[Enhancement]: RSS feeds for audiobooks #365

New Issue

2026-04-24T23:06:20+02:00

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:20 +02:00

Originally created by @samdoshi on GitHub (May 19, 2022).

Describe the feature/enhancement

Similar to issue #553, would it be possible to serve an audio book as an RSS feed so that it could be integrated with an existing podcasting app?

And if that is possible, could it also be extended to collections?

Originally created by @samdoshi on GitHub (May 19, 2022). ### Describe the feature/enhancement Similar to issue #553, would it be possible to serve an audio book as an RSS feed so that it could be integrated with an existing podcasting app? And if that is possible, could it also be extended to collections?

adam added the enhancement label 2026-04-24 23:06:20 +02:00

adam closed this issue

2026-04-24 23:06:23 +02:00

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:24 +02:00

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022):

Yeah we can do this. It would need to show as a list of audio tracks.
I'm not sure how it would work for collections if you have multiple audiobooks with many audio tracks.

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022): Yeah we can do this. It would need to show as a list of audio tracks. I'm not sure how it would work for collections if you have multiple audiobooks with many audio tracks.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:24 +02:00

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022):

Books should be relatively easy. You don't have to include <pubDate>, though I'm not sure which order files should be listed in. It would mean that I could use Overcast on my Apple Watch to listen to my library books when out on a run, I imagine there are other devices that are unlikely to get a dedicated app, but will have the option of a podcast player.

Collections are maybe too complicated though. One use would be to have a 'listening queue' collection. But as collections can be re-ordered that might cause a lot of problems with podcast clients.

Thanks for the fast response.

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022): Books should be relatively easy. You don't have to include `<pubDate>`, though I'm not sure which order files should be listed in. It would mean that I could use Overcast on my Apple Watch to listen to my library books when out on a run, I imagine there are other devices that are unlikely to get a dedicated app, but will have the option of a podcast player. Collections are maybe too complicated though. One use would be to have a 'listening queue' collection. But as collections can be re-ordered that might cause a lot of problems with podcast clients. Thanks for the fast response.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:25 +02:00

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022):

What I mean is the audiobooks will show as each audio file is an episode. So imagine I have 2 audiobooks in a collection, each audiobook is 25 audio files.
The RSS feed for that collection would be shown as 50 episodes.
If your audiobook collection is all single audio files then this would look great since each episode would be the full audiobook, but if you have multi-track audiobooks then this might look chaotic.

Is that how you were thinking of the collection RSS feed also?

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022): What I mean is the audiobooks will show as each audio file is an episode. So imagine I have 2 audiobooks in a collection, each audiobook is 25 audio files. The RSS feed for that collection would be shown as 50 episodes. If your audiobook collection is all single audio files then this would look great since each episode would be the full audiobook, but if you have multi-track audiobooks then this might look chaotic. Is that how you were thinking of the collection RSS feed also?

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:25 +02:00

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022):

Is that how you were thinking of the collection RSS feed also?

I think so. So if you had "book 1" with 2 files, and "book 2" with 3 files you'd have:

Book 1, file 1
Book 1, file 2
Book 2, file 1
Book 2, file 2
Book 2, file 3

in your RSS file.

But as I said, I'm not sure how well podcast clients will cope with the list changing.

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022): > Is that how you were thinking of the collection RSS feed also? I think so. So if you had "book 1" with 2 files, and "book 2" with 3 files you'd have: - Book 1, file 1 - Book 1, file 2 - Book 2, file 1 - Book 2, file 2 - Book 2, file 3 in your RSS file. But as I said, I'm not sure how well podcast clients will cope with the list changing.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:26 +02:00

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022):

Yeah that's right, I'm not sure if that would throw people off or what they would expect.

What do you mean with the list changing? Podcast clients just make periodic requests to your RSS feeds and display whatever is in the feed. If you change the order or add/remove audio tracks then the next time the podcast client makes the request it will show those changes.

