RSS & Atom FAQ

RSSAtom is a web-based reader for RSS and Atom feeds. You can enter a feed URL or a normal website address on the Feed Reader page and read the detected feed directly in your browser.

An RSS feed is a standardized XML-based format that websites use to provide current content such as news, blog posts, articles or podcast entries.

Atom is also an XML-based feed format and, like RSS, is used to provide current content in a structured, machine-readable form.

RSS and Atom are different technical formats for publishing feed content. RSS is older and very widespread; Atom is more strictly defined in some areas. RSSAtom can read both formats.

No. RSSAtom runs in the browser. You do not need to register, install a separate reader or create a user account.

Yes. RSSAtom can be used free of charge directly in the browser. No registration or installation is required.

Many websites provide an RSS or Atom feed. You do not always need to know the exact feed address: enter the normal website address in RSSAtom and RSSAtom will try to detect available feeds automatically. If you already know the direct feed URL, you can enter that too.

The direct feed URL is usually the most precise choice. A normal website address is useful if you do not know the exact feed address yet.

RSSAtom uses the feed it can detect for the entered address. Some websites offer separate feeds for posts, comments, categories or products, so using the exact feed URL can be more precise.

RSSAtom can indicate that no readable entries were found. A feed may be completely valid but currently empty. Depending on the source, there may also be a temporary problem or an invalid feed response.

No. If the protocol is missing, RSSAtom can add it automatically and then try to load the target address.

A website may not provide a feed, may block automated requests, may be unreachable, may return an unsupported file type or may contain feed links that are not usable from outside.

RSSAtom shows feed information such as title, description, feed type, encoding and language. It also lists the available feed entries with information supplied by the feed, such as title, description, date, author or category where available.

For longer feeds, RSSAtom first shows 20 entries. This keeps the page faster and easier to scan. More entries can be loaded in 20-entry batches with the load-more button.

Yes, if image URLs are present in the feed and can be displayed safely, RSSAtom can include those images in the reader output.

RSSAtom resolves relative links and image addresses against the feed or website URL where possible, so entries still point to usable absolute URLs.

RSSAtom uses charset detection and conversion so feeds using UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, Windows-1252 and common encoding variants can be displayed as cleanly as possible.

No. RSSAtom localizes its own interface and system messages, but external feed titles, descriptions and entries stay in the language and wording provided by the feed.

RSSAtom uses a server-side feed parser and project-specific checks to read RSS and Atom feeds. RSSAtom also handles feed discovery, normalization and safe display of feed content.

Open a feed and click the star next to the feed title. This saves the feed in this browser under “My Feeds”. Clicking the star again removes it.

Saved feeds are stored locally in the browser storage of the browser you are currently using. RSSAtom does not create a personal server-side feed list for you.

Yes. You can export them from your saved feed collection and import them again later. This makes a backup possible, and the list can be transferred to another browser or used with compatible RSS readers. Because the feed collection is stored locally in the browser, it can be lost if browser or website data is deleted. It is therefore recommended to export the feed collection from time to time. No user account is created and there is still no server-side synchronization.

No. There is no RSSAtom user account and no synchronization between browsers or devices. A feed saved in one browser is not automatically available somewhere else.

When you open the local feed collection, RSSAtom checks the locally saved feeds in this browser in the background. The “Check for new content” button starts this check manually again. If the latest entry or the feed content has changed, the feed is marked with a visible notice.

Feeds with new or recently changed content appear higher in “My Feeds”. This makes it easier to see which feeds have something new.

The Latest Feed Requests page lists recently and successfully checked public feed sources with general metadata. It helps users discover working feed examples. The “Open RSS/XML feed” button opens the machine-readable RSS version of this overview for feed readers and other tools. Depending on the browser or feed reader, this XML feed may be displayed directly or handled like a feed/download file.

No. RSSAtom may use technical caches and keeps only a limited public overview of recent unique successful public feed sources. It is not a permanent archive of every request, and not every feed read in the normal reader is added there.

Yes. RSSAtom can reject technically problematic or security-restricted targets. This helps prevent unsafe or unsuitable requests.