Video podcasts
Apple Podcasts supports video podcasts. All creators can offer video podcasts on Apple Podcasts for free. Follow these steps and best practices to distribute your video content on Apple Podcasts.
Prepare your video podcast
Create a video episode
You must have at least one episode for your show to be made available on Apple Podcasts. Consider launching with a trailer and a full episode. MOV, MP4, and M4V file types are supported. Apple Podcasts supports up to 4K video but 1080p is recommended to provide a high-quality viewing experience without requiring significant device storage or data.
Submit your video podcast using RSS
When your content is ready, you can distribute it on Apple Podcasts using an RSS feed that’s self-hosted or distributed using a third-party hosting provider.
Once you have an RSS feed URL, navigate to submit a show and follow the steps to submit an RSS feed using Apple Podcasts Connect. All shows must meet our technical requirements and content guidelines before they are validated and published on Apple Podcasts. Once your podcast is validated and approved, you can publish it to Apple Podcasts.
Publish video shows and episodes
After your podcast is validated and approved, you can publish it to Apple Podcasts.
Publishing video episodes to a new or dedicated feed
If you already have an audio version of your show on Apple Podcasts, you can create a new show for the video version, making it easy to distinguish the audio and video versions. Use titles, descriptions, and show artwork to help users locate each version.
Publishing video episodes to a new or dedicated feed is recommended to provide users the best experience for discovering and following your show. For example, Apple Events (audio) and Apple Events (video).
Publishing video episodes to an existing feed
You can publish video episodes to an existing RSS feed, such as the feed you’re using for audio episodes. If you publish video episodes to the same RSS feed, note that new episodes will be automatically downloaded, which can use large amounts of a user’s local device storage and cellular data. You should only consider this option if your show no longer publishes new episodes or publishes new episodes infrequently.
Find and watch video episodes
Video episodes are denoted with a Video label above each episode title, next to each publish date, on show pages. When users tap play on a video episode, it will begin playing in the Now Playing bar. Tap the Now Playing bar to access a larger view of the video and then tap the video to go full screen.
While in full screen, video podcasts use the system’s video player, which includes the following controls:
- Play/Pause
- Rewind by 15 seconds
- Fast-forward by 15 seconds
- Seek to specific moment on the timeline
- AirPlay
- Enable Picture in Picture
- Mute and adjust volume
- Adjust playback speed by 0.75x, 1.0x, 1.25x, 1.5x, or 2.0x
- Chapters (if available)
- Enable subtitles (if available)
Tap X on the top left to exit full screen and return to Now Playing.
Chapters for video podcasts
Chapters are supported for video episodes published as MP4 files. Learn about using chapters.
Other considerations
You cannot create or distribute video episodes using Apple Podcasts Connect, only using an RSS feed. Episodes published via an RSS feed cannot be updated using Apple Podcasts Connect. Use the tools provided by your third-party hosting provider to publish your episodes and make any updates. Apple Podcasts Subscriptions only supports audio content.