IPTV Glossary: M3U, EPG, Xtream Codes, VOD and 50+ Terms Defined

IPTV comes with its own vocabulary. This IPTV glossary defines the terms you’re most likely to meet in player apps, provider emails and setup guides — each in a sentence or two. It focuses on IPTV-specific words; for general streaming terms such as HDR formats and subscription models, see our streaming glossary. If you’re just starting out, our IPTV for beginners guide puts the most important terms in context.

Logins and playlists

Account / subscription — Your access to a provider’s service, usually with an expiry date and a limit on simultaneous streams.

Connection limit (max connections) — How many streams your plan allows at the same time.

M3U / M3U8 — A plain-text playlist listing channel names and stream addresses. M3U8 is the same format saved with UTF-8 text encoding. See M3U playlists explained.

M3U URL — A web link to your playlist, often containing your username and password.

Xtream Codes (login / API) — A login made of a server URL, username and password, which players use to request channels, films, series and the guide separately.

Server URL — The address of your provider’s server, often with a port number.

Port — The number after the colon in a server address, such as :8080.

Portal — The login method used by MAG-style set-top boxes, linked to the box’s MAC address.

MAC address — A hardware identifier for a network device, used by portals and some TV apps.

Device ID — An identifier shown by many smart TV IPTV apps, used to add your playlist on the developer’s website.

Activation fee — A one-time payment some TV player apps charge after a free trial; paid to the app developer.

Provider / playlist / user — Names different apps use for your saved login.

Channels and the guide

Bouquet / group / category — A section of channels, such as “News” or “Sport”.

Favourites — Your personal shortlist of channels.

EPG (electronic programme guide) — The TV guide data showing programmes and times.

XMLTV — The most common file format for IPTV guide data.

tvg-id — The ID in an M3U playlist used to match a channel to its guide data.

EPG offset / time shift — A setting that corrects programmes shown too early or late.

Channel logo (tvg-logo) — A link to the logo shown next to a channel.

On demand and replay

Live TV — Channels streamed as they’re broadcast.

VOD (video on demand) — Films and series you start whenever you like.

Series — On-demand shows organised by season and episode.

Catch-up / archive — Recent programmes kept on the provider’s servers to replay from the guide.

Timeshift — Pausing, rewinding or restarting what’s on now.

Recording / PVR — Saving a programme to your own storage.

Video and audio

Resolution (SD, HD, FHD, 4K/UHD) — How many pixels the picture has.

Bitrate — How much data each second of video uses; higher usually means better quality.

Codec — The compression method, such as H.264 or HEVC.

H.264 (AVC) — The most widely supported video codec.

HEVC (H.265) — A more efficient codec, common on 4K channels; needs hardware support.

Frame rate (fps) — Pictures per second; 50 or 60 for smooth sport.

Interlaced (1080i) — A broadcast format sent as half-pictures that the player combines.

Deinterlacing — Combining interlaced half-pictures into full frames.

HDR / SDR — High or standard dynamic range.

AC-3 / E-AC-3 — Dolby Digital and Dolby Digital Plus audio formats.

Audio track — One of several audio versions, such as different languages.

Subtitles — Text captions, if the stream includes them.

Playback settings

Player — The app you watch IPTV in.

Buffer — Video downloaded ahead of playback to absorb connection dips.

Hardware / software decoder — Whether the device’s video chip or main processor decodes video.

Player engine — The internal playback technology an app uses; some apps offer several.

AFR (auto frame rate) — Switching the TV’s refresh rate to match each channel.

Audio passthrough — Sending surround formats unchanged to a soundbar or receiver.

User agent — How an app identifies itself to a server; leave the default unless told otherwise.

Parental PIN — A code that locks channels or groups.

Networks and delivery

Streaming protocol — The method used to deliver video, such as HLS.

HLS — HTTP Live Streaming, which delivers video in short segments.

MPEG-TS — A container format often used for live TV streams.

CDN — A content delivery network of servers that bring streams closer to viewers.

Unicast — A separate stream sent to each viewer.

Multicast — One stream copied across a managed network to many viewers; used by broadband TV services.

Latency — Delay in the connection; in live streaming, also how far behind real time you are.

Jitter — Variation in delay.

Packet loss — Data that never arrives.

VPN — An encrypted tunnel for your internet traffic.

Ethernet — A wired network connection.

5 GHz / 2.4 GHz — Wi-Fi bands; 5 GHz is faster at short range.

A few more terms you may meet

Adaptive bitrate (ABR) — Streaming that switches between quality levels as your connection changes.

Multiview — Watching several channels on screen at once; each uses its own connection.

Zapping time — How long it takes for a new channel to start after you change.

Stalker portal — Another name for the portal login used by MAG-style boxes and apps that emulate them.

Stream format — How a stream is packaged, such as an MPEG-TS stream or HLS segments; players may handle some formats better than others.

Services and models

OTT (over the top) — Video delivered over the open internet, independent of your internet provider.

Operator IPTV — TV delivered by your internet provider over its own network.

FAST — Free ad-supported streaming TV channels.

MAG box — A type of dedicated IPTV set-top box using portal logins.

The bottom line

Most IPTV setup uses only a handful of these terms: player, M3U or Xtream Codes login, EPG and buffer. Keep this page handy for the rest, and use the linked guides when you need more detail.