Required tags

<title>

The show title.

It’s important to have a clear, concise name for your podcast. Make your title specific. A show titled Our Community Bulletin is too vague to attract many subscribers, no matter how compelling the content.

Pay close attention to the title as Apple Podcasts uses this field for search.

If you include a long list of keywords in an attempt to game podcast search, your show may be removed from the Apple directory.

<channel>

<description>

The show description.

Where description is text containing one or more sentences describing your podcast to potential listeners. The maximum amount of text allowed for this tag is 4000 bytes.

To include links in your description or rich HTML, adhere to the following technical guidelines: enclose all portions of your XML that contain embedded HTML in a CDATA section to prevent formatting issues, and to ensure proper link functionality. For example:

<channel>

<itunes:image>

The artwork for the show.

Specify your show artwork by providing a URL linking to it.

Depending on their device, subscribers see your podcast artwork in varying sizes. Therefore, make sure your design is effective at both its original size and at thumbnail size. You should include a show title, brand, or source name as part of your podcast artwork. Here are additional marketing best practices. For examples of podcast artwork, see the Top Podcasts chart. To avoid technical issues when you update your podcast artwork, be sure to:

• Change the artwork file name and URL at the same time

• Make sure the file type in the URL matches the actual file type of the image file.

• Verify the web server hosting your artwork allows HTTP head requests including Last Modified.

Artwork must be a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 pixels and a maximum size of 3000 x 3000 pixels, in JPEG or PNG format, 72 dpi, with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .png), and in the RGB colorspace. Confirm your art does not contain an Alpha Channel. These requirements are different from the standard RSS image tag specifications.

<channel>

<language>

The language spoken on the show.

Because Apple Podcasts is available in territories around the world, it is critical to specify the language of a podcast. Apple Podcasts only supports values from the ISO 639 list.

Invalid language codes will cause your feed to fail Apple validation.

<channel>

<itunes:category>

The show category information. For a complete list of categories and subcategories, see Apple Podcast categories.

Select the category that best reflects the content of your show. If available, you can also define a subcategory.

Although you can specify more than one category and subcategory in your RSS feed, Apple Podcasts only recognizes the first category and subcategory.

When specifying categories and subcategories, be sure to properly escape ampersands. For example:

Single category:

Category with ampersand:

Category with subcategory:

Multiple categories:

<channel>

<itunes:explicit>

The podcast parental advisory information.

The explicit value can be one of the following:

• True. If you specify true, indicating the presence of explicit content, Apple Podcasts displays an Explicit parental advisory graphic for your podcast.

  Podcasts containing explicit material aren’t available in some Apple Podcasts territories.

• False. If you specify false, indicating that your podcast doesn’t contain explicit language or adult content, Apple Podcasts displays a Clean parental advisory graphic for your podcast.

<channel>

Recommended tags

<itunes:author>

The group responsible for creating the show.

Show author most often refers to the parent company or network of a podcast, but it can also be used to identify the host(s) if none exists.

Author information is especially useful if a company or organization publishes multiple podcasts.

<channel>

<link>

The website associated with a podcast. Use the full URL.

Typically a home page for a podcast or a dedicated portion of a larger website. For example:

or

<channel>

Situational tags

<itunes:title>

The show title specific for Apple Podcasts.

<itunes:title> is a string containing a clear concise name of your show on Apple Podcasts. Do not include episode or season number in the title. There are dedicated tags for that information. See <itunes:episode> and <itunes:season>.

<channel>

<itunes:type>

The type of show.

If your show is Serial you must use this tag.

Its values can be one of the following:

• Episodic (default). Specify episodic when episodes are intended to be consumed without any specific order. Apple Podcasts will present newest episodes first and display the publish date (required) of each episode. If organized into seasons, the newest season will be presented first - otherwise, episodes will be grouped by year published, newest first.

  For new subscribers, Apple Podcasts adds the newest, most recent episode in their Library.

• Serial. Specify serial when episodes are intended to be consumed in sequential order. Apple Podcasts will present the oldest episodes first and display the episode numbers (required) of each episode. If organized into seasons, the newest season will be presented first and <itunes:episode> numbers must be given for each episode.

  Each show type has different behavior for automatic downloads. Learn more.

<channel>

<copyright>

The show copyright details.

If your show is copyrighted you should use this tag. For example:

<channel>

<itunes:new-feed-url>

The new podcast RSS Feed URL.

