LUFS, Explained: What It Is and What to Master To

You'll also see LKFS in broadcast specs. It's the same measurement with a different name: American broadcast standards (ATSC A/85) say LKFS, European ones (EBU R128) say LUFS. One LU equals one dB in either notation.

LUFS vs dB: they answer different questions

dBFS tells you how close the waveform gets to digital full scale at a single instant — a peak reading. LUFS tells you how loud the program feels over time. A heavily limited master and a dynamic one can both peak at -1 dBFS while sitting 10 LUFS apart. That's the whole reason loudness normalization exists: peak level stopped being a useful proxy for loudness once limiters got good.

Streaming loudness targets in 2026

Each platform normalizes to its own reference. Louder masters get turned down on every major service; whether quiet masters get turned up varies by platform and listener setting.

Treat these as playback references, not mastering orders. Normalization can be off (some listener settings, DJ tools, sync placements), and the target only sets playback gain — it says nothing about how your track should be balanced internally.

What LUFS should you master to?

Not automatically -14. Master for the genre and the record, then check the number. A useful way to think about it: the platform decides the playback level, but you decide the density — how squeezed the track feels at that level. An over-limited master normalized down to -14 just sounds smaller than a dynamic one played at the same loudness.

• Acoustic, jazz, classical, film: -16 to -14 LUFS integrated. Keep the dynamics; normalization protects you.
• Pop, rock, hip-hop: -12 to -9 LUFS is where most commercial releases land. Competitive density without flattening the mix.
• EDM, club-focused music: -9 to -7 LUFS is common because tracks also get played in unnormalized contexts (DJ sets, clubs) where absolute level matters.
• Everything: true peak at or below -1 dBTP so lossy encoding doesn't push intersample peaks into clipping.

A 2-minute loudness check before delivery

1. Bounce the master and measure integrated LUFS across the whole track, not a loop of the chorus.
2. Check true peak; if it's above -1 dBTP, lower the limiter ceiling, don't just turn the output down.
3. A/B against two or three commercial references in the same genre, level-matched, and trust the comparison over the number.
4. Note the final figures (integrated, true peak, LRA) in your delivery notes — clients and labels increasingly ask.

Common LUFS questions