The Loudness Lookup

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.

Spotify streams in Ogg Vorbis at 96-320kbps depending on the user's quality setting. If your master exceeds -14 LUFS, keep true peak below -1 dBTP to avoid distortion during lossy encoding. The best approach is to master your track to whatever level serves the music, knowing that Spotify will adjust playback volume accordingly.

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. You can verify normalisation yourself by right-clicking any YouTube video, selecting "Stats for nerds", and checking the "Volume / Normalized" field.

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.

Apple Music streams standard quality as AAC 256kbps, with lossless options in ALAC up to 24-bit/192kHz and spatial audio via Dolby Atmos.

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.

Tidal streams in AAC up to 320kbps on standard tiers, FLAC 16-bit/44.1kHz for CD-quality (High), and FLAC up to 24-bit/192kHz for HiRes (Max). MQA was removed in July 2024. Tidal supports Dolby Atmos for spatial audio.

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). Amazon supports both Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio for spatial content across all subscription tiers.

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+). Unlike Spotify and Apple Music, SoundCloud allows direct file uploads rather than requiring distribution through an aggregator.

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.

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. Knowing the specs helps you understand what will happen to your music after upload - it doesn't dictate how you should make creative decisions.

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.

Since most TikTok playback happens on phone speakers with almost no bass response below 200Hz, mid-range clarity matters far more than hitting a specific LUFS number.

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. It's not a simple fixed LUFS target.

The safe approach is -14 LUFS integrated, -1 dBTP, with a focus on how your content sounds on a phone speaker.

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.

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.

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.

Keep true peak at -2 dBTP for dialogue-heavy content to survive lossy encoding without distortion.

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 - if there isn't enough dialogue for gating, Netflix falls back to -24 LKFS integrated measurement per ITU-R BS.1770.

Netflix requires 5.1 surround delivery, with stereo 2.0 (LoRo) as an optional additional deliverable and Dolby Atmos (minimum 7.1.4 bed) for immersive content. Streaming codecs include DD+ at 640kbps for 5.1 and DD+ JOC at 768kbps for Atmos. Crucially, Netflix does not compress, limit, or alter mixes that fall within spec.

It depends on the platform type. Music streaming platforms accept stereo masters - Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and others all work from a stereo file. Some music platforms also support Dolby Atmos spatial mixes (Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal).

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. Apple TV+ additionally supports 7.1.

For gaming, PlayStation 5 uses its Tempest 3D Audio engine, Xbox supports Dolby Atmos and Windows Sonic, and Nintendo Switch is limited to stereo in handheld mode with 5.1 via HDMI when docked.

EBU R128 is the European broadcast loudness standard. The target is -23 LUFS integrated with a tolerance of +/- 0.5 LU for pre-recorded content and +/- 1.0 LU for live broadcasts. True peak limit is -1 dBTP (-3 dBTP recommended for additional headroom during codec passes).

EBU R128 is legally mandated in several European countries including France and Spain. Unlike streaming platforms that simply adjust playback volume, broadcast non-compliance can result in regulatory complaints and fines. The standard uses ITU-R BS.1770 integrated measurement across the entire program.

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 / -12 dB RMS, but the real requirements are about frequency content: bass below 200Hz must be mono, sibilance needs careful de-essing, and heavy limiting is counterproductive.

Always provide a separate vinyl pre-master - not the same file as your streaming master.

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.

Film, TV, and broadcast standards tend to use LKFS because they reference the ITU-R BS.1770 standard directly, while music streaming platforms typically use LUFS. If your meter reads one and a spec sheet says the other, don't worry - they're interchangeable.

Integrated LUFS is the average loudness of your entire track from start to finish, using both an absolute gate at -70 LUFS and a relative gate at -10 LU below the ungated level to exclude silence from the measurement. 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.

When someone says "my master is -14 LUFS" without specifying, they mean integrated.

Integrated measurement (ITU-R BS.1770) measures loudness across the entire program, using built-in gating to exclude silence. This is the standard for music streaming and broadcast TV.

Dialogue-gated measurement uses Dolby Dialogue Intelligence to measure loudness only during detected dialogue sections - everything else (music, effects, ambience) is excluded. 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.

If a program doesn't contain enough dialogue for reliable gating, platforms typically fall back to standard integrated measurement.