📅 IPTV EPG Guide — XMLTV Setup

What is an EPG, how do you add a program guide to your IPTV app, and where do you find free EPG sources? Plus how tvg-id matching works.

Diagram: tvg-id in M3U must match channel id in XMLTV — EPG only works when tvg-id (M3U) matches channel id (XMLTV)

🤔 What is XMLTV?

XMLTV is an open data format for TV program guides. An XMLTV file contains all programs for all channels, several days ahead. IPTV apps read this data and link it to your channels via tvg-id.

🌍 Free EPG sources

iptv-org EPG (worldwide, free)

UK: https://iptv-org.github.io/epg/guides/uk/sky.com.epg.xml
US: https://iptv-org.github.io/epg/guides/us/tvtv.us.epg.xml
Germany: https://iptv-org.github.io/epg/guides/de/hd-plus.de.epg.xml

Full list: github.com/iptv-org/epg

EPG.best

Free tier: 100 channels, 7 days. Premium: 5000+ channels, 14 days.

🔧 Adding EPG per app

TiviMate

Settings → EPG → Add EPG source → paste XMLTV URL → update interval 12h.

IPTV Smarters Pro

Settings → EPG → External EPG → paste URL.

Kodi

PVR IPTV Simple Client → EPG Settings → XMLTV URL → restart Kodi.

🔗 tvg-id matching

The EPG only works if tvg-id in your M3U matches the channel id in the XMLTV. If they don't match:

Edit your M3U with our M3U Editor
TiviMate: long-press channel → Edit → Stream ID
OTT Navigator has fuzzy auto-matching on channel name

Test your EPG with our EPG Viewer tool.