A sneak peek at a techy thing: how Apple Podcasts HLS streams work.
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A sneak peek at a techy thing: how Apple Podcasts HLS streams work.
Some may/will have better information than I do here; but I’m publishing this later today, and would, of course, welcome any feedback of the things I’ve got wrong. Feel free to quietly do that via email if it helps - editor@podnews.net will find me.
Of note - advertisers *can* require their ads not to be skippable, according to the spec. But we don't know whether Apple Podcasts is going to honour that.
Apple Podcasts HLS streams: how they work
What are the tech details of how Apple Podcasts new HLS video works? Here's what we know so far.
Podnews (podnews.net)
@james how many of the apparent 400k are watching 3D podcasts in a headset? This is not the future I want
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"Theoretically, though, this does mean that the same HLS feed should work if you were to put it into an alternateEnclosure for other podcast apps, and should also work just fine on Android or other devices. There’s nothing proprietary here - just a carefully constructed HLS master playlist. And that’s good news for all of us."
Great to hear!
At Fountain we have many podcasters publishing HLS video with every episode. @james any thoughts on the best way to contact Apple?
@merryoscar You have mail!
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@merryoscar You have mail!
@james thank you!

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A sneak peek at a techy thing: how Apple Podcasts HLS streams work.
Some may/will have better information than I do here; but I’m publishing this later today, and would, of course, welcome any feedback of the things I’ve got wrong. Feel free to quietly do that via email if it helps - editor@podnews.net will find me.
Of note - advertisers *can* require their ads not to be skippable, according to the spec. But we don't know whether Apple Podcasts is going to honour that.
Apple Podcasts HLS streams: how they work
What are the tech details of how Apple Podcasts new HLS video works? Here's what we know so far.
Podnews (podnews.net)
@james no shippable ads would be a app breaker for me if implemented and adhered to by Apple.
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A sneak peek at a techy thing: how Apple Podcasts HLS streams work.
Some may/will have better information than I do here; but I’m publishing this later today, and would, of course, welcome any feedback of the things I’ve got wrong. Feel free to quietly do that via email if it helps - editor@podnews.net will find me.
Of note - advertisers *can* require their ads not to be skippable, according to the spec. But we don't know whether Apple Podcasts is going to honour that.
Apple Podcasts HLS streams: how they work
What are the tech details of how Apple Podcasts new HLS video works? Here's what we know so far.
Podnews (podnews.net)
@james looks pretty good - just missing a link to your source!
John Spurlock (@js@podcastindex.social)
Curious what resolutions/codecs are being used by the new HLS video podcasts in Apple Podcasts? So was I:
PodcastIndex Social (podcastindex.social)
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@james looks pretty good - just missing a link to your source!
John Spurlock (@js@podcastindex.social)
Curious what resolutions/codecs are being used by the new HLS video podcasts in Apple Podcasts? So was I:
PodcastIndex Social (podcastindex.social)
@js oops! Sorry
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@js oops! Sorry
@james no worries, but I just rechecked the story again today and still don't see a link to your source
links are free! and I'd appreciate a hat tip for providing the meat of that story
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@james no worries, but I just rechecked the story again today and still don't see a link to your source
links are free! and I'd appreciate a hat tip for providing the meat of that story
@js I've added a link. You didn't provide "the meat of that story", though - you provided resolutions and iframe confirmation (which is specified in the docs anyway). Everything else in that piece is my own research; I asked you a few specific questions over Signal and you ignored them, so
That piece was also next to one shilling OP3 (for the sixth time in 2026), along with Podnews's monthly financial support - so I think the hat tip balance is still quite positive in my favour... but shout me out publicly if you like
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@js I've added a link. You didn't provide "the meat of that story", though - you provided resolutions and iframe confirmation (which is specified in the docs anyway). Everything else in that piece is my own research; I asked you a few specific questions over Signal and you ignored them, so
That piece was also next to one shilling OP3 (for the sixth time in 2026), along with Podnews's monthly financial support - so I think the hat tip balance is still quite positive in my favour... but shout me out publicly if you like
@james thanks!
Definitely appreciate the mentions in Podnews, it would be nice to figure out how to find one or two named OP3 sponsors - haven't had a new ones for quite a while, but I also am not spending time reaching out.
Right now sponsorship is more or less equivalent to the costs, valuing my time at zero. Which is fine, it's not meant to be a money making venture, but not necessarily robust to any future wild growth (which would also be nice).
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@james thanks!
Definitely appreciate the mentions in Podnews, it would be nice to figure out how to find one or two named OP3 sponsors - haven't had a new ones for quite a while, but I also am not spending time reaching out.
Right now sponsorship is more or less equivalent to the costs, valuing my time at zero. Which is fine, it's not meant to be a money making venture, but not necessarily robust to any future wild growth (which would also be nice).
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