XSP File

What are XSP files and how to open them

Are you having problems opening an XSP file or are you simply curious about its contents? We're here to explain the properties of these files and provide you with software that can open or handle your XSP files.

What is an XSP file?

An .XSP file is an XBMC Smart Playlist file.

XBMC Smart Playlist files (.XSP) are used by Kodi (originally known as XBMC) to define dynamic playlists based on rules rather than listing specific media files. They allow users to filter and group content in the Kodi library - such as songs, movies, TV shows - according to metadata like genre, file path, rating, or date. Instead of fixed entries, a smart playlist serves to build a list automatically based on the criteria you set.

Such files are created or edited by Kodi and used by Kodi to generate the playlist. Kodi reads the .XSP files located in its userdata/playlists folder (within subfolders like "music", "video", or "mixed" depending on the media type) and applies the set rules to its media database. After the file is saved, Kodi will display it like any other playlist; the items appearing depend on the current library contents and metadata. Users can write these by hand or use Kodi's GUI to generate them, then place the resulting .XSP file into the correct folder. You can open and modify it later with any plain text/XML editor to adjust rules, ordering, or limits.

Internally, an .XSP file is XML text identified by a header such as <?xml …?> and a root element <smartplaylist type="…">. Key tags include <rule field="…" operator="…"> with nested <value> tags to define conditions, <match> to select whether all or any rule must be satisfied, optional <group> to group results (e.g. by genre or year), <limit> to cap the number of items, and <order> (with an attribute direction) to sort results. These keywords - SMARTPLAYLIST TYPE, RULE FIELD, OPERATOR, MATCH, NAME - appear in the file content and help define the playlist behavior. Byte signatures include a leading "<" at offset 0 and these internal strings.

How to open XSP files

We have identified one XSP opener that is compatible with this specific type of XSP file.

Programs that open XBMC Smart Playlist files

Last updated: August 14, 2026

Various apps that use files with this extension

These apps are known to open certain types of XSP files. Remember, different programs may use XSP files for different purposes, so you may need to try out a few of them to be able to open your specific file.

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