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Loudness for streaming.

What platform normalization actually does, what the numbers mean, and how to make one master that works everywhere.

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What LUFS really means

LUFS tells you how loud something sounds, not how high its waveform jumps. The measurement filters the signal with K-weighting, which plays down the low end and highlights the 2–4 kHz range — the area where human hearing is at its most sensitive.

That's why two tracks that peak at exactly the same level can feel totally different in volume: one might be all bass and body, the other mostly voice. LUFS was built to capture that difference.

Three windows, three purposes

Loudness is measured over three different time windows. The integrated reading averages the entire song — it's the number streaming services use when they normalize. The short-term reading covers the last three seconds, so it reveals where a song swells or dips. The momentary reading is nearly instant, at about 400 milliseconds, and it's the one that catches transients before they slip by.

  • Integrated — the whole-song average, and the basis for platform normalization
  • Short-term — a rolling 3-second view of rises and dips
  • Momentary — a fast 400 ms snapshot for transient peaks

Watch true peak, not just the target

True peak (dBTP) is the actual highest point of the signal — including the overshoot that happens between samples during digital-to-analog conversion. Ordinary peak meters miss it, and lossy formats like AAC, MP3 and Ogg can push those hidden peaks past 0 dBFS, producing distortion that wasn't in the master.

The common professional guidance is to keep true peak at -1 dBTP or lower. That's the one loudness-related number worth treating as a hard rule, and a true-peak limiter at the end of the chain handles it in one move.

What each platform does with your master

Every service normalizes to a target, but they don't behave alike. Spotify, YouTube, TIDAL and Amazon Music aim for around -14 LUFS integrated, Apple Music uses -16 LUFS through its Sound Check, and Deezer lands in between at about -15. The bigger difference is direction: Spotify and Apple will raise a quiet track up to their target, while YouTube, Amazon and TIDAL only ever turn things down.

  • Spotify — -14 LUFS, raises quiet tracks and lowers loud ones
  • Apple Music — -16 LUFS via Sound Check, pure gain with no limiting
  • YouTube — -14 LUFS, only lowers loud material
  • TIDAL — -14 LUFS, only lowers, with album-level consistency
  • Amazon Music — -14 LUFS with a -2 dBTP ceiling, only lowers
  • Podcasts — Apple around -16 LUFS, Spotify around -14
  • Broadcast TV (EBU R128) — -23 LUFS with true peak at -1 dBTP

One sensible approach: master to what the music needs, hold true peak under -1 dBTP, and let the platforms adjust playback volume from there.

Make the music sound right first

Just because Spotify normalizes to -14 LUFS doesn't mean everything should be mastered to -14. Those specs describe what the platform does after you upload — they're not a target for how the record should sound.

A dense, loud song can stay dense and loud; the platform will simply play it back softer. A track that needs room to breathe can keep its dynamics. Great records have shipped at very different average levels because that's what the material demanded. The platforms handle the volume — you handle how it sounds.