T-02 · Level

LUFS / dBFS Cheatsheet

Streaming loudness targets and true-peak ceilings — where your master should sit for Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Tidal and more.

PlatformTarget LUFS-ITrue peakNotes

Spotify-14 LUFS-1.0 dBTP−1 dBTP if louder than −14; they advise −2 dBTP if quieter.

Apple Music-16 LUFS-1.0 dBTPSound Check target; Apple Digital Masters wants −1 dBTP.

YouTube-14 LUFS-1.0 dBTPTurns loud masters down, never quiet ones up.

Amazon Music-14 LUFS-2.0 dBTPMastering guide explicitly asks for −2 dBTP.

Tidal-14 LUFS-1.0 dBTPFLAC / HiRes FLAC — MQA was retired in 2024.

Deezer-15 LUFS-1.0 dBTPThree modes; default normalisation ≈ −15.

Broadcast (EBU R128)-23 LUFS-1.0 dBTPMax true peak −1 dBTP; ±0.5 LU tolerance.

Podcast (Apple)-16 LUFS-1.0 dBTPStereo ≈ −16; mono ≈ −19.

LUFS-I = integrated (whole-track) loudness · dBTP = true-peak ceiling measured between samples. The true-peak limit isn't a flat −1 everywhere: −1 dBTP is the common safe ceiling, but lossy encoding (AAC / Ogg / MP3) can push inter-sample peaks higher on playback, so Amazon asks for −2 and Spotify drops to −2 for quieter masters. Leaving −2 dBTP across the board is the safest habit. And don't crush a master to hit a loudness number — streaming turns louder masters down, so extra limiting just costs you dynamics.