Highlights & Clips

Share specific moments from your episodes — an interview, a segment, or any part of a broadcast — as a standalone link. Listeners hear just the highlight, not the full episode.

What are highlights?

A highlight is a link to a specific section of an episode. When a listener opens the link, the player jumps straight to the right moment and plays only the portion you've selected. This is perfect for:

• Sharing interviews on your website or social media
• Embedding key moments in blog posts or newsletters
• Promoting segments — "listen to this 5-minute interview" instead of linking a 2-hour episode
• Adding pre-roll ads to earn revenue on shared content

Creating highlights in the dashboard

The easiest way to create a highlight is from the Highlights tab on any episode page in your dashboard:

1. Go to an episode in your dashboard
2. Click the Highlights tab
3. Play the episode using the audio player and find the moment you want
4. Click "Set to current" next to Start time when you reach the beginning of the highlight
5. Keep playing and click "Set to current" next to End time when the highlight ends
6. Optionally add a custom title, image, or pre-roll ad URL
7. Copy the generated link

You can preview the clip before sharing by clicking "Preview clip" or "Open in Player".

Creating highlights manually

You can also build highlight links programmatically — for example, from your website's CMS or a script. The link is a standard URL with query parameters.

URL format

https://player.autopod.xyz/app/{your-station-slug}/?timestamp=EPOCH&offset=SECONDS&endtime=SECONDS

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description
timestamp	Yes	The Unix epoch timestamp of when the episode started recording. This is the datetime field on the episode.
offset	Yes	How many seconds into the episode to start playing.
endtime	Yes	How many seconds into the episode to stop playing.
title	No	A custom title to show in the player instead of the episode name. Must be URL-encoded.
image	No	A URL to a custom image to show in the player instead of the episode artwork. Must be URL-encoded.
preroll	No	A URL to an audio file (MP3 or WAV) to play as a pre-roll ad before the highlight starts. Must be URL-encoded.

Example

An interview that starts 31 minutes into a broadcast and lasts 10 minutes:

https://player.autopod.xyz/app/my-station/?timestamp=1774166400&offset=1860&endtime=2460&title=Interview%20with%20Jane

• timestamp=1774166400 — the episode started at this Unix time
• offset=1860 — start 31 minutes in (31 × 60 = 1860 seconds)
• endtime=2460 — stop at 41 minutes (41 × 60 = 2460 seconds)
• title=Interview%20with%20Jane — show this title instead of the episode name

With a pre-roll ad and custom image

https://player.autopod.xyz/app/my-station/?timestamp=1774166400&offset=1860&endtime=2460&title=Interview%20with%20Jane&image=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Finterview.jpg&preroll=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fad.mp3

How it works

When a listener opens a highlight link:

1. The player finds the episode that was airing at the given timestamp
2. If a pre-roll ad URL is provided, a "Play Highlight" button is shown — the listener taps it, the ad plays, then the episode starts
3. The player seeks to the offset position
4. The scrubber shows the clip duration (e.g., 0:00 to 10:00), not the full episode length
5. Playback stops automatically when the end time is reached
6. If a custom title or image was provided, they replace the episode's defaults

Finding the timestamp and offset

Every AutoPod episode has a datetime field — this is the Unix timestamp when the recording started. You can find it:

• In the dashboard — the Highlights tab shows the episode's start time and calculates everything for you
• Via the API — the GET /v1/episodes endpoint returns datetime for each episode
• From the episode title — AutoPod episode titles end with a date/time suffix (e.g., "Morning Show - 2026-03-22 08:00:00")

The offset is simply how many seconds into the episode your highlight starts. If the episode started at 08:00 and the interview began at 08:31, the offset is 1860 (31 minutes × 60 seconds).

How episode matching works

When you provide a timestamp, the player needs to find the right episode. Here's how it decides:

Exact match

The player first looks for an episode whose recording window covers the target moment (timestamp + offset). For example, if the timestamp is 08:00 and the offset is 1860 seconds (31 minutes), it looks for an episode that was recording at 08:31.

Overlapping episodes

If multiple episodes cover the same moment (e.g. two shows recorded at the same time), the player picks the episode whose start time is closest to your timestamp value. This means the timestamp parameter acts as a hint — set it to the start time of the broadcast you want, and the player will prefer that episode even if others overlap.

Approximate timestamps

If no episode exactly covers the target moment (e.g. there's a gap between recordings, or the timestamp is slightly off), the player finds the closest episode to the target time — before or after. This means you don't need a perfectly exact timestamp. If you're a few minutes out, the player will still find the right episode.

Seek clamping

If the calculated seek position would go past the end of the episode (e.g. the offset is larger than the episode duration), the player clamps it to the end of the episode rather than failing.

In practice

For most stations, the timestamp will match a single episode exactly — your recordings are continuous and don't overlap. The fuzzy matching is there as a safety net so that highlights always work, even if the timing isn't perfect.

Tips

• You don't need exact timestamps — the player will find the closest episode if you're a few minutes off. But more precise timestamps give better results.
• URL-encode special characters in the title — spaces become %20, apostrophes become %27. Most programming languages and CMS tools do this automatically.
• Test your links before sharing — use the "Open in Player" button in the dashboard or paste the URL in a browser.
• Pre-roll ads require a direct link to an audio file (MP3 or WAV). The file must be publicly accessible.
• Custom images should be square (1:1 aspect ratio) for best results. Use JPEG or PNG format.
• The player handles everything — you don't need to host or modify the player. Just construct the URL and share it.