How to Create a Podcast RSS Feed

If you want your podcast to appear in apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, you need a podcast RSS feed. That feed is the file directories use to read your show title, artwork, episode metadata, and audio file links.

The good news is that most podcasters do not need to build one manually. In most cases, your hosting platform creates the feed for you.

What is a podcast RSS feed?

A podcast RSS feed is a public XML file that contains the core information about your show, including:

• podcast title
• description
• artwork
• episode titles and descriptions
• audio file URLs
• publishing dates

When you publish a new episode, podcast apps check that feed and pull in the update.

What a podcast RSS feed needs

At a practical level, your feed should include:

• a public RSS URL
• podcast title and description
• cover art
• at least one published episode
• valid episode audio URLs
• contact email in the feed when required by your host or submission flow

Apple’s current podcast RSS requirements explicitly call for required tags, at least one episode, and artwork. Apple’s RSS guide asks for square cover art between 1400 x 1400 and 3000 x 3000 pixels, in JPEG or PNG and RGB color. Spotify’s current creator documentation also makes clear that if you host with Spotify for Creators, your RSS feed appears only after you publish your first episode.

Sample podcast RSS feed (minimal XML)

You rarely need to write this by hand, but seeing a minimal feed makes it easier to understand what your host generates and to spot problems. This example has one episode and the main Apple Podcasts (itunes:) tags:

<?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>Your Podcast Name</title>
    <link>https://example.com/podcast</link>
    <language>en-us</language>
    <description>One or two sentences about what the show covers.</description>
    <itunes:author>Your Name</itunes:author>
    <itunes:owner>
      <itunes:name>Your Name</itunes:name>
      <itunes:email>you@example.com</itunes:email>
    </itunes:owner>
    <itunes:image href="https://example.com/cover-3000.jpg"/>
    <itunes:category text="Technology"/>
    <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit>
    <itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type>

    <item>
      <title>Episode 1: Why We Started This Show</title>
      <description>What listeners will learn in this episode.</description>
      <enclosure url="https://example.com/audio/episode-1.mp3"
        length="24986239" type="audio/mpeg"/>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">yourshow-episode-1</guid>
      <pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <itunes:duration>1534</itunes:duration>
      <itunes:explicit>false</itunes:explicit>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

What the key tags do:

Tag	Level	Purpose
title, description, language	Show	Basic show information. Use a valid ISO language code such as en-us.
itunes:image	Show	Cover art URL. Must point to a public JPEG or PNG.
itunes:category	Show	Apple uses the first category (and subcategory) you list.
itunes:explicit	Show and episode	Content rating.
itunes:owner email	Show	Used by Spotify and YouTube to send ownership verification codes.
enclosure	Episode	The audio file URL, its size in bytes (length) and file type. Each episode needs a unique URL.
guid	Episode	A permanent unique ID so apps do not show the same episode twice.

If a value contains an ampersand, escape it as & (for example Kids & Family), or the feed will not parse.

The easiest way to create a podcast RSS feed

For most creators, the workflow is simple:

1. Choose a podcast host.
2. Create your show.
3. Upload at least one episode.
4. Fill in your show metadata.
5. Copy your RSS feed URL.

That is it.

You do not usually need to hand-write XML unless you are self-hosting.

Step-by-step: how to create a podcast RSS feed

Step 1: Choose a podcast hosting platform

Your host stores your audio files and usually generates the RSS feed automatically.

Common options include:

• Spotify for Creators
• Buzzsprout
• RSS.com
• Podbean
• Transistor

The right choice depends on pricing, analytics, website support, monetization features, and whether you want more control over distribution.

If your workflow starts with text rather than recorded audio, this is also where Jalp AI can fit. Jalp is relevant on the creation and hosting side because it is positioned around turning written content into podcast episodes, then managing the podcast workflow from there.

Step 2: Create your podcast

Enter the basic information for your show:

• podcast name
• author name
• description
• category
• cover art
• language

This information becomes part of your RSS feed, so it affects how your show appears in podcast apps.

Step 3: Publish your first episode

This is the part many beginners miss.

You usually need at least one episode published before your feed is useful for submission. Apple requires at least one episode in the feed, and Spotify for Creators says you will not see your RSS distribution section until your first episode is published.

Step 4: Find your feed URL

In most hosts, the RSS feed URL is shown in a settings, availability, or distribution section.

If you host with Spotify for Creators, the current documented path is:

• Settings
• Availability
• RSS Distribution

If you use another host, the exact path varies, but the feed URL is usually easy to find in the dashboard.

Step 5: Save the feed URL somewhere safe

You will need it for:

• Apple Podcasts submission
• Spotify show claiming or submission workflows
• YouTube RSS ingestion
• third-party directory distribution
• feed migration later if you switch hosts

Host-by-host: creating your feed on common platforms

Menus change often, so treat these as general paths rather than exact click-by-click instructions.

Dedicated podcast hosts (Buzzsprout, Transistor, Podbean, RSS.com and similar)

1. Sign up and create a new show.
2. Fill in the show details: title, description, author, category, language, explicit setting and cover art.
3. Upload and publish your first episode.
4. Open the show’s settings, distribution or directories area and copy the RSS feed URL.
5. Many of these hosts also offer guided submission to Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other apps from the same dashboard.

Spotify for Creators

1. Create your show and publish your first episode.
2. Spotify distributes the show to Spotify automatically.
3. To get an RSS feed for other apps, go to Settings > Availability > RSS Distribution and enable it. Note that this can make the email address in your feed public.

