What is the difference between RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0?

Both are XML syndication formats. RSS 2.0 is simpler and uses RFC 822 dates, but its spec leaves many things optional. Atom 1.0 is an IETF standard with stricter requirements: every entry needs an id, title and updated timestamp using RFC 3339 dates.

Which elements are required in an RSS 2.0 channel?

A channel must have title, link and description. Each item should have at least a title or a description. Everything else, including pubDate and guid, is optional but strongly recommended for readers.

Why does my feed need an atom:self link?

A rel="self" link pointing at the feed's own URL helps aggregators and validators locate the canonical feed. In RSS it is added from the Atom namespace; in Atom it is a native link element. It is optional but recommended.

What date format should feeds use?

RSS 2.0 uses RFC 822 dates like Wed, 02 Oct 2002 13:00:00 GMT. Atom 1.0 uses RFC 3339 / ISO 8601 like 2002-10-02T13:00:00Z. Mixing them up is a common validation error.

What content type should I serve a feed with?

Serve RSS as application/rss+xml and Atom as application/atom+xml. Both can also be served as application/xml or text/xml, but the specific types help clients auto-discover and label the feed.

RSS / Atom Feed Formats Reference

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RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 at a glance

Web feeds let readers and aggregators subscribe to a site’s updates. Two formats dominate: RSS 2.0, the simpler and older syndication dialect, and Atom 1.0, the stricter IETF standard. This reference lists the common elements of both, flags which are required, and shows whether each lives at the feed level or the per-item level.

How it works

A feed is an XML document with a single feed-level container holding metadata plus a repeating per-item container:

<rss version="2.0">
  <channel>
    <title>Example</title>
    <link>https://example.com</link>
    <description>Latest posts</description>
    <item>
      <title>Post</title>
      <guid isPermaLink="false">tag:example.com,2026:1</guid>
      <pubDate>Wed, 02 Oct 2002 13:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
    </item>
  </channel>
</rss>

In Atom the container is feed with repeated entry elements, and the required fields are stricter: id, title and updated are mandatory on both the feed and every entry. Dates differ too — RSS uses RFC 822, Atom uses RFC 3339.

Tips and notes

Always include a stable guid (RSS) or id (Atom) so readers de-duplicate entries.
Podcasts attach media with an RSS enclosure carrying url, length and type.
Add a rel="self" link so validators and aggregators find the canonical feed URL.
Set the correct content type: application/rss+xml or application/atom+xml.