How Do I Connect and Upload Video Episodes to Apple Podcasts?

Video podcasts are how more and more listeners want to experience your show – and now Apple Podcasts is one more place they can watch it. With Apple Video, you can publish your video episodes there right from CoHost, without learning any new tools or workflows.

Behind the scenes, Apple requires video episodes in a streaming format called HLS (HTTP Live Streaming). Doing this by hand is a technical, multi-step process, so CoHost does it for you.

When you upload a video episode and select Apple Podcasts as a destination, CoHost automatically compresses your file, builds all the required video/audio streams, validates them against Apple's own checker, and hosts everything, so it stays reachable for as long as your episode is live.

In this article, we’re going to go over what you need to do before you publish, and what your video file needs to meet so CoHost can process it without errors.

How to connect Apple Podcasts in CoHost

Connecting Apple Podcasts is a one-time setup per show. Once connected, you'll be able to publish video episodes directly to Apple Podcasts from your episode creation flow.

Before you begin:

Apple needs proof that it's really you authorizing CoHost to publish on your show's behalf. Before you connect, you'll grab a few credentials from your own Apple Podcasts Connect account and hand them to us.

You'll need API credentials from your Apple Podcasts Connect account. Here’s how to generate them:

1. Go to podcasters.apple.com and sign in with your Apple ID.
2. In the top navigation, click Account → Keys.
   
   
3. Click the "+" button to generate a new API key. Name it something recognizable like "CoHost."
   
   
4. By clicking "Download" the .pem file will download immediately. Apple only lets you download it once per key so ensure you keep it in a safe spot!
5. Copy the Key ID shown next to your new key.
   
   
6. Copy the Issuer ID shown at the top of the Keys page. This is the same for all your keys.
   
   

Steps to setup Apple in CoHost

1. Go to CoHost and log in with your credentials.
2. From the left navigation, go to Integrations. Apple Podcasts will appear in the integrations table with a status of "Not connected."
   
   
3. Click "Connect" next to Apple Podcasts.
4. On the Connect Apple Podcasts page, upload your .pem file and enter your Key ID and Issuer ID in the fields provided. When all three are filled in, click “Next”.
   
   
5. CoHost will automatically match your show using your RSS feed URL. Review the show displayed and confirm it's correct. If it isn't, click "Select manually instead" to choose your show from a dropdown of all shows associated with your Apple Podcasts Connect account.
   
   
6. Review and accept both required terms:
   
   1. Apple Podcasts Connect Terms of Service: Click "Open terms" to review in a new tab, then check the box to accept on behalf of this show.

1. 1. Your content responsibility: Check the box to confirm the content you publish meets Apple's guidelines and CoHost's Terms of Service.
      
      
2. Click "Connect". Apple Podcasts will now show as "Connected" in your Integrations table.
   
   

Note: Store a secure backup of your .pem file outside of CoHost. If your key is revoked or lost, you'll need to generate a new one from Apple Podcasts Connect and reconnect.

How to add a video file to your episode in CoHost

If you've connected Apple Podcasts and want to publish a video episode, you'll create your episode through the Audio & Video podcast flow. This is a two-step process: audio is set up first, followed by video.

Steps to create a video episode

1. From the left navigation, go to Episodes, then click "Add New Episode".
   
   

2. Toggle both the Audio and Video options on as your episode type. Specify which video platforms you want to distribute on.
   
   
3. On the video step, upload your video file by dragging and dropping or clicking "Upload" in the video upload area.
   
   
4. Under Video publishing details, set your publish option for Apple Podcasts (Video). When ready, click "Go to audio set-up".
   
   
5. On the audio step, upload your audio file and fill in your episode details, including title, description, keywords, and category. Under Publishing Details, set your audio publish option for Apple Podcasts (Audio). When ready, click "Publish".
6. Under Apple Thumbnail, upload a custom thumbnail. If you don't upload one, Apple will generate a thumbnail automatically once your video is published. Dimensions must be 1280×720, accepted formats are JPG or PNG, max 2MB.
7. When ready, click "Publish" to submit both your audio and video, or "Save as Draft" to save your progress. Note that saving as draft applies to both audio and video. You’ll need to update the publish option on either step to change this.
   
   

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Note: Audio must be published before your video can go live. The publish time you set on the audio step determines when your video can be published. Scheduled publish times are approximate and may vary.

To upload your video file to CoHost, it will need to meet the following requirements:

Files outside these limits (wrong format, too large, etc.) are rejected before we even start processing, with a clear error message so you can fix and re-upload.

What CoHost builds automatically

Once your file is uploaded, CoHost compresses it and generates everything Apple requires; you don't need to touch any of this:

A note on 4K/1440p: Apple's player supports it, but CoHost doesn't currently offer it. If you upload a higher-resolution file, CoHost will still process it down to the tiers above.

Once processing finishes, we delete your original uploaded file. We keep only the compressed master copy and the video/audio streams listed in the table above.

The following are taken care of by CoHost.

Captions

Apple video episodes published through CoHost don't currently include captions in our initial release. You don't need to do anything here; CoHost's files correctly declare that captions are absent, so this won't cause playback issues on Apple's end.

Chapter markers

Chapter markers are generated automatically for video episodes, so there's nothing to add manually. They'll appear natively in the Apple Podcasts player so listeners can jump to different sections of your episode.

Publishing is asynchronous

After you hit Publish, CoHost still has work to do: encoding your file, validating it, and submitting it to Apple, followed by Apple's own review. Because of this:

• You'll see a message letting you know it's safe to navigate away. You don't need to keep the page open.
• You'll be notified on the episode page once the process completes or fails.
• If you come back to the episode while it's still processing, you'll see a pending indicator.

"Submitted" isn't the same as "live." Submitted means CoHost has finished its part; Apple still needs to complete its own review before the episode is available to listeners.

Status meanings

Your episode's Apple status is tracked independently from its YouTube and audio RSS status, since Apple runs its own post-submission review. You may see:

If Apple rejects your episode, you'll get an in-product message pointing you to Apple's guidelines, and you can resubmit once you've made changes.

You can also remove your episode from Apple only, YouTube only, or both, if you revert it to draft. The other destination(s) stay untouched.

Keeping your episode available

Once a video episode is published, Apple may re-request your files well after the original publish date. As long as your episode stays published on CoHost, the file stays reachable; you don't need to manage hosting or file availability yourself. If you delete the episode, those files (and their URLs) are removed.

Common reasons an episode might fail

• Uploading a file in a format other than MP4, M4V, or MOV
• Uploading a file over the 10 GB limit or longer than 2 hours
• Missing PCC Terms or CoHost Terms acceptance for the show
• No valid Apple API key bundle on file, or a key that's been revoked
• Apple's post-submission review declining the content

Checklist: before you submit a video episode

1. Confirm your file format and size: MP4, M4V, or MOV, under 10 GB, under 2 hours, 16:9 landscape, with audio included.
2. Confirm your show has accepted both checkboxes: Apple's PCC Terms and CoHost's terms and conditions.
3. Confirm your Apple API key bundle is on file: .pem file, Issuer ID, and Key ID from your Apple Podcasts Connect account.
4. Select your destinations: Choose Apple Podcasts alongside or instead of YouTube and/or your audio RSS feed.

Need help? If you're not sure whether your show or video file meets these requirements, reach out to our support team with your show and episode details, and we can help troubleshoot before you publish.