WPL files are XML documents that can be updated and customized with a text editor. It is commonly used on Windows systems to manage playlists of audio and video files. WPL is a proprietary playlist format developed by Microsoft for use with its Windows Media Player software. Read this article to find out more about WPL and M3U and how they are different from each other. WPL is a proprietary format that is primarily used with Windows Media Player, whereas M3U is an open standard format that is compatible with a wide range of media players and software applications. WPL and M3U are both playlist file formats used to organised multimedia files.