Podcast Publisher

Podcast Publisher

Generate podcast RSS feeds ready for directory submission.

Use when creating podcast feeds, adding episodes, or setting up a new podcast.

Requirements

• No external tools or API keys needed
• Output: static XML file, hostable anywhere

Instructions

1. Gather metadata — required fields:

   Podcast (channel):

   Field	Required	Example
   Title	✅	"My Tech Podcast"
   Description	✅	"Weekly deep dives into..."
   Author	✅	"John Doe"
   Artwork URL	✅	Must be 3000×3000 JPEG/PNG
   Website	✅	"https://example.com"
   Language	⬚	"en-us" (default)
   Category	⬚	"Technology"
   Explicit	⬚	false (default)

   Per episode:

   Field	Required	Example
   Title	✅	"Episode 1: Getting Started"
   Description	✅	"In this episode..."
   Audio URL	✅	Direct link to .mp3/.m4a
   Duration	✅	"01:23:45" (HH:MM:SS)
   Pub date	✅	RFC 2822 format
   GUID	⬚	Auto-generate if not provided

2. Generate RSS XML:

   <?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/">
     <channel>
       <title>TITLE</title>
       <description>DESCRIPTION</description>
       <language>en-us</language>
       <itunes:author>AUTHOR</itunes:author>
       <itunes:image href="ARTWORK_URL"/>
       <itunes:category text="CATEGORY"/>
       <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit>
       <link>WEBSITE_URL</link>
   
       <item>
         <title>EPISODE_TITLE</title>
         <description>EPISODE_DESCRIPTION</description>
         <enclosure url="AUDIO_URL" length="FILE_SIZE" type="audio/mpeg"/>
         <itunes:duration>HH:MM:SS</itunes:duration>
         <pubDate>Thu, 15 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
         <guid isPermaLink="false">UNIQUE_ID</guid>
       </item>
     </channel>
   </rss>
   

3. Validate before saving:

   • ✅ Dates in RFC 2822 format (e.g., Thu, 15 Jan 2025 10:00:00 +0000)
   • ✅ Audio URLs are direct file links (not streaming pages or YouTube)
   • ✅ Duration format: HH:MM:SS or MM:SS
   • ✅ GUIDs unique per episode
   • ✅ Artwork is 3000×3000 minimum, JPEG or PNG
   • ✅ XML is well-formed (no unescaped &, <, > in text)

4. Save as feed.xml.

5. Add new episodes: Read existing feed.xml, insert new <item> at top of items list, save.

Hosting Options

• GitHub Pages: Free, commit feed.xml to repo
• S3 / Cloudflare R2: Upload XML + audio files
• Any static host: Just serve the XML file with application/rss+xml content type

Directory Submission URLs

• Apple Podcasts: podcastsconnect.apple.com
• Spotify: podcasters.spotify.com
• Google Podcasts: Auto-indexed from RSS

Edge Cases

• Special characters in text: Escape & → &, < → < in titles/descriptions.
• File size unknown: Use 0 for length attribute — most players handle it.
• Multiple categories: Nest <itunes:category> elements.
• Trailer/bonus episodes: Use <itunes:episodeType>trailer</itunes:episodeType>.
• Seasons: Add <itunes:season>1</itunes:season> and <itunes:episode>1</itunes:episode>.

Validation Tools

• Podbase Validator
• Cast Feed Validator