M3U8 / HLS Language Support

Visual Studio Code extension providing language support for M3U8 (HLS) files.

Features

• Syntax highlighting for:
  • HLS tags, attributes and their values
  • URIs and URLs
  • Numbers and durations, date, strings
  • Comments
  • Invalid attributes (as per the HLS specification)

• Remote playlist support:
  • Open and view remote M3U8 playlists directly in VS Code
  • Clickable links to navigate between multi-variant playlists and variants
  • Auto-refresh support for live playlists with configurable interval (defaulting to #EXT-X-TARGETDURATION)
  • Manual refresh option for on-demand updates
  • Download segments from media playlists with a single click
  • Smart link handling: opens playlists, downloads segments

• SCTE-35 parsing:
  • Parse a SCTE-35 payload with a command
  • Parse SCTE-35 payloads in HLS tags in the current file (code lens)
  • Display the results in a new tab, formatted or as JSON

• Configurable decorations:
  • Folding support for segments and associated tags
  • Colour banding of segments for easier reading
    • Including specific colors for segments with chosen tags
  • Segment number decoration on each line, with running duration and (where applicable) program date time
  • Gutter icons for specific tags (in multivariant playlists and for cues and signals)
• Documentation for HLS tags on hover, and links to the relevant sections of the HLS specification

Supported File Extensions

• .m3u8
• .m3u

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• m3u8.features.colorBanding: Enable color banding of segments for easier reading (default: true)
• m3u8.features.segmentNumbering: Show segment numbers in the right margin (default: true)
• m3u8.features.folding: Enable folding support for segments and associated tags (default: true)
• m3u8.features.gutterIcons: Show gutter icons for playlist pointers in multivariant playlists (default: true)
• m3u8.features.showRunningDuration: Show running duration for each segment (default: true)
• m3u8.features.showProgramDateTime: Show effective timestamp for each segment (default: true)
• m3u8.features.clickableLinks: Enable clickable links for URIs in playlists (default: true)
• m3u8.features.tagColors: List of tag colors in format "TAG,borderColor,backgroundColor" (default: [])
• m3u8.features.defaultColors: Default colors for odd/even segments when no tag colors match (see below)
• m3u8.features.showTagDocumentation: Show documentation tooltips for HLS tags (default: true)

Default Colors

The m3u8.features.defaultColors setting allows you to customize the colors used for alternating segments when no tag colors match. The default values are:

{
    "odd": {
        "backgroundColor": "rgba(25, 35, 50, 0.35)",
        "borderColor": "rgba(50, 120, 220, 0.8)"
    },
    "even": {
        "backgroundColor": "rgba(40, 55, 75, 0.25)",
        "borderColor": "rgba(100, 160, 255, 0.6)"
    }
}

Commands

The extension provides the following commands:

• M3U8 / HLS: Open Remote Playlist: Open a remote M3U8 playlist by entering its URL
• M3U8 / HLS: Refresh Current Playlist: Manually refresh the current remote playlist
• M3U8 / HLS: Toggle Auto-Refresh: Enable or disable automatic refreshing of the current remote playlist (not available for multi-variant playlists)
• M3U8 / HLS: Parse SCTE-35 Payload: Parse a SCTE-35 payload and display the results in a new tab

Examples

The extension includes example files in the examples directory demonstrating some of the features.

Contributing

Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue on GitHub.

License

This extension is licensed under the MIT License.