Can't import Google Podcasts OPML file

Just downloaded AntennaPod and it’s refusing to import my Google Podcasts OPML file. It just gives an error message saying:

"An error has occurred while reading the file. Make sure that you have actually selected an OPML file and that the file is valid.

Unterminated entity ref
(position:START_TAG @1:655 in
java.io.InputStreamReader@7a14c53)"

I have selected a valid OPML file (google-podcasts-subscriptions.opml). And that file is, actually, valid - it imports to other podcast apps no prob.

Can anyone please help me figure out what’s going on here?

I’d really love to use AntennaPod as my main podcast app, but not being able to import opml files is kind of a deal breaker.

Device: Samsung Galaxy A51, Android 13, unrooted, fully updated


Unfortunately, Google is known for exporting broken opml files. We had all kinds of format violations with their files already.

The error message prints the line that is not valid opml. It misses a slash before the closing >, like this: text="..." />. Some other apps have more workarounds to guess what broken opml files are actually supposed to say, which is why they do not complain. Unfortunately, accepting broken files creates a world of more and more broken files with more and more workarounds required.

You can open the file in a text editor and repair it manually by adding the slash. Probably needed in several lines.

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That’s really not convenient on Google’s behalf. Seesh.

If you do a Google Takeout on your Google Podcasts, do you get better output than Google Podcasts output?

Agreed, and reporting the broken OPML files to Google probably isn’t an option anymore since they are retiring Google Podcasts.

That said, I understand that people who had trouble and made another export later seem to have generally had success. I was fortunate to have success on my first attempt when I migrated from Google Podcasts to AntennaPod earlier this year.