Internet video and audio streams: Difference between revisions

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{{Mininav|[[Video library|Videos]]|[[Video playback|Playback]] {{l2|[[Video library/Management|Management]] }} }}
{{mininav|[[Video library]] {{l2| [[Music library]] }} }}
{{see also|Add-ons}}
{{see also|Add-ons}}
<section begin="intro" />Various internet video and audio streams can be played back in XBMC as if they were locally stored on your media center by using STRM files. As long as the format and streaming-method (network-protocol) is supported by XBMC, stream can be added. These are basic text files that look like <name>.strm and contain a URL to the internet stream. STRM files can also be added to the [[video library]] and can have cover art, summaries, etc.
<section begin="intro" />Various internet video and audio streams can be played back in Kodi as if they were locally stored on your media center by using STRM files. As long as the format and streaming-method (network-protocol) is supported by Kodi, stream can be added. These are basic text files that look like <name>.strm and contain a URL to the internet stream. STRM files can also be added to the [[video library]] and can have cover art, summaries, etc.


Some internet sites may have an add-on available that can also access these media streams, rather than having to manually create STRM files. See '''[[Add-ons]]''' for more information on how to find and install add-ons.<section end="intro" />
Some internet sites may have an add-on available that can also access these media streams, rather than having to manually create STRM files. See '''[[Add-ons]]''' for more information on how to find and install add-ons.<section end="intro" />


== Playing Internet Streams in XBMC ==
== Playing Internet Streams ==
There are two ways this can be done, either via a custom .STRM file or a standard [[playlists]] (.PLS or .M3U).
There are two ways this can be done, either via a custom .STRM file or a standard [[playlists]] (.PLS or .M3U).


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  '''<nowiki>rtsp://host/path/stream</nowiki>'''
  '''<nowiki>rtsp://host/path/stream</nowiki>'''
Other protocols are supported such as '''<nowiki>http://host/path/to/somefile.mp3.</nowiki>'''
Other protocols are supported such as '''<nowiki>http://host/path/to/somefile.mp3.</nowiki>'''
Then save/copy the .strm file to somewhere where you can open it from XBMC, (like on a SMB/SAMBA, XBMS or UPnP share, or just your local hard drive), like you would with any video/audio file. Open it using '''play''' in XBMC under My Videos (if it is a video stream) or My Music (if it is an audio stream). If the video stream does not work then the URL-link could be wrong, or possibly the codec/format or the network-protocol it uses it not supported by XBMC.
Then save/copy the .strm file to somewhere where you can open it from Kodi, (like on a SMB/SAMBA, XBMS or UPnP share, or just your local hard drive), like you would with any video/audio file. Open it using '''play''' in Kodi under Videos (if it is a video stream) or Music (if it is an audio stream). If the video stream does not work then the URL-link could be wrong, or possibly the codec/format or the network-protocol it uses it not supported by Kodi.


If you are creating a list of playlists (for example internal and external Shoutcast streams), save the pls or strm files into a directory accessible by XBMC and add the directory as the source, '''not''' the files themselves.  
If you are creating a list of playlists (for example internal and external Shoutcast streams), save the pls or strm files into a directory accessible by Kodi and add the directory as the source, '''not''' the files themselves.
 
==== Property support: ====
 
strm files support passing additional properties to affect playback. This is the case for choosing specific [[Category:Input_stream_add-ons|inputstream addons]] or selecting specific protocol based properties. They usually take the form of:
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
#KODIPROP:key=value
protocol://host/path/stream
</syntaxhighlight>
 
where key is the property key and value is the property value.
 
'''Note''': From Kodi v20 you can affect the rtsp transport protocol by defining the rtsp_transport property. For example, to force tcp transport mode:
<syntaxhighlight lang="xml">
#KODIPROP:rtsp_transport=tcp
rtsp://host:port/mystream
</syntaxhighlight>


