Format guide
M3U, Xtream Codes and Stalker: what is the difference?
These are three ways a media provider can give a player access to a user-authorized channel and VOD catalogue. The credentials look different, but Tuvora can accept all three.
| Format | What you receive | How to recognize it | Tuvora guide |
|---|---|---|---|
| M3U | A playlist URL or local .m3u file | Often one long URL, sometimes ending in get.php or .m3u | Add M3U |
| Xtream Codes | Server URL, username and password | Three separate fields; a get.php URL may contain the same values | Add Xtream |
| Stalker | Portal URL and MAC address, sometimes extra device identifiers | Credentials intended for a MAG-style set-top box | Add Stalker |
M3U vs Xtream Codes: what is actually different
An M3U is one flat text file: every channel, film and episode as a line with a name, a logo and a stream address. The player has to work out for itself which lines are live TV and which are a series, and it only learns about changes when it downloads the whole file again. The guide comes from a separate EPG link, if the provider gives you one at all.
Xtream Codes is an API on the provider's server. Instead of one file the player asks for exactly what it needs — the live categories, a film's details, one series' seasons, the guide for a single channel — and gets structured answers. That is why an Xtream login gives you proper Movies and Series sections, posters and season lists without the player guessing, and why the programme guide arrives without a second link.
The two are closer than they look. An Xtream server can also hand out its whole catalogue as an M3U through a get.php link, and that link carries the same three details:
http://host:port/get.php?username=USER&password=PASS&type=m3u_plus&output=ts
So if you were given a get.php URL, you were given an Xtream Codes login written as a playlist. Add it as Xtream — Tuvora reads the server, username and password out of the link — and you get the structured version rather than the flat one.
Where Stalker fits
A Stalker (or Ministra) portal was built for MAG set-top boxes. There is no username: the portal recognises a MAC address that the provider registered, so the login is a portal URL and that MAC. It serves live, VOD and guide data much like Xtream does, but most portals allow one session per MAC, so the same line rarely runs on two devices at once. If you hold a portal URL and a MAC, the Stalker portal setup walkthrough covers the URL variants and the sign-in errors.
Can you convert one into another?
- Xtream → M3U: yes, always — that is what the
get.phplink is. The reverse also holds: aget.phplink is an Xtream login. - M3U → Xtream: only if the playlist came from an Xtream server in the first place. A hand-made or third-party M3U has no API behind it.
- Stalker → anything: not by you. Some providers run an Xtream panel on the same server and will issue a username and password on request, but that is their call.
Which one should you ask for?
If the provider offers a choice, Xtream Codes gives a player the most to work with: real sections, metadata and a guide, and a login that works on more than one device. M3U is the universal fallback — every player reads it, and it can live as a local file. Stalker is the right answer only when that is what the line was issued as.
Changing the login format does not change the streams. Picture quality, buffering and which channels exist all come from the provider, not from the way you sign in.
See how Tuvora handles each: the M3U player, the Xtream Codes player, or the Stalker portal player.
Protect your credentials
Playlist URLs can contain usernames, passwords or tokens. Do not paste them into public support posts, screenshots, analytics tools or comparison sites. Tuvora support will never need your provider password to explain the setup screens.