Self-hosted on WordPress or your own site

1. Upload episode audio to reliable storage that serves files over HTTPS and supports large downloads.
2. Use a podcast plugin or your site platform’s podcast feature to generate the feed from your episode posts.
3. Fill in the plugin’s podcast settings (the itunes: fields) and publish one episode.
4. Find the feed URL in the plugin settings and test it in a browser.

Writing the XML by hand

1. Start from the sample feed above.
2. Upload the .xml file to a public URL on your own domain.
3. For each new episode, add a new <item> at the top with a new guid and enclosure URL.
4. Update the file every time you publish, and validate it after each change.

Validate the feed before submitting it

Even if your host generates the feed automatically, validation is still worth doing. A quick check:

1. Open the feed URL in a browser and confirm it loads as XML, not a login page or an error.
2. Run it through a podcast feed validator, or the W3C Feed Validation Service for basic RSS syntax.
3. Open the cover art URL and one episode’s audio URL to confirm both load publicly.
4. Check that the owner email in the feed is one you can access, because Spotify and YouTube send verification codes to it.

Validation helps catch problems like:

• missing required tags
• broken audio URLs
• invalid artwork
• formatting errors

Apple Podcasts Connect validates RSS feeds during submission, so many issues will surface there anyway. You can also use third-party podcast feed validators before submission if you want an earlier check.

Where to submit your podcast RSS feed

The two most important destinations for most shows are:

Apple Podcasts

Apple’s current process allows you to submit a show in Apple Podcasts Connect by choosing:

• New Show
• Add a show with an RSS feed

Apple then validates the feed and reviews the show before it becomes available.

Spotify

If your show is hosted somewhere other than Spotify, Spotify’s current claiming flow lets you add an existing show by entering the RSS feed in Spotify for Creators and verifying ownership through the email address in the RSS feed.

If your show is hosted with Spotify for Creators, Spotify publishes it to Spotify automatically, but you still need to enable the RSS feed if you want to distribute it to other listening platforms.

YouTube

YouTube can import an audio podcast from its RSS feed, in regions where the feature is available. The general flow:

1. Open YouTube Studio and start creating a new podcast.
2. Choose the option to add a podcast with an RSS feed, accept the terms and paste your feed URL.
3. Verify ownership using the code YouTube sends to the email address in your feed.

YouTube then imports your episodes and turns audio-only episodes into videos using your cover art. Keep in mind that RSS-imported episodes cannot carry dynamically inserted ads, and edits should be made at your host so they flow through the feed.

A static cover image is the minimum. If you want episodes that hold attention on YouTube, convert them into captioned waveform videos with Recast’s Podcast to Video tool and upload those instead. Our guide to starting a podcast on YouTube covers that workflow in detail.

Common mistakes

Submitting before the first episode is live

This is one of the easiest ways to slow yourself down.

Using outdated directory advice

Many older guides still mention Google Podcasts and Stitcher. Those are no longer current submission priorities. In 2026, focus on active ecosystems like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and other current directories your host supports.

Forgetting that your RSS email may be public

Spotify’s creator documentation specifically warns that enabling your RSS feed can make your email address publicly visible in the feed.

Changing hosts without a redirect plan

If you move to a new host, use a proper redirect workflow so existing subscribers keep following your show. Apple’s current guidance points third-party hosted shows toward feed redirects when changing the RSS feed URL.

Where Recast fits

Recast does not create your podcast RSS feed. Your host does that.

Recast becomes useful after the podcast exists and the feed is live. That is when you want to turn episodes into:

• clips
• captions
• show notes
• summaries
• social assets

For example, the Podcast Clip Maker finds short clips in each episode, and the Podcast Show Notes Generator drafts episode descriptions for your feed. For a full list of places to submit, see how to distribute a podcast on all platforms.

So the order is:

1. create the show and RSS feed with your host
2. submit the feed to podcast platforms
3. use Recast to promote each episode after publishing

Where Jalp fits

Jalp fits earlier in the workflow than Recast.

If you are starting with:

• blog posts
• research notes
• newsletters
• web pages

then Jalp can help you create the podcast itself and handle the podcast-side workflow before you move on to promotion.

So the practical split in this post is:

1. use Jalp AI if you need to create the podcast and get a text-first show off the ground
2. use your host or Jalp-managed workflow to generate and manage the RSS feed
3. use Recast Studio after publishing to create clips, captions, show notes, and distribution assets

FAQ

Can I create a podcast RSS feed myself?

Yes, but most podcasters should use a hosting platform unless they have a strong reason to self-host and maintain XML manually.

Do I need an RSS feed for Spotify?

Yes, unless your host handles Spotify distribution internally. RSS is still the standard way podcast metadata and episodes are distributed across platforms.

Can I submit my podcast RSS feed to YouTube?

Yes, where YouTube’s RSS ingestion is available. Add a new podcast in YouTube Studio, choose the RSS option, paste your feed URL and verify ownership through the email in your feed.

How do I find my podcast RSS feed?

Look in your host dashboard under settings, distribution, availability, or feed details. If you host with Spotify for Creators, Spotify’s current documentation points you to Settings > Availability > RSS Distribution.

Does Recast create podcast RSS feeds?

No. Recast helps after the podcast is published by turning episodes into promotional and repurposing assets.

Can Jalp help if I do not have a podcast yet?

Yes. If your workflow starts with written content and you want to turn it into a podcast before dealing with promotion, Jalp is the more relevant fit on the creation side.