Audit Audio Track Loudness and True Peak Headroom for Broadcast Standards — Free
Mastering podcast episodes and streaming audio for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube requires hitting strict loudness standards, but improper limiter settings lead to platform volume penalties and digital inter-sample distortion. Enter your audio track integrated LUFS, maximum true peak readings, and platform standards to audit compliance and flag true peak violations.
The proof surface
Uncompressed audio storage budgeters calculate raw WAV file byte sizes; this triage board audits mastered audio loudness levels and inter-sample true peak headroom against streaming broadcast standards.
Inputaudio segment name | integrated LUFS (negative number) | max true peak in dBTP; target platform integrated lufs standard
Rare deviceUncompressed audio storage budgeters calculate raw WAV file byte sizes; this triage board audits mastered audio loudness levels and inter-sample true peak headroom against streaming broadcast standards.
Output artifactMaximum integrated loudness deviation with row-by-row context
Cost$0 local calculation · no card, paid key, subscription or signup · proposed filing price is not for sale
Sample, not your facts: Illustrative inputs: Host narrative track | -14.8 | -1.5; Field interview recording | -17.2 | -0.8; Sponsor message insertion | -13.6 | -2.0. Target platform integrated LUFS standard = -14.0. Maximum integrated loudness deviation: 3.2 LUFS. All records are invented.
Before using the loudness-compliance board
Streaming audio platforms and broadcast networks enforce international loudness standards (such as ITU-R BS.1770-4 and EBU R128) using Loudness Units Full Scale (LUFS). Apple Podcasts and Spotify normalize spoken word and music content to approximately -14.0 LUFS integrated loudness (or -16.0 LUFS for certain European broadcast standards), while mandating a maximum true peak ceiling of -1.0 dBTP (decibels True Peak) to prevent inter-sample clipping during lossy AAC or MP3 encoding. Enter each audio segment, its measured integrated LUFS, and its maximum true peak. The triage board identifies loudness deviations from platform standards and flags tracks that risk harsh digital clipping.
Why the flat version breaks
Mastering to traditional 0.0 dBFS sample peaks
Pushing sample limiters to 0.0 dBFS creates severe inter-sample clipping distortion when streaming codecs compress your file to 128 kbps MP3.
Delivering audio crushed to -9.0 LUFS causes platforms to attenuate your track by 5 dB, reducing overall punch and dynamics.
Set target distribution standard
Mastering voice tracks with wild dynamic range
Allowing whispers at -30 LUFS and shouting at -10 LUFS causes listeners in noisy cars to constantly adjust volume knobs.
Identify clipping risks and loudness offsets
This loudness-compliance board replaces a manual count or calculation, not source verification or the responsible person’s review.
Run it on the samples, right here
FIRST-LOAD
HYPOTHESIS / PROTOTYPE — checkout unavailable. Calculation is local. A draft is saved automatically in this browser profile when storage is available; Reset to sample clears it. Optional Pro history stores only five summaries and has its own deletion control. State links encode your inputs and can remain in browser history, clipboard or recipients’ records; share only non-sensitive rows. Optional external AI formatting leaves this device. The required site analytics beacon reports page activity; shared URLs contain encoded inputs. Do not treat an encoded URL as private. The calculator has no input-collection endpoint.
Audio engineering loudness arithmetic only, not digital signal processing certification or acoustic broadcast warranty. Streaming platform delivery specifications and transcoding codecs evolve over time. Test final masters in target listening environments.
Data note: The loudness-compliance board processes audio segment name | integrated LUFS (negative number) | max true peak in dBTP locally. Starter/sample selection and Run compute in this tab; no input is sent by the calculator. A local draft may be saved; explicit state-link sharing or optional external AI formatting can disclose inputs. Use non-sensitive labels.
Go deeper: the companion app files the same reading as a triage clipboard with three lanes
The article demo above runs without limits. The companion app keeps a local history, exports the rows as CSV, prints the loudness-compliance board reading, and holds your drafts on this device — one complete free app run; the proposed $4 one-time filing layer is not for sale.
The loudness-compliance board answer stays complete for free. The proposed $4 one-time filing layer adds row CSV, print and five local reading summaries, not hidden answers. Checkout is unavailable; the article demo remains unlimited.
Audio engineering loudness arithmetic only, not digital signal processing certification or acoustic broadcast warranty. Streaming platform delivery specifications and transcoding codecs evolve over time. Test final masters in target listening environments.
What this is built on
Method: Select your target broadcast platform benchmark (-14.0 LUFS for Spotify and Apple Podcasts; -16.0 LUFS for public radio / European standards).
All sample records, dates, quantities and labels are invented. No outside policy, contract, rate, clock offset, measurement or accessibility standard is represented as verified.
Google’s official pricing documentation, fetched 2026-09-30, says AI Studio is free in available regions. Optional formatting may require a Google account; manual local entry requires none. Limits can change and free-tier content may be used to improve products. Do not send private records.
Before: mastered podcast episodes were rejected or distorted by platform volume normalization. After: integrated LUFS and true peak headroom are audited directly against streaming broadcast standards.
Host track deviates 0.8 LUFS from the -14.0 LUFS target with safe -1.5 dBTP peak. Field interview deviates 3.2 LUFS (-17.2 LUFS) and breaches the -1.0 dBTP ceiling with -0.8 dBTP peak (flagged for review). Sponsor insert deviates 0.4 LUFS with safe -2.0 dBTP peak. Maximum absolute loudness deviation across the episode is 3.2 LUFS, highlighting segments requiring re-mastering before distribution.
An outro track measuring -20.0 LUFS evaluated against a -16.0 LUFS target shows a 4.0 LUFS loudness deviation, isolating dynamics on softer acoustic passages.
Optional AI formatting, never the calculation
Manual entry completes this loudness-compliance board for free without signup. If available to you, the free AI Studio interface linked in the sources may format fictional or non-sensitive notes; external access may require an account. No API key or AI call is built into this tool. Free-tier content may be used to improve products. Review each cell and transcribe it to the labeled row schema; do not paste the JSON object into the row box.
Format only these fictional or non-sensitive notes for a loudness-compliance board. Return strict JSON shaped as {"rows": [{"label": "string", "cells": ["string", "string"]}], "setting": "string"}. The columns are audio segment name | integrated LUFS (negative number) | max true peak in dBTP; the setting is Target platform integrated LUFS standard. Keep all supplied strings and quantities exactly; do not calculate, infer missing entries, invent dates or add advice. If any required value is missing, return an empty rows array and ask me for it separately. I will verify every cell against my source and manually transcribe rows using vertical bars before running the local calculator.
An AI response is not executed, fetched or trusted as a result. Missing values remain questions; the strict local parser checks the rows you actually enter.