RSS feeds are how podcasting works - but most podcast apps rely on repeatedly polling RSS feeds. Podnews publishes just one podcast ourselves, but that podcast’s RSS feed is requested more than 42,000 times a day.
We wondered who supports compression in feeds like gzip or brotli (which saves around 80% of bandwidth); and also who supports lastmodified headers and/or etag (i.e. how easy it is to spot whether a feed has been updated.)
We tested a set of feeds - the most popular 100 hosts or so - from our podcast sample; we’ve linked to the specific RSS feed we tested. To test compression, we requested the content using an Accept-Encoding header.
This page is sorted by the host’s RSS domain. Looking for a specific host? Probably easier to use CMD+F or CTRL+F to search within this page.
Host
Gzip?
Brotli?
etag?
lastmod?
3speak.tv
✔
✔
✘
✘
access.acast.com
✔
✔
✔
✘
anchor.fm
✔
✘
✔
✘
api.dr.dk
✔
✘
✘
✘
api.mujrozhlas.cz
✘
✘
✘
✘
api.octopus.saooti.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
api.rtve.es
✔
✘
✔
✘
api.sr.se
✘
✘
✘
✘
api.substack.com
✔
✔
✔
✘
apis.rfi.fr
✔
✘
✔
✘
app.kajabi.com
✘
✘
✔
✘
app.talkshoe.com
✘
✘
✔
✘
applehosted.podcasts.apple.com
✘
✘
✔
✔
audio.globoradio.globo.com
✔
✘
✘
✔
audioboom.com
✔
✔
✔
✔
cast.rocks
✘
✘
✔
✔
cdn.julephosting.de
✘
✘
✔
✔
cl.ivoox.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
cloud.mave.digital
✘
✘
✔
✔
Gzip?
Brotli?
etag?
lastmod?
co.ivoox.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
fapi-top.prisasd.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
fast.wistia.com
✔
✘
✘
✔
feed.ausha.co
✘
✘
✘
✔
feed.cdnstream1.com
✘
✘
✔
✔
feed.cri.cn
✔
✘
✘
✘
feed.justcast.com
✔
✔
✔
✘
feed.pippa.io
✔
✔
✔
✘
feed.pod.space
✔
✘
✘
✔
feed.podbean.com
✔
✘
✔
✘
feed.podtoo.com
✔
✘
✔
✘
feed.xyzfm.space
✔
✔
✘
✘
feedcdn.podbean.com
✔
✘
✔
✘
feedpress.me
✔
✘
✔
✔
feeds.360.audion.fm
✔
✔
✔
✘
feeds.acast.com
✔
✘
✔
✘
feeds.audiomeans.fr
✔
✘
✔
✘
feeds.blubrry.com
✔
✔
✔
✔
feeds.br.de
✔
✘
✔
✔
feeds.buzzsprout.com
✔
✘
✔
✘
Gzip?
Brotli?
etag?
lastmod?
feeds.djpod.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
feeds.feedburner.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
feeds.hubhopper.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
feeds.libsyn.com
✔
✘
✘
✔
feeds.megaphone.fm
✘
✘
✘
✔
feeds.podcastics.com
✔
✔
✔
✔
feeds.podcastle.ai
✔
✘
✔
✔
feeds.podcastmirror.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
feeds.podetize.com
✔
✔
✘
✘
feeds.rapidfeeds.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
feeds.redcircle.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
feeds.resonaterecordings.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
feeds.simplecast.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
feeds.soundcloud.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
feeds.soundon.fm
✔
✔
✔
✔
feeds.transistor.fm
✔
✔
✔
✔
feeds.tsf.pt
✘
✘
✘
✔
feeds.video.uni-erlangen.de
✘
✘
✘
✘
feeds.zencastr.com
✔
✘
✘
✔
feeds2.feedburner.com
✘
✘
✘
✔
Gzip?
Brotli?
etag?
lastmod?
hearthis.at
✔
✔
✘
✔
iono.fm
✔
✘
✘
✔
itstreaming.apple.com
✘
✘
✔
✔
letscast.fm
✘
✘
✔
✘
librivox.org
✘
✘
✘
✘
mavecloud.s3mts.ru
✘
✘
✔
✔
media-podcast.open.ac.uk
✘
✘
✘
✘
media.rss.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
media.zencast.fm
✔
✔
✔
✔
mediapub.it.ox.ac.uk
✘
✘
✔
✔
mp3quran.net
✔
✔
✔
✔
mx.ivoox.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
pinecast.com
✔
✔
✘
✔
podcast.global.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
podcast.npo.nl
✘
✘
✘
✘
podcast.stream.schibsted.media
✔
✔
✘
✘
podcast.uctv.tv
✘
✘
✔
✔
podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk
✔
✘
✔
✔
podcasts.helloaudio.fm
✘
✘
✔
✔
podcasts.subsplash.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
Gzip?
Brotli?
etag?
lastmod?
podcasts.vrt.be
✔
✘
✘
✘
podnews.net
✔
✔
✔
✔
podpoint.com
✘
✘
✘
✔
podster.fm
✔
✘
✘
✘
post.futurimedia.com
✘
✘
✔
✔
radiofrance-podcast.net
✘
✘
✘
✘
rss.acast.com
✔
✘
✔
✘
rss.amperwave.net
✘
✘
✔
✘
rss.art19.com
✔
✘
✘
✔
rss.castbox.fm
✔
✘
✘
✘
rss.dw.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
rss.podplaystudio.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
s3.amazonaws.com
✘
✘
✔
✔
sbs-ondemand.streamguys1.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
sermons.logos.com
✘
✘
✔
✘
services.err.ee
✔
✘
✘
✘
shenoto.net
✔
✘
✘
✘
stand.fm
✘
✘
✔
✘
toldot.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
us.ivoox.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
Gzip?
Brotli?
etag?
lastmod?
webtalkradio.net
✔
✔
✔
✔
wizard2.sbs.co.kr
✔
✘
✔
✔
www.abc.net.au
✔
✘
✘
✘
www.accessradio.org
✘
✘
✘
✘
www.blogtalkradio.com
✘
✘
✔
✔
www.cbc.ca
✔
✘
✘
✔
www.dvidshub.net
✘
✘
✘
✘
www.ivoox.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
www.launchpaddm.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
www.loyalbooks.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
www.ndr.de
✔
✘
✘
✘
www.omnycontent.com
✔
✘
✔
✘
www.podcastone.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
www.poderato.com
✘
✘
✔
✔
www.podserve.fm
✔
✔
✘
✔
www.rtp.pt
✔
✘
✘
✘
www.screencast.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
www.sermonaudio.com
✘
✘
✘
✘
www.spreaker.com
✔
✘
✔
✔
www.srf.ch
✔
✘
✘
✘
Gzip?
Brotli?
etag?
lastmod?
www.ximalaya.com
✔
✘
✘
✘
www1.wdr.de
✔
✘
✘
✘
xserve04.itunes.uni-muenchen.de
✘
✘
✘
✘
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