Podcast RSS Validator

Knowledge Base

How to Use the RSS Validator

The RSS Validator checks your podcast RSS feed for errors and compliance with Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube standards. Paste your feed URL and the tool reports issues preventing distribution or affecting metadata display.

Why Validate Your Feed?

RSS feeds are XML files with strict rules. A single formatting error can prevent Apple Podcasts from accepting your show. Missing tags break metadata (artwork, episode descriptions, categories). The validator catches these before they become problems.

Common RSS Issues

• Missing Tags: title, description, author, image required by Apple.
• Encoding Errors: Special characters (&, <, >) must be escaped or wrapped in CDATA.
• Invalid Image URLs: Image must be JPG/PNG, minimum 1400x1400px, maximum 3000x3000px.
• Broken XML Structure: Mismatched or unclosed tags prevent parsing.
• Duplicate Episodes: Same episode published twice creates confusion.

How to Fix RSS Issues

Most issues live in your hosting platform's dashboard. Check episode metadata, artwork, and categories. Resubmit to the validator after changes. Many fixes take 24-48 hours to propagate to platforms.

FAQ

Q: My feed validates but Apple didn't approve, why?
A: Apple has additional rules beyond RSS spec. Check explicit content flag, category accuracy, and cover art size.

Q: How often should I check my feed?
A: After major changes (cover art, category, explicit flag). Check quarterly for drifts.

What breaks a podcast feed

The feed is the product. Apple, Spotify and every other directory hold no copy of your show, only a pointer to your RSS address, which they re-read periodically. Anything appearing in a podcast app got there because your feed said so, and anything missing is missing because the feed did not.

The single most damaging mistake involves the GUID, the unique identifier on each episode. Directories use it to decide what is new. Change the GUID on an episode already published and every app treats it as a fresh release, notifying subscribers and pushing a months-old episode to the top of their queue. This usually happens when somebody migrates hosts and the new system generates its own identifiers. Preserve the original GUIDs through any migration, whatever else changes.

Enclosures are the second common failure. The enclosure tag carries the audio file address, its type and its size in bytes. A wrong byte count makes some apps report the wrong duration or refuse to download, and a link redirecting through analytics that a directory cannot follow means an episode appears in the list and never plays.

Everything else is mostly completeness. A missing category keeps a show out of browse listings. Missing artwork blocks acceptance entirely. An episode with no description shows blank in most apps. Validate before submitting to a directory rather than after, because a rejection usually costs several days of re-review to reverse.

Two habits prevent most feed problems. Set the publication date deliberately, because apps order episodes by it rather than by their position in the file, and a wrong date buries a new release below older ones. Declare the duration explicitly rather than leaving apps to work it out from the file, since several show nothing at all when the tag is absent and a listener choosing between episodes uses it.

Vocabulary

RSS feed. An XML file listing your episodes with their titles, descriptions and audio file addresses. Podcast apps read it on a schedule to find new episodes. The authoritative record of your show, which directories only point at.

GUID. Globally Unique Identifier, a string marking one episode as distinct from every other. Apps use it to decide what they have already seen. Changing it on a published episode makes every app treat it as brand new.

Enclosure. The tag carrying the actual audio file address, its format and its size in bytes. Without a valid enclosure an episode appears in listings but cannot be played or downloaded.

Podcasting 2.0. A set of newer tags extending the original podcast standard, covering chapters, transcripts, funding links and location. Supported by some apps and ignored by others, so nothing essential should depend on them alone.