System Online
Free Tool
Module Loudness Lookup
Output LUFS Targets
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// Free Tool — Loudness

LUFS Loudness Standards

Search loudness targets, true-peak limits, codecs, and normalisation specs for Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Netflix, and 50+ more platforms.

The Loudness Lookup

Platform specs, normalisation behaviour, and what actually happens to your master.

LUFS in 60 seconds

LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) measures how loud something sounds to a human - not just how high the waveform peaks. You'll also see LKFS (Loudness, K-weighted, relative to Full Scale) throughout the film, TV and broadcast sections - it's the exact same measurement, just a different naming convention used by the ITU broadcast standard. It uses K-weighting, which rolls off low frequencies and boosts the 2-4kHz range our ears are most sensitive to. This is why a bass-heavy track and a vocal-heavy track can hit the same peak level but sound completely different in loudness.

Streaming platforms use LUFS to normalise playback so listeners don't have to constantly adjust their volume between songs. Some platforms only turn loud masters down. Others also boost quiet ones up. The cards below tell you exactly what each platform does.
Integrated
Average loudness of the entire track, built from momentary readings. This is what streaming platforms use for normalisation. When someone says "my master is -14 LUFS" they mean integrated.
Short-term
Loudness over a 3-second window. Useful for spotting sections that spike too loud or drop too quiet. Some broadcast standards set short-term limits for ads.
Momentary
Loudness over a 400ms window. The fastest LUFS reading - reacts almost in real time. Good for catching transient peaks that integrated won't show you.
True Peak (dBTP)
The actual highest peak including what happens between samples during D/A conversion. Regular peak meters miss inter-sample peaks - dBTP catches them. Critical because lossy encoding (AAC, MP3, Ogg) can push peaks above 0dB and cause distortion.

Want more detail? See the FAQ section below the tool.

Music Streaming
-14 / -16
LUFS integrated
Film / TV Streaming
-27
LKFS dialogue-gated
Broadcast TV
-23 / -24
LKFS integrated
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What Every Producer Should Know About Loudness Standards

LUFS targets, normalisation behaviour and why the numbers don't matter as much as you think

How LUFS Loudness Standards Actually Work

Every platform in the tool above handles loudness differently, but they all use the same underlying measurement: LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale). Unlike peak meters, which only show how high a waveform spikes, LUFS measures how loud something sounds to a human ear. It uses K-weighting, which rolls off low frequencies and boosts the 2-4kHz range where our hearing is most sensitive. This is why a bass-heavy track and a vocal-heavy track can hit the same peak level but feel completely different in volume.

Streaming platforms adopted LUFS-based normalisation so listeners wouldn't need to reach for the volume knob between every song. Before normalisation, the only way to compete for attention on a playlist was to master louder than the track before you. That race to the top - the loudness war - produced some of the most fatiguing masters in recording history. Normalisation didn't end the loudness war, but it removed the incentive.

The Three Loudness Clusters You Need to Know

Across 50+ platforms, loudness standards fall into three clusters. Once you understand these, the rest is detail.

Music streaming: -14 to -16 LUFS

Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, and Tidal all normalise to -14 LUFS integrated. Apple Music uses -16 LUFS via Sound Check. Deezer sits between them at -15 LUFS. These are the numbers most musicians, producers, and mastering engineers encounter daily. The important distinction is what each platform does with your master: Spotify and Apple Music will boost quiet tracks up to their target. YouTube, Amazon, and Tidal only turn loud tracks down - they never boost. That behavioural difference matters more than the number itself.

Film and TV streaming: -27 LKFS

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO/Max all target -27 LKFS using dialogue-gated measurement. Loudness is only measured during sections where dialogue is detected, so an action sequence with no talking doesn't affect your reading. This is fundamentally different from music streaming, where integrated measurement covers the entire track. Film mixes live at much lower average levels because they need room for dynamic range - a whispered conversation needs to coexist with an explosion in the same program.

Broadcast TV: -23 to -24 LKFS

In Europe, EBU R128 sets the target at -23 LUFS. In the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, and China, broadcast standards target -24 LKFS under frameworks like ATSC A/85 and Free TV OP-59. Unlike streaming platforms where normalisation is just a software policy, many broadcast loudness standards are legally enforced. The US CALM Act exists because viewers were tired of commercials blasting at twice the volume of the program. In France and Spain, EBU R128 compliance is mandatory by law.

Why You Shouldn't Master to a LUFS Target

This is the most common misconception. Knowing that Spotify normalises to -14 LUFS does not mean you should master every track to -14 LUFS. These platform specs are information about what happens after you upload - they're not creative instructions.

