Distributing video podcasts with a video RSS feed

This guide covers how RSS feeds work in podcasting, which directories support video podcasts via RSS versus other methods, and how to enable your video RSS feed.

An RSS feed is a text file that stores and distributes your show's information, including titles, descriptions, and links to your media files. Your feed is hosted online, in this case by Zencastr, and updates automatically each time you publish a new episode. Podcast directories like Apple Podcasts and Spotify check your RSS feed URL for updates, so publishing once distributes your episodes everywhere your feed is submitted.

A video RSS feed contains all the same essential information about your show and its episodes, including titles, descriptions, and direct links to your media files. The key difference is that the media links point to video files instead of audio files. This lets you distribute video episodes to directories that support video via RSS.

Apple Podcasts is the largest directory that supports video podcasts through RSS. It displays video up to 4K (1080p is recommended for best performance), labels video episodes, and provides analytics for them.

Read Apple's guide for more details.

Spotify supports video, but not via RSS, you upload video files for each episode directly in Spotify for Creators. Since the video replaces the audio file there, analytics for those episodes are only available in Spotify for Creators, not your hosting provider.

For more details about creating video episodes on Spotify, read their guide here.

YouTube supports video, but not via RSS, video must be uploaded directly through YouTube Studio. Zencastr's YouTube integration lets you post video episodes to YouTube without leaving Zencastr. YouTube tracks views, not downloads, so analytics are only available within YouTube.

For more information about podcasts on YouTube, read their guide here.

Enabling video RSS converts all your episode files from MP3 to MP4. Depending on how many episodes you have published, this process may take some time. Future episodes will automatically be published in the MP4 format.

Directories that support video RSS, like Apple Podcasts, receive the video version; while directories that don't, like Spotify, continue receiving audio.

To turn your video RSS feed on:

I have video RSS enabled but my video episodes are still showing on Spotify and YouTube as audio-only. How do I fix this?

Spotify and YouTube don’t support publication of video episodes on their platforms via RSS feed. So even with video RSS enabled, only audio is sent to those platforms. To publish video episodes on these platforms, see the "Directories That Support Video Podcasts Via Other Methods" section above for more information and links to their guides.

If Spotify and YouTube don’t accept video via RSS feeds, why should I enable this?

Apple Podcasts is one of the largest podcast directories, and it only accepts video podcasts through an RSS feed. If you want to get your video episodes on Apple Podcasts, a video RSS feed is essential.