A free podcast RSS feed validator that checks your feed against Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube requirements, artwork and episode files included.
Check your podcast's RSS feed against what Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube ask for: the show, the artwork, every episode, and how your files load.
Your feed
The feed is read from its public address and kept for 30 minutes, so a fix shows soon after you publish it. Each rule comes from the directory that sets it: Apple's RSS guide, Spotify's delivery specification (v1.10, May 2025) and YouTube Help.
This free podcast RSS feed validator checks your feed against what Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube each ask for.
It reads the show, the artwork's real size and format, every episode, and how your server answers for the newest files. Each check names who asks for it, and each problem says how to fix it.
Here's what each directory requires, the rules most feeds break, and how to fix them.
What is a podcast RSS feed validator?
A podcast RSS feed validator reads your show's feed and checks it against the rules the podcast directories publish.
Your host writes the feed. Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube read it, and a feed that breaks their rules can be turned down, or lose episodes without a word.
What Apple Podcasts requires
Apple lists six tags every show needs, and three every episode needs:
| Tag | What Apple asks for |
|---|---|
| title | The show's name |
| description | Up to 4,000 bytes about the show |
| itunes:image | Artwork from 1400 x 1400 to 3000 x 3000 pixels, JPEG or PNG, RGB |
| language | An ISO 639 code, like en or en-us |
| itunes:category | A category from Apple's list, spelled and cased Apple's way |
| itunes:explicit | true or false |
Each episode needs a title, an enclosure with the file's address, size in bytes and type, and a GUID. That's from Apple's RSS guide.
Apple's feed requirements add the server side: the feed must be public, and the server must answer HEAD requests and byte-range requests.
The artwork rules most feeds break
Apple wants cover art "a minimum size of 1400 x 1400 pixels and a maximum size of 3000 x 3000 pixels, in JPEG or PNG format, 72 dpi, with appropriate file extensions (.jpg, .png), and in the RGB colorspace".
And it adds: "Confirm your art does not contain an Alpha Channel."
So the validator opens your artwork and reads its real size, format and color from the file itself:
- Too small or too big – 1400 to 3000 pixels, both sides.
- Not square – Apple and Spotify both want 1:1.
- CMYK – artwork exported for print is often CMYK, and Apple wants RGB.
- Transparency – a PNG with an alpha channel. Save it as a JPEG, or a PNG with no transparency.
GUIDs: the rule that duplicates episodes
A GUID is each episode's ID. Apple asks "that each episode have a unique GUID and that it never changes, even if an episode’s metadata, like title or enclosure URL, do change".
Change a GUID, and apps see a new episode. Share one between two episodes, and apps can show one and drop the other.
The validator counts missing GUIDs and shared GUIDs, and flags GUIDs that are web addresses. Those work as long as they never change, which a move to a new host can break.
What Spotify and YouTube add
Spotify and YouTube read the same feed, with a few rules of their own:
- Spotify's claim email – Spotify sends the code to claim your show to the feed's itunes:email, by its own help page. No email, no claim.
- HTTPS – Spotify's delivery specification (v1.10, May 2025) streams straight from a show's files only over HTTPS.
- 12 hours – the longest episode Spotify's specification supports.
- Plain text on YouTube – YouTube doesn't allow HTML or the < and > characters in titles and descriptions it reads from a feed, by YouTube Help.
Podcasting 2.0 tags
Podcast Index and a growing list of apps read tags from the Podcasting 2.0 namespace. None is required, so the validator lists them as tips:
- podcast:guid – one ID for the show, the same after a move to a new host.
- podcast:locked – stops another host from importing your show without you.
- podcast:transcript – a transcript file per episode. Apple reads VTT and SRT files from this tag.
- podcast:chapters – a chapters file, with a title for each part of the episode.
Fix your feed
Your podcast host writes the feed, so most fixes are a setting in the host, not code. Fix the errors first: each one can keep your show out of a directory.
Once it's clean, see where your show ranks with the podcast rank checker. And price your ads with the podcast sponsorship calculator.
Who is the podcast RSS feed validator for?
It's for podcast hosts, editors and anyone launching a show:
- Podcast rank checker – hosts checking where the show ranks
- Podcast transcript generator – hosts posting transcripts
- Audiogram generator – anyone promoting an episode
- How to make money podcasting – hosts ready to earn from the show
Every other tool is on my free tools page.
Want to check feeds from your AI?
Read any show's feed from your AI with my open source MCP servers
Record and edit your show with
Podcast RSS Feed Validator FAQs
Questions about the podcast RSS feed validator? Here's what to know.
A podcast RSS feed validator reads your show's feed and checks it against the rules podcast directories publish.
This one checks what Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube ask for, plus the Podcasting 2.0 tags.
Paste your feed's address into the podcast RSS feed validator and click Check feed.
An Apple Podcasts or Spotify link works too, and so does your show's name.
Your podcast host shows your RSS feed in its settings, often under Distribution or RSS.
If your show is on Apple Podcasts, paste its Apple Podcasts link and the validator finds the feed.
Apple requires a title, a description, artwork, a language, a category and an explicit tag on the show.
Each episode needs a title, an enclosure with its file's address, size and type, and a GUID.
Apple wants podcast artwork from 1400 x 1400 to 3000 x 3000 pixels, square, in JPEG or PNG, in RGB.
It also asks for no alpha channel, so no transparency.
The most common failures are artwork of the wrong size or color space, a category spelled differently from Apple's list, and missing or shared GUIDs.
The validator says which rule failed and how to fix it.
Spotify sends the claim code to the itunes:email in your feed.
If the feed has no email, or an old one, add the right address in your host's settings first.
Yes, this podcast RSS feed validator is free, with no account.
It limits how many feeds one visitor can check in an hour, so bots can't use it up.
This podcast RSS feed validator is for anyone who runs or moves a show:
- Top podcasts – new podcasters checking a feed before they submit it.
- Podcast rank checker – hosts checking a show after a move to a new host.
- Podcast sponsorship calculator – producers checking a client's show before a launch.
Hosting companies and developers use it to check the feeds they write.
I did.
I'm Navid Moazzez, and the podcast RSS feed validator is one of my free tools on navid.me.
Read more about me.
There's a top podcasts page, a podcast rank checker and a podcast sponsorship calculator.
The rest are in free tools.
Navid Moazzez
AI business strategist & AI OS builder
Navid Moazzez helps creators and founders master AI and build their own AI Operating System (AI OS) to automate their business and life.
Navid.me is reader-supported. When you buy through links on this site, I may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more.
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