If your track needs to be loud and dense - if pushing into a limiter generates interesting harmonics or adds energy - do it. The platform will simply turn it down. If your track needs dynamics and space, leave them in. Plenty of great masters sit at -8 LUFS because that's what the music called for. The platforms handle the volume. Your job is to make it sound right.

The one spec that does matter creatively is true peak. Most platforms recommend -1 dBTP or -2 dBTP. Exceeding this causes inter-sample peaks that clip during lossy encoding (AAC, MP3, Ogg Vorbis), producing audible distortion that wasn't in your master. A true peak limiter on your master bus solves this.

Podcasts, Social Media, and the Platforms That Don't Publish Specs

Podcast mastering is a different discipline from music mastering. You're optimising for intelligibility, not musicality. Apple Podcasts (-16 LUFS) is the dominant standard. Spotify uses -14 LUFS for podcasts. If you only want one master, -16 LUFS, -1 dBTP is the universal safe choice.

Social platforms are less straightforward. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, X/Twitter, and Twitch have never published official LUFS targets. Every number you see online for these platforms is an educated guess. Meta uses xHE-AAC with dynamic loudness management that adapts to playback context. Twitch applies no normalisation at all. The practical reality for short-form content: most playback happens on phone speakers with minimal bass response below 200Hz, so mid-range clarity matters more than any LUFS number.

Physical Media, Gaming, and Everything Else

Vinyl, CD, and cassette tape don't use LUFS normalisation. What you put on the medium is what the listener gets. Vinyl has physical constraints - mono bass below 200Hz, sibilance control, groove geometry - that require a dedicated pre-master. CD has no loudness rules at all, which is why it was ground zero for the loudness war. If you're releasing on physical media, talk to your manufacturer about what their process needs.

Game audio follows the ASWG-R001 recommendations: -24 LKFS for home consoles (PlayStation, Xbox) and -18 LKFS for portable devices. The Nintendo Switch is uniquely both - docked follows home spec, handheld follows portable. Unlike linear media, game loudness varies based on player actions, making integrated measurement less predictable.

For full specs on every platform - including codec, bitrate, delivery format, spatial audio support, and source documentation - use the interactive Loudness Lookup above. If you're working on compression and dynamics alongside loudness, the Compressor Calculator and Compression Visualiser cover the other half of the mastering chain. And if you have a specific mixing or mastering question, ask my AI tutor - it's built from 10 years of teaching experiece.

