Tired of scrolling past hundreds of channels you never watch? Custom mode lets you build your IPTV playlist by hand — pick exactly the channels you want from any of your providers, organise them into your own categories, and put them in the order you like. It all streams through your one permanent URL.
Custom vs Failover vs Multi-Provider
Every stream runs in one of three modes, all behind the same permanent URL:
- Failover — one provider active at a time; auto-switches to a backup if it goes offline. Best when your providers carry the same channels.
- Multi-Provider — every provider shown at once as its own sections. Best when each provider carries different content.
- Custom — you hand-build the lineup: your categories, your channels (from any source), your order. Best for a fully curated playlist.
How to build a custom playlist
- On the Edit Stream page, set the Stream Mode to Custom.
- Open the Playlist Editor and select the ★ Custom Playlist tab. It starts empty.
- Click + NEW and choose New custom category (an empty group you name yourself) or Import existing category (bring in a provider's category as-is, keeping its channels and on/off state).
- Open a custom category and click + ADD CHANNELS. Search across all your providers and add any channels — each one keeps streaming from its real source.
- Drag the handles to put your categories in the exact order you want.
- Reload the playlist in your IPTV player — your custom lineup appears.
Mix providers inside one category
The power of Custom mode is cross-provider categories. Create a "Sports" group and add the best sports feed from Provider A, a few from Provider B, and a PPV channel from Provider C — all in one tidy category. Behind the scenes each channel remembers which provider it belongs to, so playback and failover keep working normally. Each imported category also shows a source badge — click it to jump straight to where it came from.
Your edits stay in the playlist
Everything you do in a custom playlist — turning channels or categories on/off, renaming them, reordering — applies to that playlist only. Your underlying providers and your Failover/Multi-Provider views are never changed, and changes you make there never leak into your custom playlist. Each playlist is its own independent, hand-built lineup.
Build several playlists, pick the live one
You can keep multiple custom playlists on a single account — a "Sports pack", a "Kids pack", a "Movie night" set — each with its own categories, order and names. Use the playlist dropdown in the editor to switch between them, the ＋ button to create a new one, and Set active (★) to choose which one your IPTV players actually receive. Flip the active playlist anytime; your devices never need reconfiguring.
Naming & separators
On the Edit Stream page you can choose whether imported provider categories are prefixed with their source name (e.g. Provider #2 | Sports) and set the separator text — or turn the prefix off entirely. Your own custom categories are never prefixed; they show exactly the name you gave them.
Show the source on each channel
If you add the same channel from different providers, switch on Show source name (per playlist) to append each channel's source, e.g. BBC One - Main and BBC One - Backup. It's purely cosmetic — the channel still streams from its own provider — and it shows in both your IPTV player and the EPG editor so you always know which feed is which.
Guides for your custom lineup
The EPG editor mirrors your custom playlist, so you set guides for exactly the channels you serve — nothing more. Any guide you assign is saved per channel, so it stays with that channel even if you later switch modes. Run Auto-match to cover everything in one click, then Fix anything that needs a manual choice.
Custom vs merging
If you just want everything from every provider shown at once, merge them in Multi-Provider mode — it's automatic. Choose Custom mode when you want a hand-picked, reordered lineup rather than the full firehose. Either way your devices never need reconfiguring — the permanent URL stays the same.
Frequently asked questions
Can I mix channels from different IPTV providers in one category?
Yes. In Custom mode you create your own categories and add channels from any provider into them. Each channel keeps streaming from its real source, so a single "Sports" group can pull the best feeds from several providers.
Will my custom order show in my IPTV player?
Yes. The exact category order you set by dragging is what your player shows on the next playlist reload — categories, channels and order all match what you assembled.
Do EPG guides still work in Custom mode?
Yes. The EPG editor mirrors your custom playlist, and any guide you set is saved per channel — so it also applies if you later switch to Failover or Multi-Provider mode.
Is Custom mode different from Multi-Provider mode?
Multi-Provider shows every provider as its own sections automatically. Custom mode is fully hand-built: you choose exactly which categories and channels appear, from any source, in any order.
Free tools — try them now
Stop re-entering IPTV credentials on every device
iptv.domains gives you one permanent URL, automatic failover, and a full playlist & EPG editor. Free trial, no card required.
Start your free trial →