Hi. In a standard iTunes installation on a Mac (using the most current version of iTunes), what is the name of the folder / file where playlists are stored?
Thank you
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)
Playlists are part of the iTunes Library file; they're not stored separately.
Regards.
Playlists are part of the iTunes Library file; they're not stored separately.
Regards.
As Dave notes, the playlists are not individually stored in an accessible way. However, if you need a machine readable listing of a particular playlist, right-click the playlist name, choose "Export..." and tell it which format you'd like, the choices being text, M3U, or XML.
Thank you Dave. Do you mean the iTunes Library.xml file, or the iTunes Music Library.xml file? I see both listed in the iTunes folder. What is the difference between these two files?
According to Finder, the iTunes Music Library.xml file was last modified in June. The iTunes Library.xml file was last updated today.
Thanks
Pomme,
If you look at the size of those two files, you will see that one is much larger than the other. The stuff Dave is referring to is in the larger.
If you want to see its contents, open it with a browser, or a text editor, or an XML editor.
Thanks ed2345. On my machine the iTunes Library.xml file is 10mb. The iTunes Music Library.xml file is 9mb. They are similar in size. I am still trying to understand the difference in purpose between these two files.
The fact that the iTunes Music Library.xml file has not been modified since June, and the fact that it is a little smaller than the other file, implies to me that maybe it is an old file no longer used by the current version of iTunes. Possible?
I am on iTunes 10.4.1. Thanks
If the iTunes library has been moved (it is not in /Music/), iTunes will create the iTunes music library.xml file.
Note that iTunes does not use the .xml files. They are created for other apps to access the iTUnes library.
iTunes uses the iTunes library.itl file.
Thanks to all for your answers. I deleted the iTunes Music Library.xml with no apparent adverse impacts. So I guess it was an old version that is no longer used. It was causing duplicate playlist entries in my Sonos system. All ok now!
If the library is in the default location the xml file is called iTunes Music Library.xml, if the library has been moved or is created elsewhere the xml file is called iTunes Library.xml. On a Mac the database is normally called iTunes Library, on a PC it is iTunes Library.itl.
tt2
I checked the folder and had 2 x iTunes Music Library.xml files, I renamed the largest one to just iTunes Music Library.xml; this did not restore my former Playlists BUT I found another 2 x iTunes Library.itl files and once again named the largest one to just iTunes Library.itl and BOOM, all restored.
I am not sure why the old files which worked were renamed with a (1) at the end and copied to newer smaller files, any ideas Apple?
rEgards,
Where are playlists stored?
