Documentation / Playlist Creation & Filtering

Playlist Creation & Filtering

StreamSweeper's playlist management system gives you complete control over which channels appear in your M3U playlists. This guide covers everything from creating basic playlists to advanced filtering and trimming duplicate channels.

Creating a New M3U Playlist

To create a new playlist:

  1. Navigate to Live TV in the main menu — this is where your M3U playlists live
  2. Click Create New Playlist
  3. Enter a Playlist Name (e.g., "US Sports Channels" or "Movies Only")
  4. Select one or more Connections as the source(s)
  5. Set up your filter rules (or start with all channels)
  6. Click Create Playlist
Naming Best Practices: Use descriptive names that explain what the playlist contains. This is especially helpful when managing multiple playlists or using them in different media players.

Live TV, Movies & Series Playlists

StreamSweeper builds each type of content into its own playlist:

Live TV (M3U Playlists)

The M3U playlists covered in this guide contain live broadcast channels:

Movies & Series (Separate Builders)

On-demand content has its own dedicated playlist builders, separate from live TV playlists:

Note: Movies and Series playlists are only available for Xtream Codes connections. M3U playlist sources typically only include Live TV channels. See Movies & Series for details.

How Filtering Works

StreamSweeper filters channels with ranked rules: rules are evaluated top to bottom, and the first rule that matches a channel decides whether it's included or excluded. Channels that match no rule fall through to a catch-all setting (include everything else, or exclude everything else).

Each rule matches on one of three fields:

Match types include contains, equals, starts with, ends with, and full regular expressions — so you can express almost any selection precisely.

Simple Mode

The default editor gives you a straightforward view:

  1. Search for and pick individual channels by name
  2. Include or exclude whole categories using the category lists
  3. Choose whether unlisted channels are included or excluded by default

Advanced Mode (Ranked Rule Table)

Toggle the advanced editor for full control:

  1. Add rules and drag them into priority order — first match wins
  2. Stack up to 10 AND conditions in one rule (e.g., category matches "Sports" AND connection equals "Provider A")
  3. Use regex matchers for pattern-based selection, with autocomplete from your real category and connection names

Filter by Category

Categories (groups) come straight from your provider — typically things like Sports, News, Entertainment, Movies, Kids, Documentary, and Music. Include or exclude them in the category lists (simple mode) or with category rules (advanced mode).

Provider-Specific Categories: The available categories depend on how your IPTV provider organizes their channels. Some providers may have more detailed categorization than others.

Filter by Country or Language

Providers don't publish reliable country or language metadata, but they almost always encode it in category and channel names ("US | Sports", "UK Entertainment", "ES - Noticias"). Name and regex rules let you filter on exactly what your provider uses:

Future-proof: Because these rules match patterns rather than a fixed channel list, new channels your provider adds under matching groups automatically flow into (or stay out of) your playlist.

Search by Channel Name

Quickly find specific channels:

  1. Use the Channel Name Search field
  2. Type partial or full channel names
  3. Matching channels will be displayed instantly
  4. Add individual channels to your playlist

Handling Duplicate Channels

Many IPTV providers list the same channel multiple times in different qualities ("ESPN", "ESPN HD", "ESPN FHD", "ESPN 4K") or from different regions. Exclude rules let you keep only the versions you want.

Trimming Quality Variants

Most duplicates follow a naming pattern, which makes them easy to target:

Rule order matters: Because the first matching rule wins, you can put an include rule for a specific channel (e.g., "ESPN 4K") above a broad exclude rule for 4K channels — the specific channel survives while the rest are trimmed.

Reviewing What's Left

  1. Save your playlist and open the preview to see the resulting channel list
  2. Spot remaining duplicates and note their naming pattern
  3. Add another exclude rule and save again — the playlist regenerates immediately
Storage & Performance: Trimming duplicates reduces playlist size, making it faster to load in media players and servers. It also makes channel navigation much easier.

Managing Multiple Playlists

You can create unlimited playlists with different configurations:

Common Playlist Strategies

Editing Existing Playlists

To modify a playlist:

  1. Go to Live TV
  2. Find the playlist you want to edit
  3. Click the Edit button (pencil icon)
  4. Make your changes to filters, connections, or settings
  5. Click Save Changes
Automatic Updates: When you edit a playlist, all media players and servers using the playlist URL will automatically receive the updated channel list the next time they refresh.

Deleting Playlists

  1. Navigate to Live TV
  2. Find the playlist to delete
  3. Click the Delete button (trash icon)
  4. Confirm the deletion
Warning: Deleting a playlist will break any media players or servers using that playlist URL. Make sure to remove the URL from those applications first.

Copying M3U and EPG URLs

Once your playlist is created, you'll need the URLs to use it in your IPTV applications:

M3U Playlist URL

This is the main playlist file that contains all your channels:

  1. On the Live TV page, locate your playlist
  2. Find the M3U URL field
  3. Click Copy URL to copy it to your clipboard

EPG/XMLTV URL

This provides electronic program guide data for your channels:

  1. In the same playlist row, find the EPG URL field
  2. Click Copy URL
Both URLs Required: Most media servers and advanced IPTV players need both the M3U URL (for channels) and the EPG URL (for program guides). Copy both when setting up a new device.

Password-Protected Playlists

For added security, you can password-protect your playlist URLs:

  1. Edit your playlist
  2. Enable Password Protection
  3. Enter a strong password
  4. Save your changes

When using the playlist in an IPTV player, you'll need to include the password in the URL parameters or enter it when prompted.

Using Playlists in IPTV Players

Once you have your M3U URL, you can use it in any IPTV player application:

VLC Media Player

  1. Open VLC
  2. Go to Media → Open Network Stream
  3. Paste your M3U URL
  4. Click Play

TiviMate (Android/Fire TV)

  1. Open TiviMate
  2. Go to Settings → Playlists
  3. Click Add Playlist
  4. Select URL
  5. Paste your M3U URL and EPG URL
  6. Click Next

IPTV Smarters (Mobile/TV)

  1. Open IPTV Smarters
  2. Select Add New User
  3. Choose Load M3U URL
  4. Enter a playlist name
  5. Paste your M3U URL
  6. Click Add User
Player-Specific Instructions: Each IPTV player has slightly different setup steps. Consult your player's documentation for specific instructions on adding M3U playlists.

Advanced Filtering Techniques

Multi-Condition Rules (AND)

In the advanced editor, a single rule can stack up to 10 conditions that must all match:

Exclude Rules

Any rule can be set to exclude instead of include. Combined with the catch-all, this gives you "everything except" playlists:

  1. Set the catch-all to include everything else
  2. Add exclude rules for the categories or channels you don't want
  3. Those channels are removed; everything else stays
Use Case: Exclude rules are perfect for "everything except" playlists - for example, all channels except adult content or shopping networks. And because rules are ranked, you can re-include a specific channel by placing an include rule above a broader exclude.

Playlist Performance Optimization

Reducing Playlist Size

Smaller playlists load faster and perform better:

Refresh Frequency

StreamSweeper automatically refreshes playlist data, but you can manually refresh if needed:

  1. Go to your playlist list
  2. Click the Refresh button
  3. Wait for the update to complete

Troubleshooting Playlist Issues

Playlist Not Loading in Player

Channels Missing from Playlist

EPG Data Not Showing

Next Steps

Now that you understand playlist management, explore these advanced features: