iTunes Library XML Parser

About this tool

This parser reads the XML property list that Music and iTunes write as Library.xml and turns it into something you can actually use: a spreadsheet of your track metadata, a JSON dump for a script, an M3U playlist another player can open, an index of every playlist in the file, or a one-screen summary of the whole library.

Everything runs on the text you paste. The library file is never uploaded, no music is read from disk, and nothing is written anywhere. That also means the tool works on a library exported from a machine you no longer have — all it needs is the XML.

Getting your Library.xml

In Music on macOS choose File → Library → Export Library… and save the XML file. In iTunes on Windows, the same command exists, and there is usually an iTunes Music Library.xml sitting next to your library in the iTunes folder (turn on the preference that shares the library XML with other applications if it is missing). Open the file in a text editor, copy all of it, and paste it above.

The file must be the XML form — it starts with <?xml and contains a <plist> element. The binary .itl library next to it is a private database format and cannot be read by this tool or any other third-party one.

Worked example

A two-track library with one user playlist, exported with the default columns:

<key>Tracks</key>
<dict>
  <key>101</key>
  <dict>
    <key>Track ID</key><integer>101</integer>
    <key>Name</key><string>Let It Happen</string>
    <key>Artist</key><string>Tame Impala</string>
    <key>Album</key><string>Currents</string>
    <key>Genre</key><string>Electronic</string>
    <key>Year</key><integer>2015</integer>
    <key>Total Time</key><integer>467000</integer>
    <key>Location</key><string>file://localhost/Users/me/Music/iTunes/iTunes%20Media/Music/Tame%20Impala/Currents/01%20Let%20It%20Happen.m4a</string>
  </dict>
  ...
</dict>

Output with output=csv and the default fields:

name,artist,album,genre,year,duration,location
Let It Happen,Tame Impala,Currents,Electronic,2015,7:47,/Users/me/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Tame Impala/Currents/01 Let It Happen.m4a
All I Need,Air,Moon Safari,Electronic,1998,4:28,/Users/me/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Air/Moon Safari/03 All I Need.m4a

Switching the same input to output=m3u8 with playlist=Late Night gives an extended playlist in the playlist's own running order:

#EXTM3U
#EXTINF:268,Air - All I Need
/Users/me/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Air/Moon Safari/03 All I Need.m4a
#EXTINF:467,Tame Impala - Let It Happen
/Users/me/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Music/Tame Impala/Currents/01 Let It Happen.m4a

Columns you can export

fields takes a comma-separated list in the order you want the columns, and applies to the CSV, TSV and JSON outputs. The default is name,artist,album,genre,year,duration,location.

Available: track_id, name, artist, album_artist, composer, album, grouping, work, genre, kind, size, duration (m:ss), duration_seconds, disc_number, disc_count, track_number, track_count, year, bpm, date_added, date_modified, release_date, bit_rate, sample_rate, comments, play_count, play_date, skip_count, rating (0–5 stars), rating_raw (the stored 0–100 value), album_rating, loved, compilation, podcast, sort_name, sort_artist, sort_album, persistent_id, location.

JSON keeps native types, so a missing field is null and numbers stay numbers. CSV quotes any cell containing a comma, quote or newline; TSV strips tabs and newlines out of cells instead, because TSV has no quoting convention.

Fixing file paths for another machine

Track locations are stored as percent-encoded file:// URLs, which are decoded back to ordinary paths for every output. Two options rewrite them:

• Replace music folder with swaps the library's own music-folder prefix for a new root, so a playlist exported on one machine can point at a different drive letter, an external disk, or a network share. Tracks stored outside that folder keep their original path.
• Path style controls slash direction: keep whatever was recorded, force forward slashes, force backslashes, or drop every folder and keep only the file name for a flat folder of copied music.

Limits and edge cases

• Up to 20 MB of library XML per run, which is roughly a 40,000-track library.
• limit caps the number of track rows and is applied after sorting; 0 means no limit and the ceiling is 100,000 rows.
• Only the XML property list form is readable; binary .itl libraries are not.
• Tracks with no Location (cloud-only or missing files) come out with an empty path in CSV, TSV and JSON, and are skipped entirely in M3U, because a blank line is not a valid playlist entry.
• Selecting a playlist folder returns an error rather than an empty export — folders hold other playlists, not tracks of their own.
• Sorting is ascending and stable, using the library's sort-name fields when present; tracks missing the sort field are placed last rather than clustered at the top.
• Smart playlists are exported from the track list the library recorded, not by re-evaluating their rules, so the result matches what the library last saved.

FAQ