Importing M3U Playlists to Plex & PlexAmp

A working solution as of December 2025

This guide documents a reliable method for importing M3U playlists into Plex so they appear in PlexAmp and other Plex clients. This approach uses Plex’s hidden /playlists/upload API endpoint.

Background

For years, Plex users have been asking for native M3U playlist support. The forum thread “Can Plexamp read and use m3u playlists?” has been ongoing since 2018 with various workarounds proposed. This guide documents an approach that works reliably in late 2024/2025.

What You Need

Plex Media Server running with a Music library
Your Plex Token (authentication)
Your Music Library Section ID
M3U playlist files with relative paths to your audio files
bash, curl, and python3 (for URL encoding)

Finding Your Plex Token

Your Plex token is stored in the Plex preferences file:

# Linux (typical location)
grep -oP 'PlexOnlineToken="\K[^"]+' \
  "/var/lib/plexmediaserver/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml"

# macOS
grep -oP 'PlexOnlineToken="\K[^"]+' \
  "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/Preferences.xml"

The token looks something like: xYz123ABCdef456GHI

Finding Your Music Library Section ID

Query your Plex server for library sections:

curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/sections?X-Plex-Token=YOUR_TOKEN" | grep -oP 'key="\K[0-9]+'

Or visit http://127.0.0.1:32400/library/sections?X-Plex-Token=YOUR_TOKEN in a browser and look for your Music library’s key attribute. It’s typically a single digit like 1, 2, 3, or 4.

The Hidden Upload Endpoint

Plex has an undocumented endpoint for uploading M3U playlists:

POST /playlists/upload?sectionID={SECTION_ID}&path={URL_ENCODED_PATH}&X-Plex-Token={TOKEN}

Important notes:

The path must be the absolute filesystem path to the M3U file
The path must be URL encoded
The M3U file must be readable by the Plex server
Paths inside the M3U should be relative to the M3U file location

M3U Playlist Format

M3U files should use relative paths and start with #EXTM3U:

#EXTM3U
Artist/Album/01 - Track One.mp3
Artist/Album/02 - Track Two.mp3
Another Artist/Song.flac

Creating M3U Playlists

Here’s a bash function to create an M3U playlist for all audio files in a folder:

#!/bin/bash
AUDIO_EXTENSIONS="mp3|MP3|flac|FLAC|m4a|M4A|wav|WAV|ogg|OGG|opus|OPUS|wma|WMA|aac|AAC|ape|APE|aiff|AIFF"

create_playlist() {
    local folder="$1"
    local playlist_name="$2"
    local playlist_path="$folder/${playlist_name}.m3u"

    # Find all audio files recursively, sorted
    audio_files=$(find "$folder" -type f 2>/dev/null | grep -iE "\.($AUDIO_EXTENSIONS)$" | sort)

    if [ -n "$audio_files" ]; then
        echo "#EXTM3U" > "$playlist_path"

        while IFS= read -r file; do
            # Convert to relative path
            rel_path=$(realpath --relative-to="$folder" "$file")
            echo "$rel_path" >> "$playlist_path"
        done <<< "$audio_files"

        file_count=$(echo "$audio_files" | wc -l)
        echo "Created: $playlist_name ($file_count tracks)"
    fi
}

# Example usage:
create_playlist "/path/to/music/Jazz" "Jazz"

Uploading to Plex

#!/bin/bash
PLEX_URL="http://127.0.0.1:32400"
PLEX_TOKEN="your_token_here"
SECTION_ID="4"  # Your music library section ID

upload_to_plex() {
    local playlist_path="$1"
    local playlist_name="$2"

    if [ -f "$playlist_path" ]; then
        # URL encode the path
        encoded_path=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$playlist_path', safe=''))")

        curl -s -X POST \
            "${PLEX_URL}/playlists/upload?sectionID=${SECTION_ID}&path=${encoded_path}&X-Plex-Token=${PLEX_TOKEN}"

        echo "Uploaded: $playlist_name"
    fi
}

# Example usage:
upload_to_plex "/path/to/music/Jazz/Jazz.m3u" "Jazz"

Deleting Old Playlists

When regenerating playlists, you may want to delete old uploaded versions first. Plex assigns each playlist a ratingKey. Uploaded playlists typically have high IDs (>200000), while original smart playlists have lower IDs.

