Playlists in IPTV are files containing links to channels. It acts as a guide or map that guides the IPTV software application to the channel stream. Usually, playlists in IPTV are in M3U or XML format. The M3U format is a basic plain text format that contains a list of channel links, while the XML format is a high-level markup language format that provides additional information about the channels. Both formats are compatible with most IPTV software applications and users can choose one based on their preference.