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 19, 2022): Yeah that's right, I'm not sure if that would throw people off or what they would expect. What do you mean with the list changing? Podcast clients just make periodic requests to your RSS feeds and display whatever is in the feed. If you change the order or add/remove audio tracks then the next time the podcast client makes the request it will show those changes.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:26 +02:00

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (May 20, 2022):

Thanks for adding the feature, I've tested it in Apple Podcasts.

If you change the order or add/remove audio tracks then the next time the podcast client makes the request it will show those changes.

I'm just wondering what happens if say, you have 3 books in a collection and only download the first 2 files of book 1, but then re-order the list to place book 1 at the end (or remove it and re-add it). Would the podcast client respect the new order, or would it leave the 2 downloaded files at the top of the list.

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (May 20, 2022): Thanks for adding the feature, I've tested it in Apple Podcasts. > If you change the order or add/remove audio tracks then the next time the podcast client makes the request it will show those changes. I'm just wondering what happens if say, you have 3 books in a collection and only download the first 2 files of book 1, but then re-order the list to place book 1 at the end (or remove it and re-add it). Would the podcast client respect the new order, or would it leave the 2 downloaded files at the top of the list.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:26 +02:00

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 20, 2022):

That's a good question. You can test that behavior now by creating an RSS feed for an audiobook, then changing the order of your audio tracks.
I would be curious to know what the results are for that, and how long it takes before they refresh the RSS feed.

@advplyr commented on GitHub (May 20, 2022): That's a good question. You can test that behavior now by creating an RSS feed for an audiobook, then changing the order of your audio tracks. I would be curious to know what the results are for that, and how long it takes before they refresh the RSS feed.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:26 +02:00

@pbassham commented on GitHub (May 23, 2022):

While a per-book RSS feed is understandable, I think a master RSS feed would be awesome.

I am new to AudioBookshelf, but I set it up today trying to find a more convenient solution to what i have been doing for years: Adding my audiobooks to a self-hosted podcast feed (using Podcast Generator) so that I can listen in a regular podcast app. It is very convenient for many reasons.

Podcast apps like Overcast (my preferred player) displays chapters, which makes it a very capable audiobook player, allowing me to mix books into my regular podcast queue, and also take advantage of "smart speed" enhancements that skips silence in the audio, speeding things up by another ~30%.

So, I would like a master RSS feed that I could subscribe to once in a podcast app, that would be updated with each new book as they are added.

Audible files are usually a single file, so it works great, but for books that come in multiple files I need to combine multiple files into a single file, which I do, because it is worth it to have one book = one episode. Multiple files/episodes for a single book isn't as clean, but it would work, and if someone is interested in cleaning up a particular book, and wants 1 book = 1 episode, they can always just combine their files manually. (Audiobookbinder is one simple option, but I think i saw a dev feature that does something like that too.)

Anyway, a master RSS feed for all books would be awesome.

@pbassham commented on GitHub (May 23, 2022): While a per-book RSS feed is understandable, I think a master RSS feed would be awesome. I am new to AudioBookshelf, but I set it up today trying to find a more convenient solution to what i have been doing for years: Adding my audiobooks to a self-hosted podcast feed (using [Podcast Generator](https://podcastgenerator.net/)) so that I can listen in a regular podcast app. It is very convenient for many reasons. Podcast apps like Overcast (my preferred player) displays chapters, which makes it a very capable audiobook player, allowing me to mix books into my regular podcast queue, and also take advantage of "smart speed" enhancements that skips silence in the audio, speeding things up by another ~30%. So, I would like a master RSS feed that I could subscribe to _once_ in a podcast app, that would be updated with each new book as they are added. Audible files are usually a single file, so it works great, but for books that come in multiple files I need to combine multiple files into a single file, which I do, because it is worth it to have one book = one episode. Multiple files/episodes for a single book isn't as clean, but it would work, and if someone is interested in cleaning up a particular book, and wants 1 book = 1 episode, they can always just combine their files manually. ([Audiobookbinder](http://bluezbox.com/audiobookbinder.html) is one simple option, but I think i saw a dev feature that does something like that too.) Anyway, a master RSS feed for all books would be awesome.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:26 +02:00

@cassieesposito commented on GitHub (Jun 23, 2022):

Maybe the experimental M4BMerge feature could get involved in this in a way that resolves the issue with collection based rss feeds?

