Podcast Loudness: What LUFS Should a Podcast Be?

The one number that decides whether your show sounds professional.

What LUFS actually measures

LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) measures perceived loudness over time — not a single peak, but how loud the episode feels to a human ear across minutes. It's the metric that matters because it's what the listener experiences.

The standard: −16 LUFS

The podcast industry convention is −16 LUFS for stereo (−19 LUFS for mono, which is the same thing in practice). It came from Apple's podcast spec and became the de-facto target for Spotify, Apple, and every serious show. Hit −16 LUFS and your episode sits comfortably at a normal listening volume.

The second number: true peak

Loudness isn't enough. You also want true peak below −1 dBTP. True peak catches the inter-sample peaks that clipping meters miss — the ones that distort when a platform transcodes your file. Aim for −1 dBTP or lower and you'll never ship a distorted episode.

Why platforms normalize anyway

Apple and Spotify apply loudness normalization on playback — if your episode is too loud, they turn it down; too quiet, and it stays quiet. That's the trap: normalization only lowers, it doesn't rescue a quiet mix. A too-quiet episode stays too-quiet on every platform. That's why mastering to the standard matters — it's the floor, not a suggestion.

How to measure and fix your episode

• Measure: analyze your mix for integrated LUFS and true peak. Free tools (ffmpeg with loudnorm, or any loudness meter) will tell you where you stand.
• Too quiet: raise overall gain, then re-check peaks so you don't clip.
• Too loud / clipping: lower gain and compress the dynamic range so quiet parts are audible without the loud parts blowing out.
• Inconsistent between episodes: normalize every episode to the same target — your listeners' volume dial will thank you.

The takeaway

Master every episode to −16 LUFS with true peak under −1 dBTP, and you've cleared the single biggest "why does this sound bad" complaint before a listener ever hears it.