If you change the URL of your podcast feed, you should use this tag in your new feed.

Use the <itunes:new-feed-url> tag to manually change the URL where your podcast is located.

You should maintain your old feed until you have migrated your existing followers. Learn how to update your podcast RSS feed URL.

<channel>

<itunes:block>

The podcast show or hide status.

If you want your show removed from the Apple directory, use this tag.

Specifying the <itunes:block> tag with a Yes value, prevents the entire podcast from appearing in Apple Podcasts.

Specifying any value other than Yes has no effect.

<channel>

<itunes:complete>

The podcast update status.

If you will never publish another episode to your show, use this tag.

Specifying the <itunes:complete> tag with a Yes value indicates that a podcast is complete and you will not post any more episodes in the future.

Specifying any value other than Yes has no effect.

<channel>

<itunes:applepodcastsverify>

or

<podcast:txt purpose=“applepodcastsverify”>

This tag is used to verify ownership of a show when a podcast creator chooses to move it from one Apple Podcasts Connect account to another. Learn more about how to claim your show.

<channel>

<generator>

Specifies the program or hosting provider used to create the RSS feed.

Hosting providers use this tag to identify themselves as the creator of an RSS feed.

<channel>

Required tags

<title>

An episode title.

title is a string containing a clear, concise name for your episode.

Don’t specify the episode number or season number in this tag. Instead, specify those details in the appropriate tags ( <itunes:episode>, <itunes:season>). Also, don’t repeat the title of your show within your episode title.

Separating episode and season number from the title makes it possible for Apple to easily index and order content from all shows.

<item>

<enclosure>

The episode content, file size, and file type information.

The <enclosure> tag has three attributes: URL, length, and type:

• URL. The URL attribute points to your podcast media file. Specify the full file extension within the URL attribute. This determines whether or not content appears in the podcast directory. Supported file formats include M4A, MP3, MOV, MP4, M4V, and PDF.

• Length. The length attribute is the file size in bytes. You can find this information in the properties of your podcast file (on a Mac, choose File > Get Info and refer to the size field).

• Type. The type attribute provides the correct category for the type of file you are using. The type values for the supported file formats are: audio/x-m4a, audio/mpeg, video/quicktime, video/mp4, video/x-m4v, and application/pdf.

For example:

<item>

<guid>

The episode’s globally unique identifier (GUID) If you uploaded subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts Connect and need to link it to an episode in your RSS feed, you can use the Apple Podcasts Episode ID in the GUID tag. Learn more about how to set up your show for a subscription.

It is very important that each episode have a unique GUID and that it never changes, even if an episode’s metadata, like title or enclosure URL, do change.

Globally unique identifiers (GUID) are case-sensitive strings.

Failing to comply with these guidelines may result in duplicate episodes being shown to listeners, inaccurate data in Analytics, and can cause issues with your podcasts’s listing and chart placement in Apple Podcasts.

<item>

Recommended tags

<pubDate>

The date and time when an episode was released.

Format the date using the RFC 2822 specifications. For example: Sat, 01 Apr 2023 19:00:00 GMT.

<item>

<description>

An episode description.

description is text containing one or more sentences describing your episode to potential listeners. You can specify up to 10,000 characters. You can use rich text formatting and some HTML (<p>, <ol>, <ul>, <li>, <a>) if wrapped in the <CDATA> tag.

To include links in your description or rich HTML, adhere to the following technical guidelines: enclose all portions of your XML that contain embedded HTML in a CDATA section to prevent formatting issues, and to ensure proper link functionality. For example:

<item>

<itunes:duration>

The duration of an episode.

Different duration formats are accepted however it is recommended to convert the length of the episode into seconds.

<item>

<link>

An episode link URL.

This is used when an episode has a corresponding webpage. Use the full URL. For example:

or

<item>

<itunes:image>

The episode artwork.

You should use this tag when you have a high quality, episode-specific image you would like listeners to see.

Specify your episode artwork using the href attribute in the <itunes:image> tag. RSS Feed Sample.

Depending on their device, listeners see your episode artwork in varying sizes. Therefore, make sure your design is effective at both its original size and at thumbnail size. You should include a title, brand, or source name as part of your episode artwork. To avoid technical issues when you update your episode artwork, be sure to:

• Change the artwork file name and URL at the same time.

