m2p2m

A pair of Python command-line tools for syncing m3u playlists to Plex Media Server, and exporting Plex playlists back to m3u format.

Scripts

• m2p.py — Imports m3u playlists into Plex
• p2m.py — Exports Plex playlists to m3u files

Features

• Supports both extended m3u (with #EXTINF: headers) and bare m3u (paths only) formats
• Multiple track matching strategies: exact path, normalized path variants, stripped comparison, artist/title metadata, and brute force full-library scan
• Change detection via MD5 fingerprinting — unchanged playlists are skipped on subsequent runs
• Handles Unicode characters in filenames (e.g. µ-Ziq, Björk)
• Dry run mode — preview matches without creating playlists
• Export single or all Plex playlists to m3u

Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• A Plex Media Server account and running server instance

bashpip install plexapi

Configuration

Create a plex_account.ini file in the same folder as the scripts to give the scripts your Plex server credentials:

login = your@email.com
password = yourpassword
server = YourServerName

The server name should match exactly what appears in your Plex interface.

Usage

Import m3u to Plex

Single playlist python m2p.py /path/to/playlist.m3u

Entire folder of playlists python m2p.py /path/to/playlists/

Dry run - match tracks without creating playlists python m2p.py -v -p /path/to/playlist.m3u

Replace existing playlist if m3u has changed python m2p.py -r /path/to/playlist.m3u

Export Plex to m3u

List all Plex audio playlists python p2m.py -l

Export a single playlist python p2m.py "My Playlist"

Export to a specific folder python p2m.py "My Playlist" -o /path/to/output/

Export all playlists python p2m.py -o /path/to/output/

Flags (m3u_to_plex.py)

• -v (--verbose): Detailed output including match counts
• -d (--debug): Debug output including raw path comparisons
• -r (--replace): Delete and recreate playlist if m3u has changed
• -p (--pretend): Dry run, do not create playlists

Notes

• The playlist name in Plex is taken from the m3u filename

• Brute force matching scans your entire Plex library and can be slow on large collections — a library of 50,000+ tracks may take several minutes to load

• The status_db file tracks fingerprints of processed playlists to skip unchanged ones on reruns

• Paths in your m3u files must be accessible from the machine running the script

Credits

Originally based on a script by yarnairb. Improvements include bare m3u support, Unicode/mojibake fixes, a trailing comma bug fix in path comparison, and the companion export script.