Using Windows Media Player Playlist Files in Web Playlists

By default, Windows Media Player 11 in Windows Server 2008 creates playlists in WPL format (files with .wpl file name extensions). This article describes how to create copies of the playlist files in ASX format (files with .asx file name extensions) so that you can import them into the Web Playlists extension for Internet Information Services (IIS). When you import the ASX files in Web Playlists, the equivalent Web playlist files (files with .isx file name extension) are created, which you must then edit to enable them in the Web Playlists feature. This article describes how to edit ISX files in two different ways, depending upon whether you want to serve the media files referenced in the playlist media entries either from the original user folder or from a Web site directory.

This article contains the following sections:

Prerequisites

To install the Web Playlists extension for IIS 7.0 and above, see the Installation Notes section in the IIS Media Services Readme.

This article assumes that you have created playlists in Windows Media Player on the local server computer using default Player settings. For more information about installing Windows Media Player 11 and creating Windows Media Player playlists, see the Related Articles section.

Saving WPL Playlist Files as ASX Playlist Files in Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player creates its playlists in WPL format by default. This section shows how to create an ASX-formatted version of a Windows Media Player playlist (.wpl) file to import into the Web Playlists feature.

To create ASX-formatted playlist files

In the Windows Media Player Library, in the Contents pane, select the playlist that you want to add to the Web Playlists feature. Then, in the Details pane, click Edit in List Pane.

This will add the playlist to the List pane in Windows Media Player. In the following example, we show in the List pane a simple playlist (named playlist1) that contains two tracks (named track1 and track2).

Click the down arrow next to the playlist name, and then click Save Playlist As.

This action will open the Save As dialog box with default values.

In the Save As dialog box, in Save as type, select Any Playlist (*.wpl, *.asx, *.m3u).

In the Save As dialog box, in File name, change the file name extension from wpl to asx.

In the Save As dialog box, click Save.

Importing ASX Playlist Files to the Web Playlists Feature

This section shows how to import the ASX-formatted Windows Media Player playlist file that you created in the previous section.

To import ASX-formatted playlist files

In IIS Manager, select the Web site or virtual directory from which you want to serve your Windows Media Player playlist files (.wpl files), and then in the Contents pane, click the Web Playlists icon.

In the Actions pane, click Open Feature.

This action displays the Web Playlists feature page. If you have not previously created Web playlists for the site or virtual directory, the page will be empty as shown below.

In the Actions pane, click Import ASX Playlist.

In the Open dialog box, navigate to the location where the playlist file in ASX format is stored, select it, and then click Open.

The Windows Media Player playlist file (playlist1.asx) in imported to the Web Playlists feature as a Web playlist file (playlist1.isx), as shown below:

Enabling your Imported Web Playlist

After you import your ASX-formatted Windows Media Player playlist file, there are a couple of approaches to take regarding how you want to serve the media that is referenced in it. You can either leave the media files where they reside in your user folder, or you can copy them to a folder in your Web site root directory or virtual directory. Your choice really depends on whether you want to maintain multiple copies of your media files.

If you choose the first option (leave the media files where they are), then you must do the following:

1. In the Web Playlists feature, set impersonation settings so that it can access the files in the user folder.
2. In the Web Playists feature, enable Absolute/UNC paths.
3. In the ISX file, change relative URIs for the media entries to physical paths.
4. In the ISX file, change the srcType from relative URI to physical path.
5. In the ISX file, remove the param container with invalid extraparam attributes.

If you choose the second option (copy the media files to your Web site or virtual directory), then you must do the following:

1. Copy your media files to a folder in the Web root directory or to the virtual directory.
2. In the ISX file, update the relative URIs for the media entries.
3. In the ISX file, remove the param container with invalid extraparam attributes.

The following sections provide details on both approaches:

Serve the media files from user folders

In the Web Playlists feature, set impersonation settings so that it can access the files in the user folder. For detailed instructions, see Web Playlists for IIS — Serving Media Content from User Folders.

In the Web Playlists feature, enable Absolute/UNC paths.

a. In the Actions pane, click Edit Feature Settings.

b. In the Edit Feature Settings dialog box, select Allow absolute/UNC paths.

In a text editor, such as Notepad, change the relative URI for each media entry in the ISX to a physical path. For example:

You can use the Replace feature in Notepad to make this change to all media entries at once.

In the text editor, change the srcType for each media entry in the ISX to a physical path. For example:

You can use the Replace feature in Notepad to make this change to all media entries at once.

When you import the Windows Media Player ASX playlist file, the Web Playlists feature groups the unsupported playlist attributes as extraParam values in a param container in the ISX playlist file. You must remove (or comment-out) the param container with invalid extraParam attributes for each media entry in the ISX.

In the following example, we comment-out the param (beginning and ending comment marks shown in red). Also, for brevity, we show only the first and last extraParam values (for the track length and number) in the example:

Because extraParam values vary for each track, do the following when using the Replace feature in Notepad:

This will comment-out the param container with the extraParam attributes, as shown in the above example.

Serve the media files from the Web site

Copy the media files referenced in the Windows Media Player playlist (.wpl) file to a folder in the Web site directory or to a virtual directory. For example, if you imported the .asx version of the playlist to the Default Web site, copy the files to: \inetpub\wwwroot\media.

In a text editor, such as Notepad, update the relative URI for each media entry in the ISX. For example:

You can use the Replace feature in Notepad to make this change to all media entries at once.

