Internet video and audio streams

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 .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 in XBMC
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 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.

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.

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).

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.