Essential Technical Requirements for Podcast Feeds
Unlike a standard blog RSS feed, a podcast feed requires specialized XML tags and multimedia headers to ensure apps can stream episodes, download cover art, and display show notes properly.
1. Cover Artwork Specifications
Apple Podcasts and Spotify reject feeds whose cover art fails to meet minimum resolution guidelines:
- Dimensions: Exactly square 1:1 aspect ratio, between 1400 x 1400 pixels (minimum) and 3000 x 3000 pixels (maximum).
- Format: JPEG or PNG in the sRGB color space.
- Tag: Delivered via <itunes:image href="..." />.
2. Audio Enclosure Tag
Every episode must contain an <enclosure> tag with three mandatory attributes:
<enclosure url="https://media.host.com/ep1.mp3" length="45210982" type="audio/mpeg" />
The audio server must support HTTP Range Requests (byte-serving) so listeners can scrub forward and backward without redownloading the entire file.