Apple Podcasts Tags

All numbers are based on a sample of 233569 podcasts.

Apple's iTunes was one of the first and most popular platforms to find and listen to podcasts. Over the years, Apple has made changes to their podcast feed requirements. This has led to some older tags no longer being used by iTunes, but still being in use by other apps and services.

Apple separates their tags into three categories: required and recommended and situational. Deprecated tags are not listed on their website, but some are still in use, thus they are included here.

Please note that Apple Podcasts also uses tags defined in RSS. These are not included here, but their usage can be found in the RSS report.

The current specification can be found in Apple Podcasts for Creators - Podcast RSS feed requirements.


Channel Tags

Required Tags
Tag Description Usage
itunes:image Link to the podcast's cover art.

Example: 
<itunes:image href="https://example.com/podcast.jpg"></itunes:image>
99.5%
itunes:category Category of the podcast. Must be one of the iTunes categories. The subcategory is defined by a nested itunes:category tag.

Example: 
<itunes:category text="Technology">
    <itunes:category text="Gadgets" />
</itunes:category>
99.3%
itunes:explicit Whether the podcast contains explicit content
Can be set to yes or no

Example: 
<itunes:explicit>yes</itunes:explicit>
62.5%
Recommended Tags
Tag Description Usage
itunes:author Author of the podcast.

Example: 
<itunes:author>John Doe</itunes:author>
99.5%
itunes:owner Owner of the podcast.
Must contain a itunes:name and itunes:email tag.

Example: 
<itunes:owner>
    <itunes:name>John Doe</itunes:name>
    <itunes:email>john@example.com</itunes:email>
</itunes:owner>
83.2%
Situational Tags
Tag Description Usage
itunes:title Optional tag to overwrite RSS title tag in Apple Podcasts.

Example: 
<itunes:title>My Podcast</itunes:title>
0.7%
itunes:type Can be episodic or serial.
This determines how the episodes are ordered, default is episodic where the latest episode is on top.

Example: 
<itunes:type>episodic</itunes:type>
87.5%
itunes:new-feed-url Link to the new feed if the podcast has moved.

Example: 
<itunes:new-feed-url>https://example.com/feed.xml</itunes:new-feed-url>
13.6%
itunes:block Tag to block the podcast from being listed in Apple Podcasts.

Example: 
<itunes:block>yes</itunes:block>
6.3%
itunes:complete Whether the podcast is complete.

Example: 
<itunes:complete>yes</itunes:complete>
0.8%
Deprecated Tags
Tag Description Usage
itunes:subtitle Was used to set a subtitle for the podcast.
Still in use by some apps.

Example: 
<itunes:subtitle>My Podcast</itunes:subtitle>
30.0%
itunes:summary A short summary of the podcast.
Still in use by some apps.

Example: 
<itunes:summary>About my podcast</itunes:summary>
79.3%
itunes:keywords List of keywords for the podcast.
Still in use by some apps.

Example: 
<itunes:keywords>keyword1,keyword2</itunes:keywords>
24.4%


Item Tags

Recommended Tags
Tag Description Usage
itunes:duration Duration of the episode.
Can be in seconds or in the format hh:mm:ss. Duration in seconds is recommended.

Example: 
<itunes:duration>3600</itunes:duration>
97.7%
itunes:image Link to the episode's cover art.

Example: 
<itunes:image href="https://example.com/episode.jpg"></itunes:image>
83.2%
itunes:explicit Whether the episode contains explicit content. Can be set to yes or no

Example: 
<itunes:explicit>yes</itunes:explicit>
34.1%
Situational Tags
Tag Description Usage
itunes:title Optional tag to overwrite RSS title tag.

Example: 
<itunes:title>My Episode</itunes:title>
44.2%
itunes:season Season of the episode.
Must be a positive integer.

Example: 
<itunes:season>1</itunes:season>
49.2%
itunes:episode Episode number. Must be a positive integer.

Example: 
<itunes:episode>1</itunes:episode>
65.0%
itunes:episodeType Type of the episode.
Can be full, trailer or bonus.

Example: 
<itunes:episodeType>full</itunes:episodeType>
84.7%
itunes:block Tag to hide the episode from Apple Podcasts.

Example: 
<itunes:block>yes</itunes:block>
2.0%
Deprecated Tags
Tag Description Usage
itunes:subtitle Subtitle of the episode.
Still in use by some apps.

Example: 
<itunes:subtitle>My Episode</itunes:subtitle>
35.9%
itunes:summary Short summary of the episode.
Still in use by some apps.

Example: 
<itunes:summary>About my episode</itunes:summary>
78.1%
itunes:keywords Keywords for the episode.

Example: 
<itunes:keywords>keyword1,keyword2</itunes:keywords>
29.8%
itunes:author Author of the episode.
Example: 
<itunes:author>John Doe</itunes:author>
52.3%