When you import the Windows Media Player ASX playlist file, the Web Playlists feature groups the unsupported playlist attributes as extraParam values in a param container in the ISX playlist file. You must remove (or comment-out) the param container with invalid extraParam attributes for each media entry in the ISX.

In the following example, we comment-out the param (beginning and ending comment marks shown in red). Also, for brevity, we show only the first and last extraParam values (for the track length and number) in the example:

Because extraParam values vary for each track, do the following when using the Replace feature in Notepad:

This will comment-out the param container with the extraParam attributes, as shown in the above example.

Setting Playback Options

After updating the ISX, clients will be able to play the media items referenced in it. By default, clients will have full control of the playback experience, such as the ability to skip (both forward and backward) to different entries in the playlist and to seek within a currently playing track. You can limit a client’s ability to seek or skip playlist media entries by configuring media entry settings in the Web Playlists feature. For more information, see IIS Media Services Help.

To access this help, press F1 while using the Web Playlists feature in IIS Manager.

Get Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is available for Windows-based devices. Use this table to find the right version of the Player for your system. (If you’ve got a Mac, you can download Windows Media Components for QuickTime to play Windows Media files.)

Windows Media Player 12
Learn more

Included in clean installs of Windows 10 as well as upgrades to Windows 10 from Windows 8.1 or Windows 7. In some editions of Windows 10, it’s included as an optional feature that you can enable. To do that, select the Start button, then select Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage optional features > Add a feature > Windows Media Player, and select Install.

DVD playback isn’t included. Go to the DVD playback for Windows page to find out how to add DVD playback to Windows 10.

Windows Media Player 12
Learn more

Included in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro, but doesn’t include DVD playback. Go to the DVD playback for Windows page to find out how to add DVD playback to Windows 8.1. For Windows Media Player 12 for Windows 8.1 N and KN editions, get the Media Feature Pack.

Windows Media Player isn’t available for Windows RT 8.1.

Windows Media Player 12
Learn more

Included in Windows 7 Starter, Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise editions. For Windows 7 N or KN editions, get the Media Feature Pack.

Windows Media Components for QuickTime

If you want to reinstall Windows Media Player, try the following:

Click the Start button, type features, and select Turn Windows features on or off.

Scroll down and expand Media Features, clear the Windows Media Player check box, and click OK.

Restart your device. Windows Media Player should be uninstalled.

Scroll down and expand Media Features, select the Windows Media Player check box, and click OK.

Restart your device. Windows Media player should now be reinstalled.

Note: To troubleshoot issues like playback and codec problems, see the «Get help» section in Windows Media Player.

Using HTML with Windows Media Player

Overview

Using HTML with Windows Media Player is an excellent way to combine audio and video with text and graphics. You can embed the Windows Media Player control in a webpage when you want to supplement your static content or create Web applications with digital media. When you want to supplement your digital media with HTML, on the other hand, you can display webpages in the full mode of the Player by referencing them in Windows Media metafile playlists.

If you write custom programs that embed the Windows Media Player control in remote mode, you can also control the webpages displayed in the various panes of the full mode of the Player when your users undock the control. This lets you preserve continuity between the docked and undocked states.

Web Embedding

You can use the Windows Media Player control as part of a webpage you create. See Embedding the Windows Media Player Control in a Web Page.

Script Commands and URL Flipping

Script commands are text/value pairs you can embed in your digital media files or streams. You might use custom script commands solely to trigger script code, while letting Windows Media Player handle other script commands automatically.

When you have several webpages that accompany a digital media presentation, URL script commands can automatically change the page in one frame while the Windows Media Player control continues playing digital media in another frame. This is called URL flipping, and is an excellent way to create a multimedia slide show. Other automatically handled script commands let you switch playback to a different media file or stream, display captioning text, or trigger events such as ad insertions defined in a Windows Media metafile playlist.

For more information about URL flipping, see Creating Web-Based Presentations.

Rich Media Streaming

URL flipping works best with simple pages that load rapidly. With more complex pages, multiple components are transferred individually, making it difficult to synchronize page display with digital media. To allow complex rich media presentations, webpages can be added to a media stream and delivered to the Player in the same way as audio and video. This lets you synchronize the components of your presentation much more easily, especially over low-speed connections.

For more information about rich media streaming, see Creating Web-Based Presentations.

Browser Support

You can embed the Windows Media Player control in Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape Navigator, although the process is slightly different for each. You can also create webpages designed to work with all three browsers.

With Internet Explorer and Firefox, you embed the control using the HTML OBJECT element. Navigator requires a different approach, however, because it doesn’t directly support ActiveX controls. With Navigator, you use the APPLET element to embed a special Java applet into the page. This applet handles communication with the Player ActiveX control.

For more information about Netscape Navigator support, see Using Windows Media Player with Netscape 7.1.

Displaying Web Pages in the Full Mode of the Player

You can extend the functionality of Windows Media Player or provide a custom view of information that accompanies your digital media by displaying webpages in the full mode of the Player. This is the HTMLView feature of Windows Media metafiles. Metafiles give you great control over playlist content, allowing you to seamlessly transition between clips, insert advertisements, and display still images in Windows Media Player. To display webpages in the full mode of the Player, you use the PARAM element to add URL references to your playlist entries or to entire playlists.

For more information about using webpages in metafiles, see Displaying Web Pages in Windows Media Player.