@cassieesposito commented on GitHub (Jun 23, 2022): Maybe the experimental M4BMerge feature could get involved in this in a way that resolves the issue with collection based rss feeds?

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:27 +02:00

@wraith1385 commented on GitHub (Nov 28, 2022):

While a per-book RSS feed is understandable, I think a master RSS feed would be awesome.

I am new to AudioBookshelf, but I set it up today trying to find a more convenient solution to what i have been doing for years: Adding my audiobooks to a self-hosted podcast feed (using Podcast Generator) so that I can listen in a regular podcast app. It is very convenient for many reasons.

Podcast apps like Overcast (my preferred player) displays chapters, which makes it a very capable audiobook player, allowing me to mix books into my regular podcast queue, and also take advantage of "smart speed" enhancements that skips silence in the audio, speeding things up by another ~30%.

So, I would like a master RSS feed that I could subscribe to once in a podcast app, that would be updated with each new book as they are added.

Audible files are usually a single file, so it works great, but for books that come in multiple files I need to combine multiple files into a single file, which I do, because it is worth it to have one book = one episode. Multiple files/episodes for a single book isn't as clean, but it would work, and if someone is interested in cleaning up a particular book, and wants 1 book = 1 episode, they can always just combine their files manually. (Audiobookbinder is one simple option, but I think i saw a dev feature that does something like that too.)

Anyway, a master RSS feed for all books would be awesome.

Have you been able to get the individual book feeds to work with Overcast? I keep getting a timed out error.

@wraith1385 commented on GitHub (Nov 28, 2022): > While a per-book RSS feed is understandable, I think a master RSS feed would be awesome. > > I am new to AudioBookshelf, but I set it up today trying to find a more convenient solution to what i have been doing for years: Adding my audiobooks to a self-hosted podcast feed (using [Podcast Generator](https://podcastgenerator.net/)) so that I can listen in a regular podcast app. It is very convenient for many reasons. > > Podcast apps like Overcast (my preferred player) displays chapters, which makes it a very capable audiobook player, allowing me to mix books into my regular podcast queue, and also take advantage of "smart speed" enhancements that skips silence in the audio, speeding things up by another ~30%. > > So, I would like a master RSS feed that I could subscribe to _once_ in a podcast app, that would be updated with each new book as they are added. > > Audible files are usually a single file, so it works great, but for books that come in multiple files I need to combine multiple files into a single file, which I do, because it is worth it to have one book = one episode. Multiple files/episodes for a single book isn't as clean, but it would work, and if someone is interested in cleaning up a particular book, and wants 1 book = 1 episode, they can always just combine their files manually. ([Audiobookbinder](http://bluezbox.com/audiobookbinder.html) is one simple option, but I think i saw a dev feature that does something like that too.) > > Anyway, a master RSS feed for all books would be awesome. Have you been able to get the individual book feeds to work with Overcast? I keep getting a timed out error.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:27 +02:00

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (Dec 9, 2022):

Have you been able to get the individual book feeds to work with Overcast? I keep getting a timed out error.

AFAIK Overcast caches RSS updates via their own servers, so I think you need your RSS feed to be on the public internet. I ended up using iCatcher for audiobooks on my iPhone/Apple Watch.

@samdoshi commented on GitHub (Dec 9, 2022): > Have you been able to get the individual book feeds to work with Overcast? I keep getting a timed out error. AFAIK Overcast caches RSS updates via their own servers, so I think you need your RSS feed to be on the public internet. I ended up using iCatcher for audiobooks on my iPhone/Apple Watch.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:27 +02:00

@wraith1385 commented on GitHub (Dec 9, 2022):

Have you been able to get the individual book feeds to work with Overcast? I keep getting a timed out error.