#!/bin/bash
PLEX_URL="http://127.0.0.1:32400"
PLEX_TOKEN="your_token_here"

# Get all playlist IDs and delete those with high ratingKeys
curl -s "${PLEX_URL}/playlists?X-Plex-Token=${PLEX_TOKEN}" | \
    grep -oP 'ratingKey="\K[0-9]+' | while read id; do
    if [ "$id" -gt 200000 ]; then
        curl -s -X DELETE "${PLEX_URL}/playlists/$id?X-Plex-Token=${PLEX_TOKEN}"
        echo "Deleted playlist $id"
    fi
done

Complete Regeneration Script

Here’s a complete script that regenerates and uploads playlists:

#!/bin/bash
#
# Regenerate all music playlists and upload to Plex
# Run this whenever you add or move music files
#

PLEX_URL="http://127.0.0.1:32400"
PLEX_TOKEN="your_token_here"
SECTION_ID="4"  # Music library section ID
AUDIO_EXTENSIONS="mp3|MP3|flac|FLAC|m4a|M4A|wav|WAV|ogg|OGG|opus|OPUS|wma|WMA|aac|AAC|ape|APE|aiff|AIFF"

echo "=== Regenerating Music Playlists ==="

# Function to create a playlist
create_playlist() {
    local folder="$1"
    local playlist_name="$2"
    local playlist_path="$folder/${playlist_name}.m3u"

    audio_files=$(find "$folder" -type f 2>/dev/null | grep -iE "\.($AUDIO_EXTENSIONS)$" | sort)

    if [ -n "$audio_files" ]; then
        echo "#EXTM3U" > "$playlist_path"
        while IFS= read -r file; do
            rel_path=$(realpath --relative-to="$folder" "$file" 2>/dev/null || echo "$file")
            echo "$rel_path" >> "$playlist_path"
        done <<< "$audio_files"
        file_count=$(echo "$audio_files" | wc -l)
        echo "  Created: $playlist_name ($file_count tracks)"
        return 0
    fi
    return 1
}

# Function to upload a playlist
upload_to_plex() {
    local playlist_path="$1"
    local playlist_name="$2"

    if [ -f "$playlist_path" ]; then
        encoded_path=$(python3 -c "import urllib.parse; print(urllib.parse.quote('$playlist_path', safe=''))")
        curl -s -X POST "${PLEX_URL}/playlists/upload?sectionID=${SECTION_ID}&path=${encoded_path}&X-Plex-Token=${PLEX_TOKEN}" > /dev/null
        echo "  Uploaded: $playlist_name"
    fi
}

# -----------------------------
# STEP 1: Create playlists for each folder you want
# -----------------------------
echo "--- Creating playlists ---"

# Add your music folders here
MUSIC_FOLDERS=(
    "/path/to/music/Jazz"
    "/path/to/music/Classical"
    "/path/to/music/Rock"
)

for folder in "${MUSIC_FOLDERS[@]}"; do
    if [ -d "$folder" ]; then
        folder_name=$(basename "$folder")
        create_playlist "$folder" "$folder_name"
    fi
done

# -----------------------------
# STEP 2: Delete old uploaded playlists
# -----------------------------
echo "--- Cleaning up old Plex playlists ---"

curl -s "${PLEX_URL}/playlists?X-Plex-Token=${PLEX_TOKEN}" | grep -oP 'ratingKey="\K[0-9]+' | while read id; do
    if [ "$id" -gt 200000 ]; then
        curl -s -X DELETE "${PLEX_URL}/playlists/$id?X-Plex-Token=${PLEX_TOKEN}" > /dev/null
    fi
done
echo "  Removed old uploaded playlists"

# -----------------------------
# STEP 3: Upload fresh playlists
# -----------------------------
echo "--- Uploading to Plex ---"

for folder in "${MUSIC_FOLDERS[@]}"; do
    if [ -d "$folder" ]; then
        folder_name=$(basename "$folder")
        playlist="${folder}/${folder_name}.m3u"
        upload_to_plex "$playlist" "$folder_name"
    fi
done

echo "=== Done! ==="

Troubleshooting

“localhost” doesn’t work

Use 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost in the Plex URL.

Playlists upload but are empty

Ensure the M3U file uses relative paths from its own location
Verify the audio files exist and are already indexed in your Plex library
Check that Plex can read the M3U file (permissions)

Permission denied errors

Some folders may be read-only. The scripts handle this gracefully by continuing to the next folder.

Finding which playlists to keep

Original Plex smart playlists (like “Recently Added”, “Recently Played”) have low ratingKey IDs. Check your playlists before bulk deleting:

curl -s "http://127.0.0.1:32400/playlists?X-Plex-Token=YOUR_TOKEN" | \
    grep -oP '(ratingKey|title)="[^"]+"' | paste - -

API Reference

Endpoint	Method	Description
`/playlists?X-Plex-Token={TOKEN}`	GET	List all playlists
`/playlists/upload?sectionID={ID}&path={PATH}&X-Plex-Token={TOKEN}`	POST	Upload M3U playlist
`/playlists/{ratingKey}?X-Plex-Token={TOKEN}`	DELETE	Delete a playlist
`/library/sections?X-Plex-Token={TOKEN}`	GET	List library sections

Automation

Add the regeneration script to a cron job to keep playlists updated:

# Run every Sunday at 3am
0 3 * * 0 /path/to/music/regenerate-playlists.sh >> /var/log/plex-playlists.log 2>&1

Or run manually whenever you add or reorganize music files.

This guide was created in December 2024 and confirmed working with Plex Media Server. The /playlists/upload endpoint is undocumented and may change in future Plex versions.