Soundbites
A soundbite is a marked span of an episode — a start time and a duration declared with <podcast:soundbite> — that apps can play, share, or turn into a clip.
Why it matters
It is the cheapest possible clip format. No new audio file, no hosting, no re-encoding: the publisher points at a range inside the audio that already exists, and any app can cut it locally.
That makes the interesting part of an episode quotable, which is the thing podcasting has always been worst at compared to text or video.
How it works
<podcast:soundbite> is item-level and may appear many times per episode. startTime and duration are both required, in seconds with decimals allowed. The audio source is the item's enclosure — the tag never names a file of its own.
The element's text content is an optional title, capped at 128 characters so aggregators do not truncate it. The spec recommends soundbites of 15 to 120 seconds.
Related
- Chapters — divides the whole episode; a soundbite marks one interesting piece of it
Sources
- https://podcasting2.org/docs/podcast-namespace/tags/soundbite
- https://github.com/Podcastindex-org/podcast-namespace/blob/main/docs/tags/soundbite.md
Who implements it
17 of 136 apps in the Podcast Index directory
support Soundbite — 13%.
- Beamly
- Blubrry
- Buzzsprout
- Castopod
- Fireside
- Headliner
- JustCast
- Podcast Chapters
- Podcastindex
- Podhome
- Podhome Podcast Player
- Podverse
- and 5 more
From the Podcast Index apps directory, as of 2026-08-17.
Heard on the show
10 moments across 9 episodes.
-
E93 · 15 Jul 2022 · Motion of Positivity
- 1:35:45Sound Biterchapter
- Soundbitershow notes
-
E85 · 13 May 2022 · Loot The Room!
- 1:19:20Soundbitechapter
-
E26 · 26 Feb 2021 · Manning Battlestations
- Sound bite AIshow notes
-
E12 · 20 Nov 2020 · Breaking Code
- Soundbiteshow notes
-
E229 · 8 Aug 2025 · DataBase Story Time
- 1:12:18It was pulling all the soundbites from thetranscript
-
E220 · 9 May 2025 · Blame the Box!
- 45:51of soundbites in this feed.transcript
-
E30 · 26 Mar 2021 · Digital Abolitionists
- 27:11For the kritis the sound bites within the RSS feed itself. Sotranscript
-
E15 · 11 Dec 2020 · We're with the Band!
- 1:14:21Yeah, sound bites is an interesting one. Because in thetranscript
and 1 more episode, back to E14 (4 Dec 2020).
Show all 10 moments across 9 episodes
-
E229 · 8 Aug 2025 · DataBase Story Time
- 1:12:18It was pulling all the soundbites from thetranscript
-
E220 · 9 May 2025 · Blame the Box!
- 45:51of soundbites in this feed.transcript
-
E93 · 15 Jul 2022 · Motion of Positivity
- 1:35:45Sound Biterchapter
- Soundbitershow notes
-
E85 · 13 May 2022 · Loot The Room!
- 1:19:20Soundbitechapter
-
E30 · 26 Mar 2021 · Digital Abolitionists
- 27:11For the kritis the sound bites within the RSS feed itself. Sotranscript
-
E26 · 26 Feb 2021 · Manning Battlestations
- Sound bite AIshow notes
-
E15 · 11 Dec 2020 · We're with the Band!
- 1:14:21Yeah, sound bites is an interesting one. Because in thetranscript
-
E14 · 4 Dec 2020 · Stats and Facts
- 17:31talking about sound bites, whentranscript
-
E12 · 20 Nov 2020 · Breaking Code
- Soundbiteshow notes
From chapter titles, show notes, the PC 2.0 Timeline and the clip notes. Where those say nothing, from the episode transcript — which reaches further but only records that a word was said. 214 of 266 episodes have curated notes; 177 moments come from transcripts.