Apple Podcasts Fetch

Apple Podcasts Episode Audio Fetch

Fetch audio download URLs from Apple Podcasts episodes using only HTTP APIs. No browser, no scraping — just iTunes Lookup API and RSS feed parsing.

Overview

Apple Podcasts does not expose direct audio URLs on its web pages. To obtain the audio file URL for a specific episode, follow a three-step API pipeline:

1. Parse the Apple Podcasts URL to extract show_id and track_id
2. Call iTunes Lookup API to get the podcast's RSS feed URL
3. Call iTunes Episode Lookup to get the episodeGuid, then fetch the RSS feed and match the guid to extract the audio <enclosure> URL

Step 1: Parse the Apple Podcasts URL

Apple Podcasts episode URLs follow this structure:

https://podcasts.apple.com/{region}/podcast/{slug}/id{show_id}?i={track_id}

Example:

https://podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/ep640/id1500839292?i=1000752065662
                                                ^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
                                                show_id     track_id

Extract two values:

• show_id: The numeric ID after id in the URL path (e.g., 1500839292)
• track_id: The value of the ?i= query parameter (e.g., 1000752065662)

Both values are required. If the URL lacks ?i=, prompt the user to provide a URL that includes the episode-specific ?i= parameter, or use the iTunes Episode Lookup (Step 3a) to list recent episodes for the user to choose from.

Step 2: Get RSS Feed URL via iTunes Lookup API

Make a GET request:

GET https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id={show_id}

The response JSON contains a results array. The first result includes:

Field	Description
feedUrl	The podcast's RSS feed URL
collectionName	Podcast title
trackCount	Total episode count

Extract the feedUrl value for Step 3.

Example using curl:

curl -s "https://itunes.apple.com/lookup?id=1500839292" | jq '.results[0].feedUrl'

Step 3: Get Episode Audio URL