Other than these things, there are only minor differences between them. RSS uses the tag (or the content extension) which either contains XML-escaped HTML or the HTML unescaped in a tag. Atom uses the content tag with type=html containing XML escaped HTML. JSON uses the content_html key containing JSON escaped HTML.

All allow HTML markup, though they handle it differently.

While all of the formats require a unique identifier for each entry/item, Atom takes it a step further as it requires a unique identifier for every feed.

If you have a podcast, however, RSS is a must.

JSON feed is a newer feed format meaning that support for it might not be as broad as Atom or RSS.

One example of this is on podcast feeds which declare the iTunes podcast namespace, allowing for the use of tags. With Atom and RSS, you do this by declaring the namespace on the root element. In a JSON feed, this is done by adding an object with a key that starts with an underscore anywhere in a feed’s object.

All of these formats can be extended in some way.

Atom and RSS are based on XML while a JSON feed is based on, well, JSON.

While Atom, RSS and, JSON feeds accomplish the same thing, there are a few differences between them:

Google Trends for Atom, JSON, RSS and web feeds. I’ve used RSS to signify these formats since it’s a far more popular search term but I’ll refer to these technologies as web feeds in this article unless I’m referring to a specific format. JSONīelieve it or not, RSS is just one format among other types of syndicated web feeds. Let’s talk about the different kinds of feeds, how to implement them, and what strategies you can use to get the most out of your feed content.

That’s exactly what I’m going to walk you through in this article.

Whatever the case, RSS is a web technology like any other, and there are best practices for how to create and curate a feed. Or maybe you’re like Chris here at CSS-Tricks and still love RSS. Maybe you used to be an RSS fan and need to get re-acquainted with it. You may have heard whispers that “RSS in dead” around the web, but the truth is that they are still widely used as virtually every podcast uses one.

Rss feed example website