EPG Matcher
When the TV guide is empty, it is usually because your channels have no tvg-id that matches the guide. Paste your playlist and your XMLTV guide below and this tool fills in the missing ids by matching channel names — so the guide finally lines up.
Everything happens on our server in one pass. Nothing is saved, nothing is shared, and no links are fetched.
How the matcher works
The matcher reads your XMLTV guide, builds a list of its channels and their names, then goes through your playlist. For every channel that has no tvg-id, it looks for a guide channel with the same name and writes that id in. Channels that already have an id are left alone.
Paste both
Your playlist in the first box, your XMLTV guide in the second.
We match names
Each channel with no id is matched to the guide by its name.
Copy the result
You get your playlist back with the ids filled in, plus a report.
Why the guide needs matching ids
A TV guide only shows against a channel when the channel’s tvg-id matches an id in the EPG. If they do not match — or the channel has no id at all — the guide for it stays empty, even when the EPG is loaded. Filling the ids in is what connects the two.
Want to check a guide file on its own first? Use the XMLTV / EPG checker.
How names are matched
Matching ignores case, spaces and punctuation, and drops common quality tags like HD, FHD, UHD and 4K, so "BBC One HD" and "bbc one" are treated as the same channel. A channel is matched when its cleaned name equals a guide channel’s name or id.
Channels that do not match are listed so you can adjust their names or add the id by hand. Nothing is guessed — only clear name matches are filled in.
What to do with the result
- Press copy to take the updated playlist.
- Paste it into a plain text file and save it with a
.m3uending. - Load it in your player with the same EPG, and the guide should now appear.
Is this safe to use?
Yes. Matching is pure text handling and happens entirely on our own server:
Both files are read once to match them, the result is shown back to you, and then they are gone. The parser never follows links inside the guide and we never log what you paste.
Try our service on your own device, free
A guide that lines up makes IPTV feel complete. See how ours looks on your own screen before you commit.
Request a free trial →More free tools, no account
Built for people who run playlists. All of them work right here, on our server, with nothing stored.
XMLTV / EPG Checker →
Check an EPG file for channels, programmes and gaps.
CheckerM3U Logo & tvg-id Checker →
List the channels missing a logo or an EPG id.
AnalyzerM3U Playlist Analyzer →
See coverage and a quality score for a playlist.
GuideIPTV TV Guide (EPG) →
Why the guide matters and how it is built.
Questions people ask
What does the matcher fill in?
The tvg-id on channels that have none, using the id of the guide channel with the same name.
Does it change channels that already have an id?
No. Those are left exactly as they are. Only missing ids are filled.
How does it decide two names are the same?
It ignores case, spaces, punctuation and quality tags like HD or 4K, then compares the cleaned names.
Why are some channels still unmatched?
Their names differ too much from the guide, or the guide has no channel for them. Those are listed so you can fix them by hand.
Do you keep what I paste?
No. Both files are read once to match them, shown back to you, and never saved or logged.