Loudness for streaming platforms: −14 LUFS, −1 dBTP true peak and normalization
Almost every major streaming service normalizes loudness: loud tracks are turned down, and some services turn quiet ones up. That’s why “louder than the competition” doesn’t work in 2026 the way it did in the CD era. Let’s look at the targets each platform uses, which of them are official and which come from measurements, and how to choose the loudness of your master.
In short
- Normalization compares a track’s integrated loudness (LUFS) with the platform’s target level and changes the gain.
- Spotify officially normalizes to −14 LUFS and recommends keeping true peak no higher than −1 dBTP.
- Apple Music with Sound Check aims at roughly −16 LUFS; YouTube at about −14 LUFS, and it only turns tracks down.
- Yandex Music doesn’t publish a target level — it’s safe to aim for the same −14 LUFS and −1 dBTP.
- Master loudness is an artistic decision, but an over-compressed track sounds quieter and flatter after normalization.
Contents
How loudness normalization works
The platform measures the track’s integrated loudness — the average perceived loudness over the whole duration, per the ITU-R BS.1770 standard, in LUFS. Then it compares it with its target level and changes the gain on playback. The file itself isn’t remastered: only the volume it plays at changes.
Example: a track at −8 LUFS with a −14 LUFS target will be turned down by 6 dB. A track at −18 LUFS may be turned up by 4 dB, if the platform’s algorithm works that way and the peaks have room to grow.
Two things are worth understanding. Normalization doesn’t make a track worse and doesn’t add compression — it just evens out the levels so the listener doesn’t have to ride the volume knob between songs. And it can almost always be switched off in the app settings, so some listeners will hear the master as it is anyway.
What the platforms do
| Platform | Target | What’s known |
|---|---|---|
| Spotify | −14 LUFS | Official. Premium has “Loud” (−11 LUFS) and “Quiet” (−19 LUFS) modes. Quiet tracks are turned up, but with peak headroom; the recommendation is a true peak no higher than −1 dBTP, and no higher than −2 dBTP for masters louder than −14 LUFS. |
| YouTube and YouTube Music | ≈ −14 LUFS | No official figure. Measurements show loud videos are turned down to about −14 LUFS; quiet ones aren’t turned up. |
| Apple Music | −16 LUFS | The Sound Check feature. The target is around −16 LUFS, per Apple’s materials for audio engineers and independent measurements. Apple recommends leaving true peak headroom. Sound Check can be switched off in the settings. |
| Yandex Music | not published | There’s no official data on the target level or the algorithm. Follow the general recommendations: −14 LUFS and −1 dBTP. |
| Tidal | −14 LUFS | Normalizes tracks and whole albums, keeping the loudness differences between the songs of an album. |
| Deezer | ≈ −15 LUFS | Per the platform and measurements; details of the algorithm are published sparingly. |
You can work out how many decibels each platform will change your particular track by in the “Loudness on Spotify and other platforms” tool. The Stream-Q report shows the same as a line like “Spotify: −5.4 dB” — the track will be turned down by 5.4 decibels.
Spotify in more detail
Spotify is the most transparent platform here: the rules are described in its section for artists. The default level is −14 LUFS. When you listen to a whole album, the entire album gets a single adjustment, so a quiet interlude stays quiet relative to the tracks around it.
- Loud tracks are simply turned down — with no loss other than the dynamics the master already gave up.
- Quiet tracks are turned up, but only so far that the peaks don’t go above roughly −1 dBTP. If a quiet master has high peaks, the boost will be limited.
- “Loud” mode raises everything to −11 LUFS and turns on a limiter. It’s the listener’s choice; you don’t need to master for it.
YouTube, Apple Music and Yandex Music
YouTube doesn’t publish a target level, but the behavior is easy to see for yourself: the “Stats for nerds” menu has a volume line with a content loudness value. If it’s positive, the video is louder than the reference and is being turned down. Quiet videos aren’t turned up, so a master that’s too quiet will stay quiet on YouTube.
Apple Music uses Sound Check with a target of around −16 LUFS. Quiet tracks can only be turned up within the peak headroom. Apple also recommends leaving true peak headroom, because tracks are encoded to AAC.
Yandex Music doesn’t disclose the level or standard it normalizes to, or whether normalization is on for every listener in the same way. Behavior may have differed between app versions. We won’t quote a figure that can’t be verified. The practical takeaway doesn’t change: a master around −14 LUFS with a true peak no higher than −1 dBTP plays correctly on any platform that normalizes and doesn’t lose out on one that doesn’t.
Why a −1 dBTP true peak
Platforms store and deliver music in compressed formats: Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Opus. A lossy codec changes the waveform, and after encoding the peaks can end up higher than in the original. If the master already hits 0 dBFS, the decoded file will be overloaded — you hear it as a harsh crunch on the hits.
A 1 dB true peak margin is the generally accepted safety net. For very loud masters it’s worth increasing: the denser the sound, the more the codec can overshoot. More on inter-sample peaks in the article “Clipping and true peak”.
How loud to master
The short answer: as loud as the track sounds best, without pointless over-compression. −14 LUFS isn’t a required target — it’s the point the track will be brought to anyway.
- Loud genres (EDM, trap, metal) are often mastered around −10…−7 LUFS. That’s fine if the dynamics are kept on purpose. But a track at −6 LUFS with a PLR of 5 LU will sound quieter and flatter after normalization than a track at −10 LUFS with lively drums.
- Acoustic, jazz, neoclassical sound great at −16…−12 LUFS. Quieter than −18 LUFS and there’s a risk YouTube and stream players won’t bring the track up to the level of its neighbors.
- For a review on stream, the Stream-Q player normalizes tracks to −14 LUFS, but turns them up by 6 dB at most and puts a limiter after the gain. A very quiet master may sound quieter than the others.
Compare your track with a reference in the same genre at the same loudness: bring both to −14 LUFS and listen. If yours sounds smaller and lifeless, the limiter is working too hard.
Common mistakes
- Measuring loudness with the DAW’s peak meter. A peak tells you nothing about perceived loudness — you need a LUFS meter.
- Comparing your track with a reference without matching loudness. Louder almost always seems better — it’s a trick of hearing.
- Measuring loudness on a fragment. Integrated loudness is calculated over the whole track; the loudness of one chorus is Short-term.
- Setting the limiter ceiling to 0 dB without True Peak mode.
- Mastering for Spotify’s “Loud” mode or for a particular platform with an unknown algorithm.