They turn it down
For normal playback, each service plays music at about the same loudness, and turns down anything louder. The reference levels they publish:
| Service | Reference |
|---|---|
| Spotify | −14 LUFS |
| Apple Music | −16 LUFS |
| YouTube | −14 LUFS |
| Amazon Music | −14 LUFS |
| Tidal | −14 LUFS |
| Deezer | −15 LUFS |
A master louder than the reference gets turned down by the difference. A quieter one sits under it, and whether a service turns it up depends on the service and the listener's settings.
One track, mastered twice
We took 01 Low Orbit from our own music pack as it was mastered, and a copy pushed 7 dB harder into a limiter. DropWave read:
| As mastered | Pushed 7 dB | |
|---|---|---|
| Integrated loudness | −13.9 LUFS | −8.8 LUFS |
| PLR (peak to loudness) | 12.8 dB | 9.0 dB |
| Loudness range | 6.7 LU | 4.2 LU |
| True peak | −1.1 dBTP | +0.2 dBTP |
| Spotify | On target | Turned down 5.2 dB |
| Apple Music | Turned down 2.1 dB | Turned down 7.2 dB |
| YouTube, Amazon, Tidal | On target | Turned down 5.2 dB |
| Deezer | Turned down 1.1 dB | Turned down 6.2 dB |
On Spotify both play at nearly the same level. The pushed one has paid for its loudness: 3.8 dB less room between its peaks and its loudness (PLR), a flatter loudness range, and a true peak over 0 dBTP, which can clip when it's played or encoded.
So how loud?
There is no one right number: genres differ and so do your ears. What the table shows is what loudness costs and what it buys on each service. Master for the sound you want, then check:
- Drop the master on DropWave, on a Mac or a Windows PC, and open Loudness.
- Read On streaming: on target, or turned down by how much, for each of the six.
- Keep the true peak at or under −1 dBTP.