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Loudness Normalization Tool

Enter your track’s measured loudness (LUFS) and a target — with one-tap presets for streaming and broadcast — to get the exact gain to apply, and check whether the result would exceed your true-peak ceiling.

This is a calculator: enter the integrated loudness you measured with a LUFS meter — it computes the gain, it does not measure your audio. Platform target values change over time; verify the current spec. Normalizing is a single gain change, so loudness moves by the same dB (until a limiter caps the peaks).

Target loudness

True-peak check (optional)

After applying the gain above, will your peak exceed the ceiling? Enter your measured true/sample peak and a ceiling (streaming masters commonly use −1 dBTP).

How Loudness Normalization Works

Integrated loudness, measured in LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale, per ITU-R BS.1770 / EBU R128), estimates how loud a whole track sounds to humans using a K-weighting filter and gating. Streaming services normalize everyone’s uploads to a common target so listeners don’t have to ride the volume between songs — so mastering far louder than the target just gets turned down (and can sound worse, with squashed dynamics).

To normalize, you apply a single gain equal to target − current in dB. If your track is −9 LUFS and the target is −14 LUFS, you apply −5 dB. Because it’s one level change, the integrated loudness shifts by that same amount — unless raising the level would push peaks past your ceiling, in which case a limiter caps the peaks and the achieved loudness gain is reduced.

Why the peak ceiling matters

Lossy codecs (AAC, MP3, Opus) can produce inter-sample peaks slightly above your sample peaks, so masters are usually limited to a true-peak ceiling around −1 dBTP to avoid clipping after encoding. If normalizing up would breach the ceiling, you either accept the lower loudness, apply limiting, or master to the platform target in the first place.

Frequently Asked Questions

What target LUFS should I use?
Most music streaming normalizes around −14 LUFS (Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, Tidal); Apple Music uses about −16; EBU R128 broadcast is −23 and ATSC A/85 is −24. These change, so check the current spec for your platform. For music, mastering near the target with a few dB of headroom is usually best.
How do I measure my track’s LUFS?
Use a loudness meter in your DAW or a dedicated LUFS/R128 meter — measure the integrated (whole-program) value. Enter that number here; this tool computes the gain but doesn’t analyze your audio itself.
If I’m louder than the target, do I need to do anything?
Streaming will simply turn you down to the target, so you don’t have to act — but a hyper-loud master gains no loudness advantage and often loses dynamics and punch. Many engineers master close to the target on purpose.
Why can’t I always reach the target by turning up?
If turning up would push your peaks past the ceiling, you’d clip. You then need limiting or compression to raise loudness without raising peaks — which changes the sound. The tool flags when the gain would breach your ceiling.
What’s the difference between LUFS and dBFS?
dBFS measures signal level (peaks/RMS) on the digital scale; LUFS estimates perceived loudness with a hearing-based weighting and gating. Two tracks at the same peak dBFS can have very different LUFS.
Does this change my audio file?
No. It only calculates the gain and peak outcome from the numbers you enter. Apply the gain (and any limiting) in your DAW or editor.