Spotify has announced that its podcasting platforms – Spotify for Creators and Megaphone – are adopting Apple’s technology for video streaming, HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). Apple shared in February that it was adding support for HLS to its own Apple Podcasts app with the release of iOS 26.4, so Spotify’s inclusion means the first Spotify-exclusive video podcasts can be distributed on Apple’s app.
Apple created the HTTP live streaming protocol years ago to make video streaming easier on devices like the iPhone. Switching to the standard also brings significant benefits to video podcasts, as Apple already noted in its announcement. Podcasts distributed with HLS can switch back and forth between video and audio-only streams and offer offline downloads. Important for anyone trying to make money from their show, HLS also supports dynamic ad insertion.
HLS is proprietary technology developed by Apple, which means it’s not inherently open like RSS, and it may concentrate power in the podcast industry in a way it hasn’t before. That potential negative comes with a positive: it is generally convenient for users when large companies agree to use the same standard. Microsoft, Google, Twitch, and other companies use HLS. Adding Spotify to that list isn’t a bad thing.
Spotify doesn’t have an official timeline for when Spotify for Creators and Megaphone will implement HLS, but they have confirmed that audio-only RSS podcast feeds will be available to anyone listening through an app that doesn’t support it. Spotify is also opening up who can distribute Spotify via its distribution API, which is now officially supported by podcast hosting platforms Audioboom, Audiomeans, Podigee, Podspace, and Libsyn. Supporting the API allows the platform to distribute video content on Spotify, utilize the company’s video monetization programs, and view its video analytics. Whether they will provide all the features of Spotify or not is up to them. “API partners can choose which of these features they want to support in their platform,” the company says.
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