# Podcast RSS Episode Extractor (`s3nafps/podcast-rss-episode-extractor`) Actor

Extract clean podcast episode data from public RSS and Atom feeds. Get episode titles, episode URLs, audio URLs, publish dates, durations, descriptions, GUIDs, and show titles as structured JSON or CSV.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/s3nafps/podcast-rss-episode-extractor.md
- **Developed by:** [mohamed senator](https://apify.com/s3nafps) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 3 total users, 2 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.30 / 1,000 extracted episodes

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## Podcast RSS Episode Extractor

Extract clean podcast episode data from public RSS and Atom feeds. This Apify Actor turns one or more podcast feed URLs into a structured dataset with episode titles, URLs, audio links, publish dates, durations, descriptions, GUIDs, and source feed information.

### What does this Actor do?

Podcast RSS Episode Extractor helps researchers, content marketers, podcast agencies, newsletter writers, media monitors, and no-code operators collect podcast episode metadata without building their own feed parser.

You provide public podcast RSS or Atom feed URLs. The Actor fetches each feed, parses the XML, normalizes common podcast fields, deduplicates episodes, and saves the results to an Apify Dataset.

It uses only public feed URLs that you provide. It does not log in to platforms, bypass CAPTCHA, scrape private content, or generate fake output.

### Typical use cases

- Build a podcast episode database from public feeds
- Monitor competitor podcast publishing activity
- Collect episode URLs and audio URLs for content research
- Export podcast metadata to CSV, JSON, Google Sheets, or Make/Zapier workflows
- Create datasets for AI summarization pipelines using public episode metadata

### Input

#### Podcast feed URLs

Add one or more public `http://` or `https://` RSS/Atom feed URLs. Local, private-network, malformed, FTP, and non-HTTP URLs are rejected.

#### Maximum total episodes

`maxResults` limits how many unique episode items are saved across all feeds.

#### Maximum episodes per feed

`maxEpisodesPerFeed` controls how many episodes are parsed from each feed before the global limit is applied.

#### Include descriptions

Turn `includeDescriptions` off if you want smaller datasets and only need episode-level metadata.

### Example input

```json
{
  "feedUrls": [
    { "url": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl" },
    { "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml" }
  ],
  "maxResults": 20,
  "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 10,
  "maxFeeds": 2,
  "includeDescriptions": true,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
}
```

### Output

Each podcast episode is saved as one item in the Apify Dataset.

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `feedUrl` | Source RSS/Atom feed URL |
| `podcastTitle` | Podcast/show title from the feed |
| `episodeTitle` | Episode title |
| `episodeUrl` | Public episode page URL when provided |
| `audioUrl` | Direct audio enclosure URL when provided |
| `publishedAt` | ISO publish timestamp when parseable |
| `duration` | Original podcast duration value |
| `durationSeconds` | Duration normalized to seconds when possible |
| `description` | Cleaned episode description, if enabled |
| `guid` | Feed episode GUID |
| `error` | Error message for failed feed-level output rows |
| `extractedAt` | ISO timestamp of extraction |

### Example output

```json
{
  "feedUrl": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl",
  "podcastTitle": "Example Podcast",
  "episodeTitle": "How to research a niche",
  "episodeUrl": "https://example.com/episodes/research",
  "audioUrl": "https://cdn.example.com/audio.mp3",
  "publishedAt": "2026-01-01T12:00:00.000Z",
  "duration": "42:10",
  "durationSeconds": 2530,
  "description": "A cleaned episode description.",
  "guid": "episode-guid",
  "error": null,
  "extractedAt": "2026-07-04T00:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Limitations

- The Actor supports public RSS and Atom feeds only.
- It does not download audio files.
- It does not transcribe or summarize episodes.
- Some feeds omit fields like audio URL, duration, or episode page URL.
- Very unusual XML structures may not map every field perfectly.
- Private feeds, login-only feeds, and blocked URLs are not supported.

### Suggested Pay Per Event pricing

Recommended primary event: one extracted episode / default dataset item.

Suggested launch price: **$0.30 per 1,000 extracted episodes** plus Apify platform usage costs. This keeps the Actor inexpensive for researchers while monetizing recurring feed monitoring and bulk exports.

### SEO title suggestion

Podcast RSS Episode Extractor - Podcast Feed to JSON API

### SEO description suggestion

Extract podcast episodes from public RSS and Atom feeds. Get episode titles, URLs, audio links, publish dates, durations, descriptions, and GUIDs as clean JSON or CSV.

### Support and maintenance

If a feed fails, check the `error` field first. Common causes are invalid URLs, private feeds, malformed XML, timeouts, or feeds that return HTML instead of RSS/Atom XML.

# Actor input Schema

## `feedUrls` (type: `array`):

Public RSS or Atom podcast feed URLs to extract episodes from.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Stops after this many unique episode items across all feeds.

## `maxEpisodesPerFeed` (type: `integer`):

Limits how many episodes are extracted from each feed before global maxResults is applied.

## `maxFeeds` (type: `integer`):

Stops after this many unique feed URLs.

## `includeDescriptions` (type: `boolean`):

Include cleaned episode descriptions. Turn off for smaller datasets.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

How long to wait for each feed request before recording an error.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "feedUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
    }
  ],
  "maxResults": 10,
  "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 5,
  "maxFeeds": 2,
  "includeDescriptions": true,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Open the default dataset in Apify Console. The dataset schema selects a clean table view with the most useful fields first.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "feedUrls": [
        {
            "url": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl"
        },
        {
            "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
        }
    ],
    "maxResults": 10,
    "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 5,
    "maxFeeds": 2,
    "includeDescriptions": true,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("s3nafps/podcast-rss-episode-extractor").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {
    "feedUrls": [
        { "url": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl" },
        { "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml" },
    ],
    "maxResults": 10,
    "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 5,
    "maxFeeds": 2,
    "includeDescriptions": True,
    "requestTimeoutSecs": 30,
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("s3nafps/podcast-rss-episode-extractor").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "feedUrls": [
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.simplecast.com/54nAGcIl"
    },
    {
      "url": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
    }
  ],
  "maxResults": 10,
  "maxEpisodesPerFeed": 5,
  "maxFeeds": 2,
  "includeDescriptions": true,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
}' |
apify call s3nafps/podcast-rss-episode-extractor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=s3nafps/podcast-rss-episode-extractor",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/1Yrq3sFigS3FV6SHS/builds/dJbs9ox82bqUd0iCI/openapi.json