Episode Editor — Media
The Media section of the episode editor collects the audio and video URLs for an episode, plus per-tier audio variant overrides for shows with paid subscription tiers.
Audio File URL
The primary audio file for the episode. Paste the full URL to the hosted audio file — Benecaster links to this file rather than hosting it.
This is the base audio URL: the fallback that plays for any tier not covered by a specific variant (see Tier Audio Variants below). Every episode must have a base audio URL for the episode to appear in any subscriber’s feed.
Supported: MP3, AAC, M4A, OGG, OPUS, and any other audio MIME type your podcast host serves. The URL must be publicly accessible so podcast apps can fetch it.
Video URL
The video file URL for the episode, if applicable. Used when the episode type is set to Video in Show Settings. Like the audio URL, this is a link to a hosted file — Benecaster does not store the file.
When both an audio URL and a video URL are set, the feed uses the video URL if the show’s episode type is Video; otherwise the audio URL is used.
Tier Audio Variants
The Tier Audio Variants section appears below the base audio URL field. It is only visible on shows that have at least one paid subscription tier configured.
Tier audio variants let you provide a different audio file for each paid tier on your show. A common use case: hosting public and paid versions of an episode — the public tier gets a 5-minute preview; paid tiers get the full episode — without maintaining two separate episode records.
How It Works
Each paid tier in your show’s tier hierarchy gets its own URL input field. The fields are displayed in tier order from highest (most expensive) to lowest.
The cascade-up algorithm fills in gaps: if a tier has no variant URL set, Benecaster uses the variant from the next lower tier that does have one. If no lower tier has a variant, Benecaster falls back to the base audio URL. This means you only need to set variants for the tiers that actually differ — you don’t have to fill in every field.
A placeholder in each field shows the URL that would be served to that tier if the field is left blank: either the cascade-resolved variant URL or the base audio URL. The placeholder updates live as you fill in (or clear) other fields, so you can see the cascade resolution at a glance.
A helper text line below each field shows which tier the cascade resolves to when the field is blank. For example: “Falls through to: Free tier (base audio)” or “Falls through to: Basic tier variant.”
Variant Fields
Each tier’s variant row has one field:
- URL — the audio file URL for this tier. Leave blank to use the cascade-resolved URL from a lower tier (or the base audio URL if none exist).
When a variant URL is set and a subscriber in that tier downloads the episode, Benecaster serves that variant URL through the download proxy. The download log records which tier’s variant was served in the variant_slug column — used for per-tier attribution in analytics.
Clearing Variants
Setting a tier’s URL field to blank removes the variant for that tier. On save, Benecaster removes the entry from the episode’s stored variant data and the cascade-up algorithm takes over on the next feed request.
To remove all variants and revert to base audio for all tiers, clear every tier URL field and save.
See Also
- Setting Tier Availability — controlling when each tier can access an episode
- Your RSS Feeds — how feeds are compiled and delivered
- Episodes Overview — the full episode data model