What is XMLTV
XMLTV is an open XML format for describing television schedules. Developed in 1999 for the xmltv.org project and became the de facto standard for IPTV middleware, media players and EPG grabbers.
Wide Support
Kodi, VLC, Ministra, Xtream and more
Human Readable
Easy to read and debug
Extensible
Custom attributes and fields
Simple Parsing
Standard XML libraries
Document Structure
An XMLTV document consists of a root tv element containing lists of channels and programs:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE tv SYSTEM "xmltv.dtd">
<tv source-info-name="EPG Service" generator-info-name="epgservice.tv">
<!-- Channel list -->
<channel id="bbc-one">
<display-name>BBC One</display-name>
<icon src="https://cdn.epgservice.tv/logos/bbc-one.png"/>
</channel>
<!-- Programs -->
<programme start="20260206180000 +0000" channel="bbc-one">
<title lang="en">BBC News at Six</title>
<desc lang="en">The latest national and international news</desc>
<category lang="en">News</category>
</programme>
</tv>Channel Element
Describes a TV channel. Must come before programme elements.
| Element | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
id (attribute) | Yes | Unique channel identifier |
display-name | Yes | Channel name |
icon | No | Channel logo URL |
url | No | Channel website |
<channel id="bbc-two">
<display-name lang="en">BBC Two</display-name>
<display-name lang="ru">Би-би-си 2</display-name>
<icon src="https://cdn.epgservice.tv/logos/bbc-two.png"/>
<url>https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo</url>
</channel>Programme Element
Describes one program in the schedule. Required attributes: start, channel.
<programme start="20260206200000 +0000" stop="20260206220000 +0000" channel="bbc-one">
<title lang="en">Graham Norton Show</title>
<sub-title lang="en">Guest — John Smith</sub-title>
<desc lang="en">Entertainment talk show</desc>
<credits>
<presenter>Graham Norton</presenter>
<guest>John Smith</guest>
</credits>
<date>2026</date>
<category lang="en">Talk show</category>
<language>en</language>
<length units="minutes">120</length>
<icon src="https://cdn.epgservice.tv/posters/norton.jpg"/>
<country>GB</country>
<episode-num system="onscreen">S20E24</episode-num>
<rating system="UK">
<value>12</value>
</rating>
</programme>Tip
The stop attribute is optional,
but recommended for correct display in grid interfaces.
Time Format
Time in XMLTV is specified in format YYYYMMDDHHmmss +HHMM:
20260206180000 +0000 → February 6, 2026, 18:00 UTC
20260206130000 -0500 → Same time in ESTStructure
YYYY— year (4 digits)MM— month (01-12)DD— day (01-31)HH— hour (00-23)mm— minutes (00-59)ss— seconds (00-59)
Timezone
+HHMM— offset from UTC+0000— UTC+0300— Moscow (MSK)-0500— EST (USA)
Parsing XMLTV
Python
import xml.etree.ElementTree as ET
from datetime import datetime
tree = ET.parse('epg.xml')
root = tree.getroot()
# Channels
channels = {}
for channel in root.findall('channel'):
channel_id = channel.get('id')
name = channel.find('display-name').text
channels[channel_id] = name
# Programs
for programme in root.findall('programme'):
channel_id = programme.get('channel')
start = programme.get('start')
title = programme.find('title').text
start_dt = datetime.strptime(start[:14], '%Y%m%d%H%M%S')
print(f"{channels[channel_id]}: {start_dt} - {title}")JavaScript
const parser = new DOMParser();
const xmlDoc = parser.parseFromString(xmlString, 'text/xml');
// Channels
const channels = {};
xmlDoc.querySelectorAll('channel').forEach(ch => {
const id = ch.getAttribute('id');
const name = ch.querySelector('display-name').textContent;
channels[id] = name;
});
// Programs
xmlDoc.querySelectorAll('programme').forEach(prog => {
const channelId = prog.getAttribute('channel');
const start = prog.getAttribute('start');
const title = prog.querySelector('title').textContent;
console.log(channels[channelId] + ': ' + start + ' - ' + title);
});Validation
Use the official DTD schema to validate XMLTV:
xmllint --dtdvalid xmltv.dtd epg.xmlNeed an XMLTV file?
EPG Service provides XMLTV exports for 4308 channels. JSON API also available for modern integrations.
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