Plenty of optical-media games span several discs. Left alone, each disc shows up as a separate game in the list, and swapping discs means quitting your session. A simple .m3u file solves both problems at once.
An .m3u is a playlist: a plain text file with the .m3u extension, containing one filename per line. Recalbox then shows a single entry, and the emulator loads every disc at once.
It works with most disc formats — .cue, .chd, .ccd, .gdi, .cdi, .iso… and applies just as well to floppies or tapes on the systems that accept .m3u.
.m3udoes not work with compressed files (.zip,.7z): the discs must be extracted.
Put the .m3u file in the same folder as the discs, and name it the way you want the game to appear in the list. Each line holds the exact filename of one disc, in order.
Example for a .cue game, file Final Fantasy VII (Europe).m3u:
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 1).cue
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 2).cue
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 3).cue
The principle is identical whatever the format — only the extension changes. For a .chd game:
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 1).chd
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 2).chd
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 3).chd
For a .ccd game (.bin / .img / .ccd / .sub set):
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 1).ccd
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 2).ccd
Final Fantasy VII (Europe) (Disc 3).ccd
For a Dreamcast game in .gdi or .cdi:
Grandia II (USA) (CD 1 of 3).cdi
Grandia II (USA) (CD 2 of 3).cdi
Grandia II (USA) (CD 3 of 3).cdi
Once the file is in place, refresh your games list: the game now appears only once.
On Libretro cores, disc swapping uses the virtual CD tray, without leaving your session:
| Action | Combination |
|---|---|
| Open the tray | HOTKEY + left stick up |
| Pick a disc | HOTKEY + left stick left or right |
| Close the tray | HOTKEY + left stick up |
The game then resumes with the disc you selected.
If you create your .m3u on Windows, the Dolphin emulator may refuse it: it only accepts UNIX line endings.
Open the file with Notepad++, then Edit > EOL Conversion > UNIX (LF), and save. The file is then read correctly.
If you have hundreds of games to go through, the community script Recalbox M3U Master creates and checks the .m3u files of all your systems in one go, from a Windows PC.