How Loud Should My Master Be for Spotify? LUFS for Streaming, Simply

I get asked this constantly: how loud should my master be for Spotify? People still chase the loudest possible file, then wonder why their song gets turned down on the stream and sometimes sounds worse than a quieter one. The short version is simple. Spotify has a published target, and hitting it beats crushing the life out of the mix.

What Spotify actually does to your track

Spotify doesn't leave every song at the level you uploaded. It uses loudness normalization so soft and loud tracks play at a more consistent volume. Per Spotify's own help for artists, that target is -14 dB LUFS integrated, measured with the ITU 1770 standard.

That adjustment happens at playback. Spotify measures loudness when you upload, but it does not rewrite your master before listeners hear it. Louder masters get turned down toward -14. Quieter masters can get turned up, but only as far as the available headroom allows (Spotify leaves about 1 dB for lossy encoding).

Premium listeners can also pick Loud (-11 LUFS), Normal (-14), or Quiet (-19) in the app. Most people leave it on Normal. Either way, your job as the person delivering the master is the same: give Spotify a clean file that survives their playback chain.

The numbers Spotify publishes

From Spotify's current mastering tips for artists:

• Target about -14 dB integrated LUFS for the master.

• Keep true peak below -1 dB TP. That headroom helps when the file is encoded to lossy formats (Ogg/Vorbis and AAC).

• If your master is louder than -14 LUFS, keep true peak below -2 dB TP. Louder files are more likely to pick up extra distortion in the encode.

Those are Spotify's numbers, not folklore. I re-check their loudness page before I write about this, because platforms do update guidance.

Why louder often loses

If you smash a master to -8 LUFS so it "wins" a loudness war, Spotify simply turns it down. You don't get a permanent volume advantage on Normal playback. What you do get is whatever distortion, pumping, and flattened dynamics you baked in while chasing that level. Those stay after the turn-down.

A quieter, more dynamic master aimed near -14 often holds up better once everything is leveled. The vocal sits. The snare still cracks. The chorus still opens up. Listeners aren't reaching for the volume knob between tracks as much, and your song isn't fighting a brick wall to sound competitive.

I'm not saying every genre should float at the same feel. Dense rock and sparse acoustic music will use dynamics differently. The point is the ceiling: past a certain loudness, you're trading quality for a bump Spotify will undo anyway.

True peak isn't the same as sample peak

Sample peak is what your DAW meters often show. True peak estimates inter-sample peaks that can appear after conversion and encoding. A file that looks safe on a sample-peak meter can still clip or distort after Spotify's encode if true peak is too hot.

That's why Spotify calls out true peak specifically. Aim for the headroom they ask for (-1 dB TP normally, -2 dB TP if you're hotter than -14 LUFS). Leave that space on purpose. Don't ride the red line and hope the stream sorts it out.

How I check a master for streaming

In practice, when I'm finishing a master for streaming, I:

1. Meter integrated LUFS on the whole song (not just the loudest chorus). 2. Check true peak on the loudest moments. 3. Compare against a couple of reference tracks in the same lane of music, after leveling them to a similar loudness so I'm judging tone and punch, not who won the volume contest. 4. Listen for limiter pumping, dullness after heavy limiting, and whether the vocal still feels present when the track is turned down to a normal phone volume.

If the song only "works" when it's slammed, the mix usually needs another pass before more limiting will help. Mastering can't invent headroom that isn't there.

A simple target you can actually use

For most Spotify-bound music masters I deliver, this is the practical target:

• Around -14 LUFS integrated.

• True peak under -1 dB TP (or under -2 dB TP if the master sits louder than -14).

• A master that still sounds musical when you turn it down, not only when it's loud.

Deliver the highest-quality stereo master your distributor wants (Spotify prefers high-quality FLAC or WAV meeting their format rules). Don't pre-crush the file to "beat" normalization. Let the platform do its job, and spend your energy on a mix and master that still feel good after the level match.

The bottom line

How loud should your master be for Spotify? Aim near -14 LUFS, leave true-peak headroom, and stop chasing loudness Spotify will undo. A cleaner, more dynamic master usually wins once every track in the playlist is leveled.

If you want a mix or master built for streaming instead of for a loudness war, take a look at my online mixing and mastering. Happy to talk through LUFS, true peak, and what your references are actually doing.

— Jim

If you'd like one-on-one help with your own mix, vocals or audiobook, you can book an online session with me.