27 - What is HLS video and how will it affect my audio podcast?

Nathan Wrigley Hello there and welcome to PodcasterPlus, the podcast offering tips and tricks to simplify and automate your podcast. Find all the episodes at podcasterplus.com forward slash show. So if you've been scanning podcast industry news or chatting with other creators over the past few months, there's a technical three letter acronym that keeps popping up. HLS, specifically HLS video.

Nathan Wrigley Apple Podcasts recently rolled out major support for HLS powered video and Spotify quickly followed suit by adopting the exact same technology across their creator and hosting platforms. Now, if you host a traditional audio podcast, just like this one, you might be wondering what on earth is HLS video? Why are all the major players suddenly talking about it? And do I even need to care? So the short answer is no.

Nathan Wrigley You don't need to panic. Your audio podcast isn't going anywhere, but the way audio podcasts are being distributed is changing in a way that actually protects the open nature of podcasting. So today I want to unpack three simple things. First, what HLS actually is in plain English. Second, why Apple and Spotify are making such a big deal out of it. And third, what it means for you as an audio podcaster moving forward. So let me paint a picture for you.

Nathan Wrigley And as always, I'm going to divide this episode up into various sections. And the first section is what is HLS video? Now, I'll be honest, technical acronyms in podcasting can make your eyes glaze over, but HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming. There you go. It's a streaming protocol originally created by Apple, and you've actually been using it for years.

Nathan Wrigley Every time you watch Netflix, Twitch or YouTube. In the early days of video podcasting, if a creator wanted to put video into a podcast feed they had to attach one massive video file, sometimes two or three gigabytes, directly to their RSS feed. The listeners app had to download that entire file before playing or suffer through constant buffering on mobile data. It was heavy, clunky and expensive.

Nathan Wrigley HLS solves this completely. Instead of serving one giant video file, HLS breaks video and audio down into tiny bite-sized chunks, usually just a few seconds long. It creates what is called an adaptive stream. If your listener is sitting on fast home Wi-Fi, their phone streams high definition video. If they step out of the door into spotty mobile signal coverage, HLS instantly drops the video resolution or switches smoothly to audio only playback without interrupting the show.

Nathan Wrigley That smooth, seamless transition is the real secret sauce here. So, the next section. Why Apple and Spotify are pushing HLS. So, why is this happening now? For years, video podcasting felt fragmented. YouTube was the primary home for video. Spotify had its own proprietary video upload tool and traditional RSS feeds remained almost strictly audio.

Nathan Wrigley With Apple bringing HLS video support to Apple Podcasts and Spotify integrating HLS across Spotify for creators and Megaphone, both giants are aligning around a single industry standard. So, what does that mean for your audience? Well, it means flexibility. Someone can start listening to your episode in their car on audio, walk into their living room, open their app and switch straight to video on the TV screen at the exact same second. No restarting, no lost playback position.