Free online PLS to M3U8 converter

A media player, network audio device, or server may require a UTF-8 playlist with the .m3u8 extension when the source is an older .pls file. The conversion changes playlist syntax and text encoding only; it does not convert, copy, or compress the referenced audio.

What the PLS format is

PLS is an INI-style playlist format used for Internet radio stations and local audio files. A typical file contains a [playlist] section, NumberOfEntries, and numbered fields such as File1, Title1, and Length1.

Winamp, VLC, foobar2000, and radio-player applications can open or create PLS files. The FileN value is usually a local path or stream URL; TitleN supplies a display name, and LengthN gives the duration in seconds, often -1 for a live stream or unknown length.

What the M3U8 format is

M3U8 is an M3U playlist saved as UTF-8 text. It normally contains one path or URL per line, optionally preceded by metadata such as #EXTINF. A basic file starts with #EXTM3U.

UTF-8 handles non-ASCII filenames more reliably than legacy, locale-dependent M3U files, so M3U8 is commonly accepted by media players, network audio devices, media servers, and web applications.

M3U8 is also used by HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), but an ordinary audio playlist is not automatically an HLS stream. HLS media playlists contain directives such as #EXT-X-TARGETDURATION and normally reference segmented media; changing a PLS filename to .m3u8 does not create an HLS stream.

How to convert PLS to M3U8

Using 101convert.com:

1. Open the PLS-to-M3U8 converter on 101convert.com.
2. Upload the .pls file and choose M3U8 as the output format.
3. Start the conversion and download the resulting .m3u8 file.
4. Open it in the destination player and test each local path or stream URL.

The converter processes playlist references rather than the audio files. Do not upload a playlist if it contains sensitive local paths or private stream URLs.

Using VLC: VLC can open a PLS playlist and export a playlist through Media → Save Playlist to File, but its available export is commonly M3U rather than a separately labeled M3U8 option. If VLC saves an M3U file, open it in a text editor, confirm that the content is UTF-8, and save a copy with the .m3u8 extension. This changes the extension only after the text encoding and playlist syntax have been checked.

Manual conversion: For a short playlist, create a UTF-8 text file and convert each PLS entry into an M3U entry:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:-1,Example station
https://example.com/stream
#EXTINF:245,Local track
Music/track.mp3

Copy each FileN value to the line after its corresponding #EXTINF line. Use TitleN after the comma as the display title and use LengthN as the duration. Use -1 when the duration is missing, unknown, or belongs to a live stream. If a title is absent, the #EXTINF line can be omitted and the path or URL can be listed directly.

Compatibility and limitations

The conversion does not alter audio codecs, bit rates, sample rates, or sound quality. Playback can still fail when the PLS contains missing files, Windows paths that do not exist on the target device, inaccessible radio URLs, or relative paths interpreted from a different folder.

Keep an M3U8 file in the correct location when it uses relative paths, or replace those references with valid absolute paths or complete URLs. A playlist containing local files does not make those files available to another device; that device must share the same storage or access the files through a server.

If accented or non-Latin names appear corrupted, reopen and resave the playlist as UTF-8 without a lossy encoding conversion. If the source PLS already contains damaged characters, converting it cannot restore the original names.