# Spotify Podcast Publishing Delay Report Issues in video podcast publishing and the resolution process. - **Source:** [Spotify Engineering](https://engineering.atspotify.com) - **Published:** 2026-07-20 - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/e2d09f9c-6ee8-4ae0-bc51-411329dbae0a ## The Start of the Issue Podcast creators on Spotify experienced delays in publishing video podcast episodes on June 24. This issue began when the video transcoding infrastructure reached maximum capacity. Episodes that normally publish within minutes were delayed for hours. Creators, noticing their episodes were not appearing, re-uploaded content, adding further strain to the system. ## Causes of the Issue Four main factors contributed to this situation: The transcoding infrastructure lacked sufficient capacity to handle large content spikes. A scheduled batch processing job consumed additional capacity. Recent quality improvements in video transcoding increased processing time. A software bug underutilized available compute resources. These factors combined to overwhelm the system. ## Resolution of the Issue Once the issue was identified, the batch job was stopped, and the software bug was fixed. Additional processing capacity was added overnight, and by the next morning, all backlogs were cleared. Spotify aims to be prepared for future traffic spikes by increasing transcoding capacity by approximately 67%. ## Monitoring and Notification Improvements Spotify is enhancing its monitoring systems to receive earlier alerts when capacity limits are approached. Additionally, it is improving notification processes to ensure creators learn about issues as soon as possible. This will allow creators to be informed before their audience notices any problems. ## Future Measures Spotify is taking various measures to improve the reliability of podcast publishing processes. These include better capacity planning, prioritization improvements in publishing systems, and rate-limiting mechanisms to manage unexpected loads. These measures aim to prevent similar issues in the future. ## Conclusion and Regaining Trust Spotify acknowledges losing creators' trust due to the issues experienced this summer. However, it aims to regain that trust through the measures and improvements implemented. Better management of the next incident will demonstrate that this report has achieved its purpose. ## Sources covering this story - https://engineering.atspotify.com/2026/7/content-ingestion-and-podcast-video-incident-report/ — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._