How to Listen to Internet Radio in Jellyfin

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Title card for the guide: How to Listen to Internet Radio in Jellyfin, in amber on black with an equaliser motif

Jellyfin has no radio section of its own, but its Live TV feature takes an M3U playlist, and a playlist of radio stations works there like a list of channels. It takes about two minutes and needs no plugin.

Add a radio playlist as an M3U tuner

  1. Open the Admin Panel (the icon at the top right) and choose Live TV.
  2. Press + next to Tuner Devices and set Tuner Type to M3U Tuner.
  3. In File or URL, paste a playlist address, for example Germany: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlonDrilich/radio-playlists/main/countries/de.m3u. The free playlist site has one for 166 countries and 60 genres, each with its own address, rebuilt every week from the open Radio Browser directory.
  4. Press Save. The stations appear under Live TV → Channels, with their logos and grouped by country or genre.

A program guide (XMLTV or Schedules Direct) is only needed for the TV guide grid and recordings; radio stations play without one.

What to expect

  • They are channels, not songs. Jellyfin treats each station as a TV channel without a picture, so some clients show an empty video area while the audio plays.
  • Song titles that a station sends may not show in Jellyfin's players. 72FM and desktop players such as VLC display them.
  • Several playlists: add one M3U tuner per playlist, or make one M3U file of your own with just the stations you want. Every station page on 72FM shows its stream address with a Copy button; how to find a station's stream URL explains the format.

If a station will not play

  • Try "Auto-loop live streams" in the tuner's settings, which Jellyfin suggests when streams stop early.
  • The stream may have moved. The playlists are refreshed weekly; refresh the guide data or re-save the tuner to reload them.
  • HLS streams ending in .m3u8 and plain http:// addresses can behave differently from client to client. Internet radio stopped working covers the other causes.

For a media centre with a real Radio section, Kodi files the same playlists under Radio.

Frequently asked questions

Can Jellyfin play internet radio?

Yes, through Live TV: add an M3U playlist of radio stations as an M3U tuner and the stations appear as channels.

Do I need guide data for radio in Jellyfin?

No. XMLTV or Schedules Direct guide data is only needed for the TV guide grid and recordings.

Where can I get a radio M3U playlist for Jellyfin?

Free playlists for 166 countries and 60 genres, rebuilt weekly from the open Radio Browser directory, are on the radio-playlists site linked from this guide.

Does Jellyfin have a radio section?

No. Radio stations show up as Live TV channels without a picture.