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.

What is the RSS / Atom Feed Formats Reference?

Searchable RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 element reference showing the required flag, channel/feed versus item/entry level, content model and date format for every common feed element. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

RSS / Atom Feed Formats Reference

Name: RSS / Atom Feed Formats Reference
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Get one useful tool a week

Like this tool? Enter your email and we'll send you one genuinely useful Gera tool a week — plus a link to come back to this one. No spam, one-click unsubscribe any time.

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.

RSS 2.0 versus Atom 1.0 — key differences

Concern	RSS 2.0	Atom 1.0
Standard body	Not IETF; community spec	IETF RFC 4287
Date format	RFC 822 (`Wed, 02 Oct 2002 13:00:00 GMT`)	RFC 3339 (`2002-10-02T13:00:00Z`)
Per-item ID	`guid` (optional, but strongly recommended)	`id` (required)
Content	`description` (no explicit type)	`content` with explicit `type` attribute
Minimal channel	`title`, `link`, `description`	`id`, `title`, `updated`, `link rel=self`
Self-link	Via `atom:link` namespace extension	Native `link` element

Choose RSS 2.0 when you need maximum reader compatibility and a simple podcast feed. Choose Atom 1.0 when you need a stricter, standards-compliant feed or when your publisher enforces IETF compliance.

Common mistakes to avoid

Mixing date formats — RFC 822 in an Atom feed, or RFC 3339 in RSS, causes validation errors and reader breakage.
Omitting guid in RSS — without a stable identifier, readers cannot de-duplicate entries when you correct a title or URL.
Not serving the right Content-Type — send application/rss+xml or application/atom+xml, not text/html, so clients auto-discover the feed.
Missing rel="self" — aggregators and the W3C feed validator look for this link to confirm the canonical feed URL.
Podcast enclosures missing length — the enclosure element requires url, type, and length (in bytes); omitting length breaks some podcast clients even though readers tolerate it.

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.
Use the W3C Feed Validation Service to catch schema errors before publishing.