What is a podcast RSS feed? A plain-English guide

Your podcast host keeps mentioning your RSS feed, and Apple Podcasts asks for one. To show what a podcast RSS feed is, this guide reads a made-up one line by line. Then it covers the 6 times you might need to touch yours.

What is a podcast RSS feed, and what does it do?

Your podcast host is the service that stores your audio files, such as Spotify for Creators (opens in a new tab). When you publish an episode, your host adds it to your feed. Apps that read the feed then pick it up.

Spotify says the feed holds your titles, descriptions, artwork and links to your audio files. RSS is short for Really Simple Syndication, a standard format for sharing updates.

One address is enough: you give the same feed to Apple Podcasts and other apps. You’ll also see it called your RSS feed URL or RSS link. In some countries, YouTube can read it too and turn the episodes you pick into videos.

Do you need an RSS feed for your podcast? Your host makes one for you, so there’s nothing to build. Spotify for Creators sends your show to Spotify on its own, while Apple Podcasts asks for the feed’s address.

Apple requires the feed to follow RSS 2.0 and to be “publicly addressable (not password-protected)”. That means anyone with the address can open it.

A podcast RSS feed example, line by line

Here’s a made-up, shortened example for a show with 2 episodes. None of the addresses are real. It has every tag that Apple’s tag guide lists as required, plus the show’s website and each episode’s date.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd">
  <channel>
    <title>Example Garden Show</title>
    <link>https://example.com/show</link>
    <description>A made-up show about growing food on a windowsill.</description>
    <itunes:image href="https://example.com/show/cover.jpg"/>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <itunes:category text="Leisure"/>
    <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit>
    <item>
      <title>Watering without drowning your plants</title>
      <enclosure url="https://example.com/show/ep2.mp3" length="24000000" type="audio/mpeg"/>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">8c1f6a2e-02b4-4d7e-9a35-5e0b7c4d2f02</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Starting seeds on a windowsill</title>
      <enclosure url="https://example.com/show/ep1.mp3" length="19200000" type="audio/mpeg"/>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">8c1f6a2e-02b4-4d7e-9a35-5e0b7c4d2f01</guid>
      <pubDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2026 09:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

Your host writes all of this. Tags that start with itunes: are Apple’s own additions. The rest come from RSS 2.0. Here’s what each line does.

The enclosure is the episode’s audio file, and length is its size in bytes. Episode 2 is a made-up 25-minute MP3 at 128 kbps: 128,000 bits × 1,500 seconds ÷ 8 = 24,000,000 bytes.

The GUID (globally unique identifier) is the episode’s ID. Apple says it “never changes”, even when the episode’s file address does. The RSS 2.0 rules say apps can use it to tell if an episode is new.

Do you ever need to touch your RSS feed?

Mostly no. Your host updates it when you publish. Here’s what Apple and Spotify say for 6 situations.

A made-up example, using the feed above.

Before: you hear a wrong date at minute 12 of episode 2. You delete the episode and upload a fixed copy as a new one. It gets a new GUID, and Apple warns that a changed GUID can cause duplicate episodes.

After: you edit episode 2 at your host and upload the fixed file as ep2-fixed.mp3. The GUID stays the same, ending in f02. Only the enclosure changes: its address becomes https://example.com/show/ep2-fixed.mp3 and its length becomes the new file’s size, so apps download the fixed file.

How to find your podcast’s RSS feed

On Spotify for Creators, as of October 2026:

1. Log in at creators.spotify.com.
2. Click Settings, then Availability. On a phone, open the menu first.
3. Scroll down to RSS Distribution to see and enable your feed.

You won’t see that section until you publish your first episode, because that’s when Spotify creates your feed. Spotify’s example of a feed address looks like https://anchor.fm/s/123abc/podcast/rss.

On any other host, check its help pages or ask its support team. To submit to Apple Podcasts, follow Step 6 of how to start a podcast with just your phone.

A made-up example.

Before: in Apple Podcasts Connect, you choose Add a show with an RSS feed. You paste your show’s Spotify link, the one you send to listeners. It opens a listener page, not a feed, so Apple can’t read your episodes.

After: in Spotify for Creators, you open Settings, then Availability. You copy the feed address under RSS Distribution and paste it into Apple Podcasts Connect. Apple checks the feed before your show can go live.

Your RSS feed and your download numbers

Each episode’s enclosure is the file a download counts. When an app downloads an episode, it fetches the file at that address. The IAB Tech Lab’s measurement guidelines say hosts count downloads from server logs, their records of which files were sent.

To judge your numbers, read how many downloads is good for a new podcast.

Common mistakes

• Pasting your Spotify show link where Apple wants the RSS feed. Copy the address under RSS Distribution instead.
• Uploading a fixed episode as a new episode. It gets a new GUID, so listeners may see it twice. Replace the file inside the existing episode.
• Typing the episode number into the episode title. Apple says to leave it out. The number goes in a separate tag, itunes:episode.
• Putting your feed behind a password. Apple requires a public feed, so a locked one fails its checks.

What to do next

• Open your feed’s address in a browser tab today. Find your newest episode’s guid and enclosure lines, and read them against the example above.
• If an episode is in your feed but not on Spotify, work through why is my podcast not showing up on Spotify.
• Thinking of hosting on Spotify for Creators? Read our guide to the Spotify Partner Program requirements, which covers switching hosts too.