How loud should my master be for Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube?
LUFS explained: the loudness targets streaming platforms normalize to, why chasing maximum loudness backfires, and a simple target that travels well everywhere.
For streaming, aim for an integrated loudness of around -14 LUFS as a sensible all-rounder, because Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon Music normalize playback to roughly that level, and Apple Music to about -16 LUFS. A master that's far louder than the target gets turned down on playback — so past a point, "louder" just means "more squashed for no extra volume." Loudness should serve the song, not a number.
⚠️ Owner-to-verify: platform loudness targets change over time. Confirm the current figures before treating these as gospel, and adjust to your own mastering philosophy.
What is LUFS?
LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) measures perceived loudness over time, the way your ears actually experience it — unlike peak meters, which only show the tallest sample. Integrated LUFS is the average across a whole track, and it's the number streaming platforms use to decide how much to turn each song up or down so listeners don't have to ride the volume knob between tracks.
The targets (approximate)
| Platform | Normalization target |
|---|---|
| Spotify | ~ -14 LUFS |
| YouTube | ~ -14 LUFS |
| Amazon Music | ~ -14 LUFS |
| Apple Music | ~ -16 LUFS |
| Tidal | ~ -14 LUFS |
Because targets cluster near -14 LUFS, mastering somewhere in the -14 to -9 LUFS range covers most modern music: quieter, dynamic genres sit nearer -14, while dense, energetic genres can sit louder and accept some turn-down.
Why chasing maximum loudness backfires
When you push a master to, say, -6 LUFS, three things happen on a normalized platform:
- The platform turns it down to its target, erasing your loudness advantage.
- The extra limiting you used to get there stays — so you keep the squashed transients and lost dynamics.
- Against a properly mastered track at the same normalized level, the over-limited one often sounds smaller and more fatiguing, not bigger.
In other words, loudness normalization rewards masters that sound good at the target, not masters that are simply loud.
A practical approach
- Master for the song, not the meter — get it sounding finished and balanced first.
- Land integrated loudness in the -14 to -10 LUFS zone for most material.
- Keep an eye on true peak (aim for around -1 dBTP) to avoid distortion after lossy encoding.
- Trust your ears against a reference at matched loudness — that comparison tells the truth.
The short version
There's no single magic LUFS number, but around -14 LUFS is a safe, platform-friendly home base, with louder genres pushing a bit higher. Make it sound great at that level and it'll translate everywhere.
Not sure where your track lands? Send it over — I master to translate across every platform, with unlimited revisions.
Written by SOUNDGUIDER of SOUNDGUIDER — online mastering, teaching, and plugins.