• Confirm your art does not contain an Alpha Channel.

• Verify the web server hosting your artwork allows HTTP head requests including Last Modified.

Artwork must be a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 pixels and a maximum size of 3000 x 3000 pixels, in JPEG or PNG format, 72 dpi, with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .png), and in the RGB colorspace.

Make sure the file type in the URL matches the actual file type of the image file.

<item>

<itunes:explicit>

The episode parental advisory information.

Where the explicit value can be one of the following:

• true. If you specify true, indicating the presence of explicit content, Apple Podcasts displays an Explicit parental advisory graphic for your episode.

  Episodes containing explicit material aren’t available in some Apple Podcasts territories.

• false. If you specify false, indicating that the episode does not contain explicit language or adult content, Apple Podcasts displays a Clean parental advisory graphic for your episode.

<item>

Situational tags

<itunes:title>

An episode title specific for Apple Podcasts.

<itunes:title> is a string containing a clear concise name of your episode on Apple Podcasts.

Don’t specify the episode number or season number in this tag. Instead, specify those details in the appropriate tags ( <itunes:episode>, <itunes:season>). Also, don’t repeat the title of your show within your episode title.

Separating episode and season number from the title makes it possible for Apple to easily index and order content from all shows.

<item>

<itunes:episode>

An episode number.

If all your episodes have numbers and you would like them to be ordered based on them, use this tag for each one.

Episode numbers are optional for <itunes:type>episodic shows, but are mandatory for serial shows.

Where episode is a non-zero integer (1, 2, 3, etc.) representing your episode number.

If you are using your RSS feed to distribute a free version of an episode that is already available to Apple Podcasts paid subscribers, make sure the episode numbers are the same so you don’t have duplicate episodes appear on your show page. Learn more about how to set up your show for a subscription.

<item>

<itunes:season>

The episode season number.

If an episode is within a season use this tag.

Where season is a non-zero integer (1, 2, 3, etc.) representing your season number.

To allow the season feature for shows containing a single season, if only one season exists in the RSS feed, Apple Podcasts doesn’t display a season number. When you add a second season to the RSS feed, Apple Podcasts displays the season numbers.

<item>

<itunes:episodeType>

The episode type.

If an episode is a trailer or bonus content, use this tag.

Where the episodeType value can be one of the following:

• Full (default). Specify full when you are submitting the complete content of your show.

• Trailer. Specify trailer when you are submitting a short, promotional piece of content that represents a preview of your current show.

• Bonus. Specify bonus when you are submitting extra content for your show (for example, behind the scenes information or interviews with the cast) or cross-promotional content for another show.

The rules for using trailer and bonus tags depend on whether the <itunes:season> and <itunes:episode> tags have values:

Trailer:

• No season or episode number: a show trailer

• A season number and no episode number: a season trailer. (Note: an episode trailer should have a different <guid> than the actual episode)

• Episode number and optionally a season number: an episode trailer/teaser, later replaced with the actual episode

Bonus:

• No season or episode number: a show bonus

• A season number: a season bonus

• Episode number and optionally a season number: a bonus episode related to a specific episode

<item>

<podcast:chapters>

A link to an external file containing chapter data for an episode. Chapters must include a timestamp, with optional millisecond resolution, and a title. We recommend that titles should not exceed 45 characters in length.

Time-synced links and images require a timestamp and a valid URL.

Learn more about <podcast> namespace RSS tags on the Github repository.

<item>

<podcast:transcript>

A link to the episode transcript in the Closed Caption format. You should use this tag when you have a valid transcript file available for users to read.

Specify the link to your transcript in the url attribute of the tag.

Apple Podcasts will prefer VTT format over SRT format if multiple instances are included. A valid type attribute is required. Accepted types include text/vtt, application/srt, application/x-subrip.

Learn more about <podcast> namespace RSS tags on the Github repository.

Options for displaying transcripts are available in Apple Podcasts Connect for each show. Learn more.

<item>

<itunes:block>

The episode show or hide status.

If you want an episode removed from the Apple directory, use this tag.

Specifying the <itunes:block> tag with a Yes value prevents that episode from appearing in Apple Podcasts.

For example, you might want to block a specific episode if you know that its content would otherwise cause the entire podcast to be removed from Apple Podcasts.

Specifying any value other than Yes has no effect.

<item>