Podcast RSS Feed Guide

Create Apple Podcasts & Spotify Compatible Feeds

Podcast directories like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts all use RSS feeds to discover and distribute your podcast episodes. This guide covers everything you need to know to create a properly-formatted podcast RSS feed that works everywhere.

Complete Podcast RSS Feed Example

Here is a complete, valid podcast RSS feed with all required elements for Apple Podcasts:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" 
  xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd"
  xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
  xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
  <channel>
    <!-- Required RSS elements -->
    <title>The Example Podcast</title>
    <link>https://example.com/podcast</link>
    <description>A weekly podcast about technology and innovation.</description>
    <language>en-us</language>
    
    <!-- Atom self-reference (recommended) -->
    <atom:link href="https://example.com/podcast/feed.xml" 
      rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/>
    
    <!-- Required iTunes elements -->
    <itunes:author>John Doe</itunes:author>
    <itunes:owner>
      <itunes:name>John Doe</itunes:name>
      <itunes:email>[email protected]</itunes:email>
    </itunes:owner>
    <itunes:image href="https://example.com/podcast-artwork.jpg"/>
    <itunes:category text="Technology">
      <itunes:category text="Tech News"/>
    </itunes:category>
    <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit>
    
    <!-- Episode Item -->
    <item>
      <title>Episode 1: Getting Started</title>
      <description>In this episode, we discuss...</description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 15 Jan 2024 08:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <enclosure 
        url="https://example.com/episodes/ep001.mp3"
        length="48000000"
        type="audio/mpeg"/>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">ep001-unique-id</guid>
      <itunes:duration>01:00:00</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit>
      <itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Required iTunes Tags (Channel Level)

These tags must be included in your channel element for Apple Podcasts acceptance:

Tag	Required	Description
itunes:author	✓ Yes	The podcast author or creator name
itunes:owner	✓ Yes	Contact info for the podcast owner (for Apple)
itunes:image	✓ Yes	Podcast artwork (1400x1400 to 3000x3000 pixels)
itunes:category	✓ Yes	Primary category and optional subcategory
itunes:explicit	✓ Yes	Whether podcast contains explicit content
itunes:summary	No	Longer description (up to 4000 characters)
itunes:type	No	episodic (default) or serial

Episode-Level Tags

Each episode (item) should include these elements:

Tag	Required	Description
enclosure	✓ Yes	Audio file URL, size, and MIME type
itunes:duration	✓ Yes	Episode length in HH:MM:SS or seconds
itunes:episode	No	Episode number (for serial podcasts)
itunes:season	No	Season number
itunes:episodeType	No	full, trailer, or bonus

Podcast Artwork Requirements

Size: 1400×1400 to 3000×3000 pixels
Format: JPEG or PNG
Color space: RGB (not CMYK)
File size: Under 512KB recommended
Hosted on HTTPS URL
Square aspect ratio required

Audio File Requirements

Format: MP3 (recommended) or M4A/AAC
Bitrate: 128-320 kbps for MP3
Sample rate: 44.1 kHz
Channels: Mono or Stereo
ID3 tags embedded (optional but recommended)
Hosted on HTTPS with proper Content-Type header

Common Podcast RSS Mistakes

✕
Missing or incorrectly formatted itunes:image (must be 1400×1400 minimum)
✕
Wrong audio enclosure MIME type (use audio/mpeg for MP3)
✕
Missing itunes:explicit tag (required even if "false")
✕
Invalid category names (must match Apple's category list exactly)
✕
HTTP instead of HTTPS URLs (HTTPS required)
✕
Missing or wrong file length in enclosure (should be file size in bytes)
✕
Invalid duration format (use HH:MM:SS or total seconds)

Directory Submission Checklist

Before submitting to podcast directories, ensure:

Feed validates without errors using RSS Validator
At least one episode is published in the feed
Artwork meets size and format requirements
All URLs are accessible and using HTTPS
Owner email is valid and monitored
Categories match directory-specific lists
Content descriptions are family-friendly (or marked explicit)

Related Resources

Validate Your Podcast Feed

Use our free validator to check your podcast RSS feed for Apple Podcasts compatibility.

Validate Podcast Feed →