=== The standard playlists (.PLS or .M3U) method: ===
=== The standard playlists (.PLS or .M3U) method: ===
Download a supported playlist (like .PLS or .M3U) file from the internet, (these playlist files can often be found on the website of the web-radio stations or TV web-casts websites). For example stream.pls or something else, (you can rename it to whatever you want but keep the same extension). Then save/copy the .strm file to somewhere where you can open it from XBMC, (like on a SMB/SAMBA, XBMS or UPnP share, or FTP it to the local hard-drive in the XBMC device), like you would with any video/audio file. Open it using '''play''' in XBMC under My Videos or My Music (if it is a video stream, respectively a audio stream). If the video stream does not work then the URL-link could be wrong, or possible the codec/format or the network-protocol it uses it not supported by XBMC. You can check and edit playlists with a normal text-editor (like Notepad in Microsoft Windows).
Download a supported playlist (like .PLS or .M3U) file from the internet, (these playlist files can often be found on the website of the web-radio stations or TV web-casts websites). For example stream.pls or something else, (you can rename it to whatever you want but keep the same extension). Then save/copy the file to somewhere where you can open it from Kodi, like you would with any video/audio file. You should be able to play the file in Kodi by selecting it ether from Videos -> Files or from the Music "file mode".
 
If the video stream does not work then the URL-link could be wrong, or possible the codec/format or the network-protocol it uses it not supported by Kodi. You can check and edit playlists with a normal text-editor (like Notepad in Microsoft Windows) and see what the URLs look like.


== Adding STRM files to the library ==
== Adding STRM files to the library ==
You can associate meta-data, such as cover art and summaries, to a .strm file just like normal entries in a library by using an [[NFO]] file, just as you would for a normal video file.
You can associate meta-data, such as cover art and summaries, to a .strm file just like normal entries in a library by using an NFO file, just as you would for a normal video file.
 
{{Updated|19}}


[[Category:How-to]]
[[Category:Manual]]
[[Category:XBMC Manual]]
[[Category:Video library]]
[[Category:Video Library]]
[[Category:Music library]]
[[Category:Music Library]]
{{frodo updated}}

Revision as of 22:28, 7 September 2022

Home icon grey.png   ▶ Video library
▶ Music library
▶ Internet video and audio streams

Various internet video and audio streams can be played back in Kodi as if they were locally stored on your media center by using STRM files. As long as the format and streaming-method (network-protocol) is supported by Kodi, stream can be added. These are basic text files that look like <name>.strm and contain a URL to the internet stream. STRM files can also be added to the video library and can have cover art, summaries, etc.

Some internet sites may have an add-on available that can also access these media streams, rather than having to manually create STRM files. See Add-ons for more information on how to find and install add-ons.

Playing Internet Streams

There are two ways this can be done, either via a custom .STRM file or a standard playlists (.PLS or .M3U).

The .STRM file method:

Create a normal text-file and rename the .txt extension to .strm then open it up with a text-editor (like Notepad in Microsoft Windows) and input the the direct URL-link of the stream.

This should look like:
http://host/path/stream
or
mms://host/path/stream
or
rtsp://host/path/stream

Other protocols are supported such as http://host/path/to/somefile.mp3. Then save/copy the .strm file to somewhere where you can open it from Kodi, (like on a SMB/SAMBA, XBMS or UPnP share, or just your local hard drive), like you would with any video/audio file. Open it using play in Kodi under Videos (if it is a video stream) or Music (if it is an audio stream). If the video stream does not work then the URL-link could be wrong, or possibly the codec/format or the network-protocol it uses it not supported by Kodi.

If you are creating a list of playlists (for example internal and external Shoutcast streams), save the pls or strm files into a directory accessible by Kodi and add the directory as the source, not the files themselves.

Property support:

strm files support passing additional properties to affect playback. This is the case for choosing specific or selecting specific protocol based properties. They usually take the form of:

#KODIPROP:key=value
protocol://host/path/stream

where key is the property key and value is the property value.

Note: From Kodi v20 you can affect the rtsp transport protocol by defining the rtsp_transport property. For example, to force tcp transport mode:

#KODIPROP:rtsp_transport=tcp
rtsp://host:port/mystream

The standard playlists (.PLS or .M3U) method:

Download a supported playlist (like .PLS or .M3U) file from the internet, (these playlist files can often be found on the website of the web-radio stations or TV web-casts websites). For example stream.pls or something else, (you can rename it to whatever you want but keep the same extension). Then save/copy the file to somewhere where you can open it from Kodi, like you would with any video/audio file. You should be able to play the file in Kodi by selecting it ether from Videos -> Files or from the Music "file mode".

If the video stream does not work then the URL-link could be wrong, or possible the codec/format or the network-protocol it uses it not supported by Kodi. You can check and edit playlists with a normal text-editor (like Notepad in Microsoft Windows) and see what the URLs look like.

Adding STRM files to the library

You can associate meta-data, such as cover art and summaries, to a .strm file just like normal entries in a library by using an NFO file, just as you would for a normal video file.