IPTV Apps and Players Explained
Service apps, independent players, playlists and portals — a clear map of the IPTV software landscape and how to pick the right type.
ReadIPTV EPG
Understanding Electronic Programme Guides
The programme guide is the heart of the IPTV experience. Here's how XMLTV listings work and how to make them line up with your channels.
What is an EPG?
An EPG (electronic programme guide) is the on-screen schedule that shows what is on now and next across channels. In IPTV player software the guide usually comes from a separate XMLTV file, which the player matches to channels in your playlist using a shared channel ID.
What an EPG does
A good guide turns a list of streams into television you can navigate. It shows programme titles, start and end times, descriptions and often artwork, and it powers features such as reminders, catch-up and search. On broadcast TV the guide is carried in the signal itself; in IPTV it is typically downloaded separately.
The XMLTV format
XMLTV is the de facto standard for IPTV guide data. It is a plain XML file with two kinds of entry: channels and programmes.
- A channel entry has an id and a display name, and optionally an icon.
- A programme entry references a channel id and has start and stop times, a title and, optionally, a description, category, episode number and rating.
- Times include a time-zone offset, for example 20260706190000 +0100 for 7 pm British Summer Time.
Guide files can be large — tens of megabytes for a week of listings across many channels — so they are frequently compressed as .xml.gz.
How playlists and guides are matched
An M3U playlist entry can carry attributes such as tvg-id, tvg-name, tvg-logo and group-title. The player looks for a channel in the XMLTV file whose id equals the playlist's tvg-id. If they match, listings appear; if not, the channel shows 'No information'.
Getting the times right in the UK
The UK switches between GMT (UTC+0) and BST (UTC+1) twice a year. Because XMLTV times carry their own offset, a correctly configured player converts them to local time automatically. Problems usually come from manually set 'guide offset' values or a device clock set to the wrong time zone.
- Set your device's time zone to London / United Kingdom with automatic time enabled.
- Reset any manual guide offset in the player to zero.
- Refresh the guide and check a programme whose time you know.
Guide features worth looking for
- A timeline grid that scrolls smoothly with a remote.
- Configurable refresh schedule and caching, so the guide loads instantly.
- Manual channel-to-guide mapping.
- Search across titles and descriptions.
- Catch-up integration where your content service supports it.
Read our overview of IPTV apps and players for how guide features differ between player designs.
Frequently asked questions
Where does EPG data come from?
From the content service you subscribe to, or from a guide provider that licenses schedule data. IPTV UK's player displays guide data you supply; it does not include a guide source.
Why does my EPG only show a few hours?
Some guide sources only publish 24–48 hours ahead, or the player limits how much it stores. Check the source's coverage and the player's guide-days setting.
What does tvg-id mean?
tvg-id is an M3U playlist attribute holding the channel identifier used to match that channel to its listings in an XMLTV guide.