar Of Flies_01_Rotten Apple.mp3

Could be replaced with:

 Alice In Chains_Jar Of Flies_01_Rotten Apple.mp3

The #EXTINF: tag is for the extended format. As a matter of fact it is not even understood by some players and will cause the entire playlist to appear as empty.