LoudSense · Reference
LUFS targets in 2026 — and what each platform really does with them.
Spotify turns quiet tracks up, Spotify has no podcast target, and a broadcaster does not turn your file down — it sends it back. The numbers every platform uses, what happens when you miss them, and where each number comes from.
Platforms change their numbers. This page lists the sources as read on 1 October 2026; where a platform publishes nothing, the figure is an industry measurement and is marked as such.
LUFS in one paragraph
LUFS (loudness units relative to full scale) measure how loud audio sounds, not how big the waveform is: the signal is filtered the way the ear weighs frequencies (ITU-R BS.1770 K-weighting), then averaged with gates that ignore silence and very quiet passages. Integrated loudness (LUFS-I) is one number for the whole file, and it is the number every platform target refers to. A difference of 1 LU is a difference of 1 dB in level.
True peak (dBTP) is the highest point of the reconstructed waveform between the samples, found by oversampling. It can sit above the highest sample (sample peak, dBFS), and it is what encoders and platforms react to — which is why every target below has a true-peak ceiling.
Music streaming
Normalisation is playback gain, not a penalty: a master louder than the target is turned down and nothing is lost. What differs is whether quiet tracks are turned up.
| Platform | Integrated | True peak | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify | −14 LUFS | −1 dBTP; −2 dBTP above −14 LUFS | Louder is turned down. Quieter is raised only as far as the peaks allow (to −1 dBTP); only Loud mode (−11) uses a limiter. Quiet mode plays at −19. |
| YouTube | −14 LUFS | −1 dBTP | Louder is turned down, quieter left as is. "Stable volume" can also level speech videos. |
| Apple Music | −16 LUFS | −1 dBTP | Sound Check turns down and up, as far as the peaks allow. Industry measurement; Apple publishes no number. |
| Amazon Music | −14 LUFS | −2 dBTP | Turned down only. Industry measurement. |
| Tidal | −14 LUFS | −1 dBTP | Turned down only, normalised per album. |
| Deezer | −15 LUFS | −1 dBTP | Normalisation always on. |
| SoundCloud, Bandcamp | — | under 0 dBTP | Played as uploaded. |
So "master to −14 or be penalised" is a myth. A −9 LUFS master on Spotify is simply turned down by 5 dB; all it loses is the dynamics its limiting cost it. A −20 LUFS master with peaks at −5 dBTP is raised by Spotify only to about −16, because its peaks would otherwise cross −1 dBTP.
Podcasts
| Target | Integrated | True peak | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple Podcasts | −16 LUFS ±1 | −1 dBTP | Apple’s published audio requirements |
| Podcast convention | −19 to −16 LUFS | −1 dBTP | Industry convention. Spotify’s podcast delivery spec has no loudness target |
Mono needs care. BS.1770 measures a mono file as one channel, and the same voice played on both speakers sounds 3 LU louder than the mono file measures — hence the old "−19 for mono" rule. Apple measures the file you deliver, so a mono MP3 at −19 reads too quiet, and raising it to −16 makes it play 3 dB hot on players that do not compensate. The safe route is a stereo (dual-mono) export at −16.
Audiobooks (ACX / Audible)
ACX does not use LUFS. Its spec is RMS between −23 and −18 dB, sample peaks no higher than −3 dBFS and a noise floor below −60 dB RMS, plus 1–5 seconds of room tone at head and tail and MP3 at 192 kbps or more. The noise floor is the most common reason for a rejection — and gain cannot fix it, so check it first.
Broadcast
A broadcaster does not normalise your file. A file outside the spec is out of spec and comes back.
| Standard | Integrated | True peak | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| EBU R128 | −23.0 LUFS ±0.5 | −1 dBTP | ±1 LU only where exact normalisation is impractical, e.g. live. |
| EBU R128 s1 | −23.0 LUFS | −1 dBTP | Ads, promos, trailers: short-term maximum −18 LUFS. |
| ATSC A/85 (US) | −24 LKFS ±2 | −2 dBTP | Full programme for commercials; long-form content is dialogue-anchored since A/85:2026. |
| Netflix | −27 LKFS ±2, dialogue-gated | −2 dBTP | Measured on the dialogue with a dialogue detector, not on the full mix. |
Why your MP3 clips when the master did not
Lossy encoders rebuild the waveform, and the rebuilt peaks overshoot. On a loud master limited to −1 dBTP we measured +1.7 to +2.8 dBTP after a 128 kbps MP3 encode and up to +1.4 dBTP after 256 kbps AAC — 2.4 to almost 4 dB of overshoot. Quieter, more dynamic material overshoots less. A −1 dBTP ceiling is a minimum for lossless delivery; for a low-bitrate MP3 leave more, and always measure the encoded file.
Sources
- Spotify for Artists, “Loudness normalization” (read 1 October 2026).
- Spotify Podcast Delivery Specification v1.10 (May 2025).
- Apple Podcasts for Creators, “Audio requirements”.
- ACX, “Audio submission requirements” (updated April 2026).
- EBU R 128 (2023), EBU R 128 s1, EBU Tech 3341 and Tech 3342.
- ATSC A/85:2026-07; Netflix Sound Mix Specifications.
- YouTube Help, “Stable volume”.
- ITU-R BS.1770 (loudness and true-peak measurement).
- Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer: published industry measurements; none has an official LUFS page.
Frequently asked
What LUFS should I master to for Spotify?
There is no number you must hit. Spotify plays at −14 LUFS: louder masters are turned down, quieter ones turned up only as far as their peaks allow. Keep true peak under −1 dBTP, or under −2 dBTP if the master is louder than −14 LUFS.
What is the podcast LUFS standard?
Apple asks for −16 LUFS ±1 with true peak under −1 dBTP. Spotify publishes no podcast loudness target; −19 to −16 LUFS is the common convention across apps.
Is LUFS the same as dB?
No. dBFS measures the level of the waveform; LUFS measure loudness as the ear weighs it, averaged over time with gates. A change of 1 LU is a change of 1 dB, but two files with the same peak can be many LU apart.
True peak or sample peak — which one counts?
True peak. The waveform between the samples can be higher than any sample, and encoders and platforms react to that higher value. A file with a sample peak of −0.2 dBFS can have a true peak above 0 dBTP.
LoudSense · Reference
Stop guessing what normalisation will do.
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