Loudness Analyzer (LUFS)
Measure integrated LUFS, loudness range, sample peak and estimated true peak to EBU R128 and ITU-R BS.1770, and see how your master compares to each streaming target.
Drop a track to measure its loudness
or choose an audio file
MP3 · WAV · FLAC · AAC · M4A · MP4 · OGG · OPUS · up to 25 MB
Your audio stays on your device
This tool decodes, analyses and exports your track entirely in your browser. The file is never uploaded to our servers, and nothing is stored when you close the tab.
- Free
- No account
- Browser processing
What this loudness analyzer measures
The tool reports integrated loudness in LUFS, loudness range in LU, sample peak in dBFS, an estimated true peak in dBTP, and a crest-style dynamic range figure. Integrated loudness follows the gating rules in ITU-R BS.1770-4: the programme is split into 400 ms blocks with 75% overlap, an absolute gate at -70 LUFS discards silence, and a relative gate 10 LU below the ungated mean discards quiet passages so a long fade-out does not drag the number down.
Loudness range follows EBU Tech 3342 and is computed from the distribution of short-term loudness values, reporting the spread between the 10th and 95th percentiles. It answers a different question from dynamic range: not how far the peaks sit above the average, but how much the perceived level moves as the track plays.
Platform loudness targets in practice
Every major streaming service normalises playback so listeners do not have to reach for the volume between tracks. Spotify, YouTube and Amazon Music sit around -14 LUFS, Apple Music's Sound Check lands nearer -16 LUFS, and European broadcast is fixed at -23 LUFS by EBU R128.
The consequence is direct: if your master measures -6 LUFS, a platform targeting -14 will attenuate it by 8 dB. You keep every bit of the limiting damage and gain none of the loudness. Mastering at or slightly below the target, with the dynamics the music actually needs, produces a better result on the same playback system.
The exception is peak-limited playback on services that turn quiet tracks up. Some platforms will not add gain at all, so a master far below the target simply plays quietly. Landing within a couple of LU of the target is the safe zone.
What to do with the numbers
If integrated loudness is too high, reduce the limiter drive rather than pulling the output fader alone — the goal is fewer gain-reduction events, not the same squashing at a lower level. If the true peak exceeds -1 dBTP, lower the ceiling in your limiter; inter-sample overs are the single most common cause of distortion that appears only after encoding.
If loudness range is very low on music that should breathe, look at buss compression and automation before the limiter. If it is very high and the track feels uneven on small speakers, gentle level automation across sections usually fixes it more musically than more compression.
Frequently asked questions
LUFS stands for Loudness Units relative to Full Scale. It is a measure of perceived loudness defined by ITU-R BS.1770, using a K-weighting filter that approximates how human hearing responds to different frequencies, plus a gating rule that ignores near-silent passages.