Characters allowed in Liquidsoap media file path
Article Entry Date: April 8,2024 @ 12:19:14 / Last Updated On: June 4,2025 @ 05:11:34
While working on our HLS and Liquidsoap server, I encountered issues with our naming system and Liquidsoap.
The issue was that Liquidsoap could not play songs with periods or parentheses in the name.
Example of what can't be.
The top one has parentheses, and the bottom one has periods. Both will be skipped.
https://demo.example.com/host/Files/Evanescence/2004-Anywhere_But_Home_(LIVE)/01222024174431188.mp3
https://demo.example.com/host/Files/W.A.S.P./1984-W.A.S.P./01222024174431188.mp3
An error you may encounter will resemble this.
2024/04/07 22:24:48 =[procol.external:3] Failed to find a file extension for
"https://demo.example.com/host/Files/Evanescence/2004-Anywhere_But_Home_(LIVE)/01222024174431188.mp3".
Response has unknown mime-type: "text/html", you may want to add it to
settings.http.mime.extnames and report to us if it is a common one.
2024/04/07 22:24:49 [procol.external:3] Error while fetching http data: 404 -
2024/04/07 22:24:49 [request.dynamic:3] Fetch failed: empty.
Update: June 04, 2025 @ 10:02 AM
I changed the naming method of my folders from what was above to their ID numbers.
So instead of
W.A.S.P. <= Main Folder (Artist Folder)
1984-W.A.S.P. <=Sub-Folder (Album Folder)
It is now
2 <= Main Folder (Artist Folder)
1 <=Sub-Folder (Album Folder)
2\1\01222024174431188.mp3
This ensures that Liquidsoap can locate and play the file without any issues.
Make things simple, not hard. It took me a little while before I finally caught on to something I have told others to do for years. [Make it simple, not hard].