RSS & Atom Feed Viewer
A feed is XML that a reader is supposed to interpret, and when a post does not show up, shows up twice, or sorts to the wrong place, the cause is in that XML rather than in the reader. This opens RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 and Atom, lists what is actually in them, and points at the things that break readers. Dates get the most attention, because the two formats disagree completely: RSS uses RFC 822 — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 09:30:00 +0900 — and Atom uses RFC 3339. Both are normalised to UTC here, including the obsolete alphabetic zones RFC 822 still allows, and a date that cannot be parsed is shown as unparsed rather than quietly replaced with today, which is what a reader that sorts by date will effectively do to it. The checks are the rest of the value: entries with no guid or id, two entries sharing one, a link that is relative and so resolves against the reader rather than your site, and a podcast enclosure with no length, which some clients need before they will download. Podcast fields are read as well — enclosure type and size, iTunes duration and author. One limit worth stating plainly: this cannot fetch a feed by URL. Everything runs in your browser, and a browser is not allowed to read another site's URL directly, so paste the XML or drop the file.
Paste the XML or drop the file — a page in your browser cannot fetch another site's feed, and doing it for you would mean routing your feed through a server.
Paste a feed or drop a file to read it.
How to use
- Paste the feed XML, or drop a .xml, .rss or .atom file.
- Check the format line: RSS 2.0, RSS 1.0 and Atom are all read.
- Read the checks — each one is a reason a reader misbehaves.
- Scan the entries: dates are normalised to UTC, and unparsed ones are marked.
- Copy the plain list of dates, titles and links if you need it elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions
- Why can't I just paste the feed's URL?
- Because the tool runs entirely in your browser, and a browser may not fetch another site's URL unless that site allows it. Fetching would mean a server in the middle, which would also mean your feed passing through someone else's machine. Open the feed in a tab, view source, and paste.
- Why do my posts show up in the wrong order?
- Almost always a date problem. RSS dates are RFC 822 and Atom's are RFC 3339, and a date in the wrong format, or with a zone a reader does not know, either fails to parse or lands in the wrong place. Anything this tool cannot parse is marked rather than guessed at.
- Why does a reader show the same post twice?
- Readers identify an entry by its guid or id. An entry without one gets identified by its link or content instead, so any edit makes it look new. Two entries sharing an id is the opposite problem, and hides one of them.
- What does an enclosure length matter for?
- Podcast clients use it to show a download size and to decide whether to fetch over mobile data. A missing or zero length is allowed by the spec but some clients refuse the episode, which is why it is checked here.
- Is content:encoded different from description?
- Yes. In RSS, description is often only a teaser and content:encoded holds the full HTML body. This shows content:encoded when it is present, since that is what a reader displays.
- Is my feed uploaded?
- No. It is parsed in your browser and nothing is sent anywhere.
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