You finished your mix. It sounds huge in your studio. Then you upload it, and on Spotify it sounds... quieter than your favorite track. Or worse — the chorus ducks under the verse for no obvious reason.
The loudness wars are over, but nobody sent streaming platforms the memo. Each service normalizes your track to its own target, and if you master louder than that target, your dynamics get flattened automatically. If you master quieter, you actually keep your transients — and the platform turns you up.
This cheat sheet is the thing I wish I'd had when I started.
What is a LUFS, really?
LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) measures perceived loudness — how loud something sounds to a human, not the peak sample value. It's the same scale used by broadcast TV and film (EBU R128). One LUFS ≈ one dB of perceived change.
The key numbers you care about:
- Integrated LUFS — the average loudness of the whole track. This is the number streaming platforms normalize to.
- True Peak (dBTP) — the actual highest sample value after inter-sample peaks are calculated. Keep this under -1 dBTP to avoid clipping on playback.
- LU Range — how dynamic your track is. Useful, but not the target.
Most DAWs have a LUFS meter built in or available free (Youlean Loudness Meter 2 is a great free option). Check your integrated number against the table below before you bounce.
The cheat sheet
| Platform | Target (LUFS) | True Peak | What happens if you're louder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotify | -14 | -1 dBTP | Turned down to -14; dynamics preserved but quieter |
| Apple Music | -16 | -1 dBTP | Turned down; Sound Check applies normalization |
| YouTube | -14 | -1 dBTP | Turned down to approx -14 LUFS |
| Tidal | -14 (HiFi) / -10 (Master) | -1 dBTP | Turned down to target tier |
| Amazon Music | -14 | -1 dBTP | Normalized to -14 |
| Deezer | -15 | -1 dBTP | Turned down |
| SoundCloud | -14 (approx, varies) | -1 dBTP | Normalized on upload |
| Broadcast (EBU R128) | -23 | -1 dBTP | Required for TV/film delivery |
The safe target for everything
If you want one number that works everywhere: -14 LUFS integrated, -1 dBTP true peak.
That hits Spotify and YouTube exactly, and you'll only lose 2 dB on Apple Music (which is fine — they turn you up). Your dynamics survive, and you avoid the automatic loudness penalty.
The one mistake that ruins everything
People still master to -8 or -7 LUFS because "louder sounds better in the car." It does — on CD. On Spotify, your -8 LUFS track gets turned down 6 dB to hit -14. Now you've crushed your track for nothing, and it sounds quieter and more lifeless than a track that was mastered at -14 to begin with.
The loudness penalty is real. A -14 LUFS master with real dynamics will sound bigger and punchier after Spotify's normalization than a brick-walled -8 LUFS master of the same song. This is counterintuitive but measurable — try it on a reference track.
How to actually hit the target
- Mix at a consistent monitoring level. Set your monitor controller to a fixed position (around 79 dB SPL at your listening position) and leave it there. Your ears calibrate to loudness relative to this baseline.
- Don't smash the mix bus. If your mix bus limiter is doing 6+ dB of reduction, you're doing the streaming platform's job for it — badly. Aim for 1–2 dB of peak limiting on the master, max.
- Measure integrated LUFS on the final bounce. Run the full track through a LUFS meter. If you're at -11 and your target is -14, you have headroom — either lower the limiter threshold a touch or leave it (the platform will normalize up).
- Check true peak. Set your true peak limiter to -1.0 dBTP. Some platforms re-encode, which can create inter-sample clipping you can't hear in the DAW.
- Compare against a reference. Import a track in your genre from Spotify into your DAW and measure its LUFS. You'll be surprised how quiet most well-mastered modern tracks actually are.
A quick workflow that saves time
Before you bounce the final master, run your track through a quick check. If you want to skip the manual math, MixDiagnose runs the loudness and true-peak analysis for you and tells you where you sit relative to each platform's target — no plugin chain needed, just upload the bounce.
It's the fastest way to confirm you're at -14 LUFS before you ship, rather than discovering the problem after release.
The takeaway
- Master to -14 LUFS, -1 dBTP for the broadest compatibility.
- Louder is not better on streaming — the platform decides the loudness, not you.
- Keep your dynamics. A track with groove and punch beats a track that's been crushed flat.
- Measure, don't guess. Use a LUFS meter every single time.
Your mix will sound bigger, your masters will translate, and you'll stop wondering why Spotify "made your track quieter." It didn't — you did.
Try it
Upload your finished track to MixDiagnose and get an instant loudness report — integrated LUFS, true peak, and exactly where you stand against Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube targets. It takes about ten seconds and tells you whether to ship or re-master.
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