Technologies

RSS Enclosure

Podcasting

Citation Formats

General Reference

Film and Media Atlas. "RSS Enclosure." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/rss-enclosure.

APA Style

Film and Media Atlas. (n.d.). RSS Enclosure. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/rss-enclosure

BibTeX

@misc{filmandmediaatlas-rss-enclosure,
  author = {Film and Media Atlas},
  title = {RSS Enclosure},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://media.interactiveatlas.org/technologies/rss-enclosure},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A tag within an RSS feed that attaches a media file, originally audio, so that software can automatically download new episodes as they are published. Tristan Louis first proposed the mechanism in an October 2000 draft specification, and RSS format author Dave Winer implemented it; this enclosure mechanism is the technical foundation of podcasting, distinct from the word 'podcasting' itself, which BBC and Guardian journalist Ben Hammersley coined in February 2004.

Facts

Introduced Year

2000 1

Origin

Proposed by Tristan Louis in an October 2000 draft specification; implemented by Dave Winer, an author of the RSS format. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections