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IPTV Terms Explained: A Glossary of 25 Words You'll Meet

EPG, M3U, catch-up, bitrate, HEVC… A plain-English glossary of the terms you'll meet when setting up and using IPTV, grouped by where you'll actually see them.

IPTVBESTLIFE Editorial TeamPublished 3 min read
A TV remote on a walnut coffee table in front of a softly blurred TV showing coloured tiles

IPTV comes with its own vocabulary, and setup instructions rarely stop to explain it. This glossary groups the terms by where you'll meet them — during setup, while watching, in quality settings and when things go wrong — so you can find what you need quickly.

Terms you'll meet during setup

Player app — the app on your TV or device that plays the streams. The app and the service are usually separate: the app is the "player", the provider supplies the content.

Access details / credentials — what your provider gives you to connect the app to their service. Depending on the app, this is either a login (server address, username and password) or a playlist address.

M3U playlist — a simple text-based list of stream addresses. Many player apps accept an M3U link and build the channel list from it. You don't need to open or edit it; you paste the link into the app.

EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) — the on-screen TV guide showing what's on now and next. It's often supplied as a separate data feed from the channel list, which is why channels can work while the guide is empty. See fixing EPG problems.

XMLTV — the common file format for EPG data. If an app asks for an "EPG URL", it usually means an XMLTV address.

Device activation / MAC address — some apps identify your device by its network hardware address (MAC) and ask you to activate it on a website before content appears.

Sideloading — installing an app from outside the official app store. It bypasses the store's safety checks; we recommend avoiding it. More in our safety guide.

Terms you'll meet while watching

Live TV / linear channels — channels that play continuously, like broadcast TV.

VOD (Video on Demand) — a library of films and series you can start, pause and resume at any time.

Catch-up — the ability to watch programmes that already aired, usually for a limited number of days, launched from the programme guide.

Time-shift — pausing or rewinding a live channel.

Favourites — your own shortlist of channels, which makes long channel lists manageable.

Multi-screen / connections — how many devices can play at the same time on one subscription. Not the same as how many devices you can install the app on — see using IPTV on multiple devices.

Terms you'll meet in quality settings

Resolution — how many pixels make up the picture: HD (720p), Full HD (1080p), 4K UHD (2160p). Compared in HD vs Full HD vs 4K.

Bitrate — how much data per second a stream uses (measured in Mbps). Higher bitrate usually means fewer compression artefacts.

Codec — the method used to compress video. Common ones are H.264, H.265 (HEVC) and AV1; your device must support the codec to play the stream smoothly. See video codecs explained.

Frame rate (fps) — images per second. Sport at 50 or 60 fps looks smoother than 25 or 30 fps.

HDR — High Dynamic Range: brighter highlights and richer colour, when content, device and TV all support it. Formats include HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision.

Hardware decoding — the device's dedicated video chip handles decoding. It's smoother and cooler than software decoding and is worth enabling in player settings when offered.

Terms you'll meet when something goes wrong

Buffer / buffering — the player keeps a few seconds of video in reserve; buffering is the pause when that reserve runs out. See why IPTV buffers and how to fix it.

Adaptive bitrate (ABR) — the player's habit of lowering quality when your connection slows, so the picture softens instead of stopping.

Latency — the delay between something happening live and appearing on your screen.

Jitter — irregular arrival of data. Wi-Fi tends to have more jitter than a cable, which can cause stutter even when your speed test looks fine.

CDN (Content Delivery Network) — servers in many locations that deliver streams from somewhere close to you.

AV sync / lip-sync — whether sound and picture line up. Fixes are in our audio out of sync guide.

Where to go next

Put the vocabulary to work with our step-by-step IPTV setup guide, or read how IPTV streaming works to see how these pieces connect. Completely new to IPTV? The beginner's path takes you from zero to watching in order.

About this guide. Written and maintained by the IPTVBESTLIFE team. Device menus and apps change over time — if a step no longer matches your screen, let us know and we'll update it.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between an M3U link and a login?

Both connect a player app to a service. An M3U link is a single playlist address; a login uses a server address plus username and password. Your provider tells you which one your app expects.

Is EPG the same as the channel list?

No. The channel list is the streams; the EPG is the schedule information shown alongside them. They often come from separate feeds, so one can work while the other doesn't.

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