Spotify Loudness Penalty Checker
Spotify normalises playback to about -14 LUFS integrated.
Spotify normalises every track to about -14 LUFS integrated. If your master measures -8 LUFS, Spotify turns it down by roughly 6 dB on playback - the loudness you compressed and limited for is discarded, and only the lost dynamics remain.
Normalisation is on by default for every listener. Spotify offers a 'Loud' setting (-11 LUFS) but almost nobody changes the default, so -14 LUFS is the number that matters.
For electronic music the practical window is -14 to -9 LUFS: loud enough to feel competitive, not so loud that the penalty wastes your dynamics. Check your exact penalty below.
Check your track
Upload your master and see the exact dB penalty on Spotify and every other platform. Free, runs in your browser.
Open the Loudness Penalty CheckerCommon questions
What LUFS should I master to for Spotify?
Between -14 and -9 LUFS integrated works for most electronic music. Louder than -9 mostly costs you dynamics without any playback volume advantage.
Does Spotify turn quiet tracks up?
No - with the default setting, Spotify only turns louder tracks down. A very quiet, dynamic master will sound quieter than the rest of a playlist.
Is the penalty applied to the whole album?
Spotify uses album normalisation when playing an album in order, and track normalisation in playlists and shuffle.