// FAQ

FAQ

What LUFS should I master to for Spotify?
Spotify normalises to -14 LUFS integrated by default. But that doesn't mean you should master TO -14 LUFS. Spotify has three user-selectable modes: Quiet (-19 LUFS), Normal (-14 LUFS), and Loud (-11 LUFS). If your master is louder than the user's chosen target, Spotify turns it down with a simple gain reduction - no processing, no limiting. If it's quieter, Spotify boosts it, but won't push it past what the headroom allows. The best approach is to master your track to whatever level serves the music, knowing that Spotify will adjust playback volume accordingly.
What LUFS does YouTube use?
YouTube normalises to -14 LUFS integrated, but with one important difference from Spotify: YouTube only turns loud content down. It does not boost quiet content. If your master sits at -18 LUFS, YouTube will play it at -18 LUFS while everything else plays at -14. Standard YouTube video streams audio as AAC at just 128kbps - surprisingly low compared to other platforms. YouTube Music bumps this to AAC 256kbps.
What LUFS should I use for Apple Music?
Apple Music uses Sound Check at -16 LUFS, which is enabled by default on new installs. Apple's approach is the most transparent of all major platforms - it applies pure gain adjustment only and never uses limiting or compression. If boosting a quiet track would cause clipping, Apple simply won't boost it all the way to -16. Your dynamics are preserved exactly as mastered.
What LUFS does Tidal use?
Tidal normalises to -14 LUFS integrated and only turns loud content down - it won't boost quiet masters. Tidal also applies album-level normalisation, meaning it measures the loudest track on an album and applies a consistent offset to all tracks so the artist's intended dynamics between songs are preserved.
What LUFS does Amazon Music use?
Amazon Music normalises to -14 LUFS integrated with a -2 dBTP true peak limit, and only turns loud content down. Like YouTube, it won't boost quiet masters. Amazon streams at MP3 320kbps (standard), FLAC 16-bit/44.1kHz (HD), and FLAC up to 24-bit/192kHz (Ultra HD).
What LUFS does SoundCloud use?
SoundCloud's normalisation behaviour is not officially confirmed. Testing suggests it targets approximately -14 LUFS and transcodes uploads to Opus 64kbps (free) or AAC 256kbps (Go+). Because of the aggressive lossy encoding on free-tier playback, keeping true peak at -1 dBTP or lower is important to avoid distortion during transcoding.
Should I master to -14 LUFS?
Not necessarily. The goal of loudness normalisation was never to force mastering engineers toward a specific level. It exists so listeners don't have to constantly adjust volume between tracks. Master your music to whatever level serves the song. If it needs to be loud and dense, push it. If it needs dynamics, leave them in. The platforms will handle the rest.
Does TikTok normalise audio?
TikTok has never published an official LUFS target or documented their normalisation behaviour. Every number you see online (usually -14 LUFS) is an educated guess based on testing, not an official spec. TikTok does appear to apply some form of loudness management to prevent overloud content, but the specifics are unknown.
What LUFS should I use for Instagram Reels?
Like TikTok, Instagram has no published LUFS target. Meta confirmed in 2023 that they use xHE-AAC with integrated loudness management that adapts to playback context - headphones versus speakers versus background noise. The safe approach is -14 LUFS integrated, -1 dBTP, with a focus on how your content sounds on a phone speaker.
Does Twitch normalise audio?
No. Twitch applies zero loudness normalisation to live streams or VODs. What the streamer sends is exactly what the viewer hears. This is why loudness varies so wildly between Twitch channels - there's no platform-level correction. If you're streaming, aim for -14 LUFS on your main output bus and use a loudness meter plugin in OBS to monitor levels in real time.
Does Vimeo normalise audio?
Vimeo has not published a LUFS target or confirmed any loudness normalisation. Their guidelines only cover codec and sample rate. Since Vimeo likely plays content at the uploaded level, your master level IS the playback level. The AES recommends -16 LUFS, -1 dBTP for non-broadcast web content, which is a solid target for Vimeo uploads.
What LUFS should podcasts be mastered to?
Apple Podcasts recommends -16 LUFS, -1 dBTP. Spotify uses -14 LUFS for podcasts (same as music). If you only want one podcast master, target -16 LUFS, -1 dBTP - it's the most widely referenced standard and won't be penalised on any platform.
What are the Netflix audio specs?
Netflix uses -27 LKFS with dialogue gating (Dolby Dialogue Intelligence), true peak limit of -2 dBTP, and a recommended loudness range of 4-18 LU. The dialogue gating means loudness is only measured during sections where dialogue is present. Netflix requires 5.1 surround delivery, with stereo 2.0 as an optional additional deliverable and Dolby Atmos for immersive content.
What delivery formats do streaming platforms need?
Music streaming platforms accept stereo masters. Some also support Dolby Atmos spatial mixes. Film and TV streaming is more complex: Netflix requires 5.1 surround with optional Atmos and stereo deliverables. Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, HBO/Max, and Apple TV+ all accept stereo, 5.1, and Dolby Atmos.
What are the EBU R128 specs?
EBU R128 is the European broadcast loudness standard. The target is -23 LUFS integrated with a tolerance of plus or minus 0.5 LU for pre-recorded content and plus or minus 1.0 LU for live broadcasts. True peak limit is -1 dBTP. EBU R128 is legally mandated in several European countries including France and Spain.
What LUFS do I need for vinyl?
LUFS doesn't apply to vinyl - it's an analogue cutting process with no digital normalisation. Your cutting engineer controls the final level at the lathe. The practical upper limit is around -12 LUFS, but the real requirements are about frequency content: bass below 200Hz must be mono, sibilance needs careful de-essing, and heavy limiting is counterproductive.
What's the difference between LUFS and LKFS?
They're the same measurement with different names. LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) and LKFS (Loudness, K-weighted, relative to Full Scale) are numerically identical. LUFS is the European/EBU convention. LKFS is the ITU/American convention. -14 LUFS equals -14 LKFS.
What's the difference between integrated, short-term, and momentary LUFS?
Integrated LUFS is the average loudness of your entire track from start to finish. This is what streaming platforms use for normalisation. Short-term LUFS measures a 3-second window and is useful for spotting sections that spike or drop. Momentary LUFS measures a 400-millisecond window - the fastest reading, almost real-time.
What's the difference between dialogue-gated and integrated measurement?
Integrated measurement measures loudness across the entire program, using built-in gating to exclude silence. Dialogue-gated measurement uses Dolby Dialogue Intelligence to measure loudness only during detected dialogue sections. Film and TV streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and HBO/Max use dialogue gating because it better represents the perceived loudness of dialogue-driven content.
// Master with intent

The Compression Code

Loudness is the last step. Learn to make compression decisions by ear so your mix is ready to hit any target without getting squashed.

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