Spotify and its hosting platforms are adopting Apple's tech for video podcasts
Key takeaways
- PJ Mc Donnell/Shutterstock 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 created the HTTP Live Streaming protocol years ago to make video streaming easier on devices like the iPhone.
- HLS is proprietary tech that's developed by Apple, which means it's naturally not open in the same way RSS is, and it could concentrate power in the podcast industry in a way it wasn't before.
PJ Mc Donnell/Shutterstock 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 i OS 26.4, so Spotify hopping aboard means that formerly Spotify-exclusive video podcasts can be distributed to 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 offers key benefits to video podcasts, as Apple already outlined in its own announcement. Podcasts distributed with HLS can switch back and forth between video and audio-only streams and offer offline downloads. Critical for anyone trying to make money from their show, HLS also supports dynamic ad insertion.
HLS is proprietary tech that's developed by Apple, which means it's naturally not open in the same way RSS is, and it could concentrate power in the podcast industry in a way it wasn't before. That possible negative comes with a positive: it's generally convenient for users when big companies all agree to use the same standard. Microsoft, Google, Twitch and more use HLS. Adding Spotify to that list is not necessarily a bad thing.