Home › Audio file conversion › All You Need To Know About Playlist & Project Files

All You Need To Know About Playlist & Project Files

Posted on by
Playlist
Image by http://bit.ly/24O1Wdx

On Online-Convert.com we have noticed that some users are facing difficulties when it comes to certain files. While conversion of audio and video files is a piece of cake for us, some files uploaded by our users can not me converted to MP3, MP4 or AVI.

This is especially confusing when the users are able to open their files and play the videos or music contained on their home computer. In most cases, the reason for this is easily explained. Instead of uploading audio or video files, we are presented with project or playlist files that do not contain actual video or audio data.

We want to shed some light on the topic, so if you are interested in what playlist and project files are, read on!

 

Playlist Files

Playlist files can contain links to both audio and video files, bundling them up in a collection. The files are plain text files that contain information about the location of the files contained in the list. Thus, the files do not contain the actual songs, movies or episodes, but the local pathname or URL that points to where the file is stored on the web or your hard drive.

In short, this means that these files do not contain actual video or audio data but only a list where to find those files.

 

Popular playlist files are:

  • M3U: Media Playlist File
  • PLS: Audio Playlist
  • WPL: Windows Media Player Playlist
  • XSPF: XML Shareable Playlist Format

 

 

Project Files

Project files are similar to playlist files in that they do not contain any actual audio or video data. This is where the similarities end though.

These files are used to save your work in progress when editing either music or video clips. The files contain references to the used audio and video files as well as information about used effects, transitions, subtitles, images, graphics, annotations and more.

 

Popular media project files include:

Audio Editing Projects Video Editing Projects
  • AUP: Audacity Project File
  • BAND: GarageBand Project File
  • LOGIC: Logic Pro Project File
  • FCP: Final Cut Project
  • IMOVIEPROJ: iMovie Project File
  • MOTN: MOTN
  • MSWMM: Microsoft Windows Movie Maker Project File
  • PPJ & PRPROJ: Adobe Premiere Pro Project Files
  • VEG: Vegas Video Project
  • VEP: AVS Video Editor Project File
  • VPJ: VideoPad Video Editor Project File
  • WLMP: Windows Live Movie Maker

 

Shortcut Files

Shortcut files are also similar to playlist files. They reference a track or song somewhere on your computer or on a physical CD. Thus,they also do not contain any audio data but point to the location of a file on a CD or hard drive. Without the file stored at the exact same location, no audio data can be accessed.

 

Some of the more popular shortcut files include:

  • ASX: Microsoft ASF Redirector File
  • CDA: CD Audio Track Shortcut