Every major streaming platform normalizes audio to a loudness target measured in LUFS — Loudness Units relative to Full Scale. Tracks that arrive above that target get turned down on playback. Tracks that arrive below it get turned up. Delivering a louder master does not result in louder playback — it results in more gain reduction.
Knowing those targets before you reach for the limiter changes how you approach the final stage. Instead of pushing for maximum loudness and hoping for the best, you're mastering with a specific destination in mind.
This chart lists the integrated LUFS targets for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer, and SoundCloud, along with True Peak ceilings for each. True Peak is a separate measurement from integrated loudness — it controls individual sample peaks rather than average loudness, and setting it at -1 dBTP or lower prevents inter-sample clipping when the audio gets encoded for streaming.
The chart also includes a note on Club and DJ masters, where the convention is different from streaming normalization, and why treating Beatport the same as Spotify would be a mistake.
Every major streaming platform normalizes audio to a loudness target measured in LUFS — Loudness Units relative to Full Scale. Tracks that arrive above that target get turned down on playback. Tracks that arrive below it get turned up. Delivering a louder master does not result in louder playback — it results in more gain reduction.
Knowing those targets before you reach for the limiter changes how you approach the final stage. Instead of pushing for maximum loudness and hoping for the best, you're mastering with a specific destination in mind.
This chart lists the integrated LUFS targets for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer, and SoundCloud, along with True Peak ceilings for each. True Peak is a separate measurement from integrated loudness — it controls individual sample peaks rather than average loudness, and setting it at -1 dBTP or lower prevents inter-sample clipping when the audio gets encoded for streaming.
The chart also includes a note on Club and DJ masters, where the convention is different from streaming normalization, and why treating Beatport the same as Spotify would be a mistake.
The terms are not standardized, and the frequency ranges are rough.