AFAIK Overcast caches RSS updates via their own servers, so I think you need your RSS feed to be on the public internet. I ended up using iCatcher for audiobooks on my iPhone/Apple Watch.

Thanks, I ended up joining their discord and someone told me that. So I put a reverse proxy in front of my deployment and only turn on the port forwarding for the few minutes it takes me to add the feed to overcast and download the file to my phone.

@wraith1385 commented on GitHub (Dec 9, 2022): > > Have you been able to get the individual book feeds to work with Overcast? I keep getting a timed out error. > > AFAIK Overcast caches RSS updates via their own servers, so I think you need your RSS feed to be on the public internet. I ended up using iCatcher for audiobooks on my iPhone/Apple Watch. Thanks, I ended up joining their discord and someone told me that. So I put a reverse proxy in front of my deployment and only turn on the port forwarding for the few minutes it takes me to add the feed to overcast and download the file to my phone.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:27 +02:00

@semihselcuk commented on GitHub (Dec 17, 2022):

I am looking forward to this feature.

@semihselcuk commented on GitHub (Dec 17, 2022): I am looking forward to this feature.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:28 +02:00

@advplyr commented on GitHub (Jan 8, 2023):

Opening RSS feed for collections added in v2.2.12

This closes the original issue. Anything else for this can be put in a new issue.

@advplyr commented on GitHub (Jan 8, 2023): Opening RSS feed for collections added in [v2.2.12](https://github.com/advplyr/audiobookshelf/releases/tag/v2.2.12) This closes the original issue. Anything else for this can be put in a new issue.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:29 +02:00

@Piste commented on GitHub (Jan 28, 2023):

So I put a reverse proxy in front of my deployment and only turn on the port forwarding for the few minutes it takes me to add the feed to overcast and download the file to my phone.

I might be interested in consuming audiobooks via Overcast, @wraith1385, do you mind sharing what port needed to be opened/forwarded?

@Piste commented on GitHub (Jan 28, 2023): > So I put a reverse proxy in front of my deployment and only turn on the port forwarding for the few minutes it takes me to add the feed to overcast and download the file to my phone. I might be interested in consuming audiobooks via Overcast, @wraith1385, do you mind sharing what port needed to be opened/forwarded?

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:29 +02:00

@wraith1385 commented on GitHub (Jan 29, 2023):

So I put a reverse proxy in front of my deployment and only turn on the port forwarding for the few minutes it takes me to add the feed to overcast and download the file to my phone.

I might be interested in consuming audiobooks via Overcast, @wraith1385, do you mind sharing what port needed to be opened/forwarded?

It'll honestly depend on your setup. My Nginx covers 13378 and forces SSL, so then in my port forwarding, I use a custom port on the outside and just forward it to 443 on my nginx / audiobookshelf box.

@wraith1385 commented on GitHub (Jan 29, 2023): > > So I put a reverse proxy in front of my deployment and only turn on the port forwarding for the few minutes it takes me to add the feed to overcast and download the file to my phone. > > I might be interested in consuming audiobooks via Overcast, @wraith1385, do you mind sharing what port needed to be opened/forwarded? It'll honestly depend on your setup. My Nginx covers 13378 and forces SSL, so then in my port forwarding, I use a custom port on the outside and just forward it to 443 on my nginx / audiobookshelf box.

adam commented

2026-04-24 23:06:29 +02:00

@Piste commented on GitHub (Feb 1, 2023):

Thanks for responding <3 My issue was actually with omitting to "open" the RSS feed in the GUI. The reverse proxy config was done properly.

@Piste commented on GitHub (Feb 1, 2023): Thanks for responding <3 My issue was actually with omitting to "open" the RSS feed in the GUI. The reverse proxy config was done properly.

adam referenced this issue

2026-04-25 00:02:15 +02:00

[Enhancement]: Extract episode number from title as a fallback #2001

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Reference: starred/audiobookshelf#365