Spotify Adopts Apple's HLS for Video Podcasts

Spotify announced Thursday that its podcasting platforms, Spotify for Creators and Megaphone, will adopt Apple's HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology for video podcasts. The move enables creators hosting on Spotify to distribute their video content to Apple Podcasts without altering existing workflows or uploads.

Apple introduced HLS support in its Apple Podcasts app earlier this year, following a February preview. The upgrade, rolled out in late March for iPhone, iPad, Apple Vision Pro and the web, delivers adaptive video quality that adjusts in real time to network conditions, such as Wi-Fi or cellular data. It also supports seamless switching between video and audio-only playback, offline downloads and server-side dynamic ad insertion, features critical for monetization.

Spotify stated the integration represents "a major step toward truly platform-agnostic video distribution." Creators must upload video podcasts directly to Spotify to access these benefits, including engagement-based monetization, real-time analytics and other platform-specific tools. RSS feeds for audio-only distribution to other apps will remain available. The company is coordinating with Apple and plans to...