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How Apple Podcast Video (HLS) works on Disctopia

Patrick Hill
Updated

Apple Podcast Video lets you publish full-resolution video episodes that play natively inside the Apple Podcasts app. Listeners on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple TV, and CarPlay (audio-only) see a single, unified feed of your show with audio-only and video episodes intermixed.

Disctopia delivers Apple Podcast Video through Apple's HLS staged-asset pipeline. This article walks through what that means, what you need on your end, and how the AI copyright pre-screen fits into the flow.

What is HLS, in 60 seconds

HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) is the video format Apple uses across every Apple product. Instead of one giant .mp4 file, an HLS asset is:

  1. A manifest file (.m3u8) that lists all the available quality levels
  2. A set of segment files (usually .ts or .mp4), each a few seconds of video
  3. (Optional) Alternate audio tracks for accessibility/closed captions

The player downloads just the segments it needs at the resolution that fits the viewer's connection. That's why an Apple Podcasts video starts playing within a second on cellular and ramps to HD when WiFi comes back.

You don't have to know any of this. Disctopia handles the HLS conversion for you — you upload a normal MP4 (or MOV, or WebM), and we encode it to HLS before staging to Apple.

Prerequisites

To upload Apple Podcast Video, your show needs all four of:

  1. ✅ Apple Podcasts connected on Disctopia (see article)
  2. ✅ The show is approved on Apple Podcasts (Available in PCC → Podcasts)
  3. ✅ alternateAssetVideoEnabled turned on for your show. Apple defaults this off — you request enablement from Apple (see below).
  4. ✅ A video file that meets Apple's content specs — H.264 or HEVC, AAC audio, at most 4K resolution, sensible bitrate.

How to get video enabled for your show (alternateAssetVideoEnabled)

Video isn't enabled for shows by default — Apple enables it per show, on request, after a short review.

  1. Sign in to Apple Podcasts Connect with your own Apple account — the one you used when you claimed your show.
  2. Click Contact Us (at the bottom of any Apple Podcasts Connect page).
  3. Choose HLS Video as the topic.
  4. Include your show name and submit the request.
  5. Apple reviews the request and enables eligible shows directly — you'll be notified by email once it's on.

Disctopia detects the change automatically on your next video upload — there's nothing to configure on our side.

⚠️ Eligibility: your show must already be claimed under your own Apple Podcasts Connect account. Shows still under Disctopia's initial (custodial) submission aren't eligible for video until you complete the claim step — see How to connect Apple Podcasts to Disctopia.

The upload flow

When you upload a video episode through Disctopia with a video-enabled Apple-connected show, this is what happens:

You → Disctopia upload → HLS encode → AI copyright pre-screen
                                              ↓
                                ┌─────────────┴─────────────┐
                                ↓                           ↓
                              PASS                       SOFTWARN
                                ↓                           ↓
                       Stage to Apple              Wait for your
                       (POST /v1/                  attestation,
                       stagedAlternateAssets)      then stage
                                ↓
                       Apple holds the staged
                       asset until your next
                       RSS publish picks it up
                                ↓
                       Apple swaps to the
                       new video asset
                       (PATCH /v1/episodes/{id})

Stages, in plain language:

  1. Upload — You drop a video file in Disctopia.
  2. Encode — We transcode your video into HLS (manifest + segments). This usually takes about 1.5× the runtime of the video itself.
  3. AI pre-screen — Our copyright checker scans the audio and video. See What happens if your upload is flagged for copyright.
  4. Stage — Disctopia calls Apple's POST /v1/stagedAlternateAssets to register the encoded HLS asset against your episode.
  5. Wait — Apple holds the staged asset in their pipeline for up to 30 days waiting for your RSS feed to publish the matching episode.
  6. Swap — When Apple's crawler picks up the new RSS episode, we send a PATCH /v1/episodes/{id} to point Apple at the staged video asset. The episode now plays as video on Apple Podcasts.

What the 30-day expiry means

Apple's staging pipeline gives you a 30-day window between when an asset is staged and when it must be claimed by an RSS episode. We trigger staging the moment your encode finishes, then Disctopia's normal publish flow does the swap when you publish the episode through us.

⏰ Heads up: If you stage a video on Day 1 and don't publish the actual episode until Day 35, Apple will have already expired the staged asset. You'll need to re-upload. Disctopia surfaces a "Stage expires in N days" warning starting at Day 23 if an upload is sitting unused.

In practice this never bites anyone because the normal workflow is "upload → publish same day." It can happen with scheduled episodes you set 6+ weeks ahead.

How to tell it worked

Once the swap completes, your episode shows a Video badge in Apple Podcasters Connect under Show → Episodes:

Apple Podcasters Connect Episodes tab showing two Season 1 episodes. Green arrows point to a Video badge next to each episode's date row, confirming Apple recognized the alternate video asset was staged and swapped in successfully.

If you see the Video badge with an ✅ Available status, you're fully live — listeners on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV will see the video version of that episode.

Status states you'll see in My Library

Status Meaning
Encoding We're transcoding your file to HLS
AI Review Copyright pre-screen running
Needs your attestation Pre-screen returned SoftWarn — open the AI Review panel
Blocked Pre-screen returned Block — see copyright verdicts
Staging Disctopia is registering the asset with Apple
Staged — awaiting episode Apple has the asset; waiting for the RSS publish to swap it in
Live on Apple The episode now plays as video on Apple Podcasts (Video badge visible in PCC)
Stage expired The 30-day window closed before we could swap — re-upload
Apple rejected Apple refused the asset (rare — see error detail)

What happens to my audio-only listeners?

Nothing changes for them. Audio-only listeners on Spotify, Pocket Casts, Overcast, your Disctopia direct feed, etc. all continue to receive the audio track of the same episode. Apple's video alternate asset is additive — it's an extra version of the episode for Apple's apps, not a replacement.

Tips for good Apple Podcast Video uploads

  • 16:9 horizontal plays best across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple TV. Vertical/square video is supported but Apple's larger surfaces will letterbox it.
  • At least 1080p master. Apple distributes adaptive HLS, so listeners on poor connections drop down automatically — but you want headroom for the big screens.
  • Sound matters more than picture. Most listeners on iPhone are listening one-handed with the screen off. Treat the audio as primary and the video as a bonus.
  • Avoid baked-in subtitles. Apple has a separate accessibility track for captions; don't burn them into the video.
  • No watermarks or social handles in the corner. Apple's editorial team filters these out of featured placements.

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