YouTube Loudness Penalty Checker
YouTube normalises playback to about -14 LUFS integrated.
YouTube normalises to about -14 LUFS integrated, measured over the whole video. Like Spotify, it only turns louder content down - a quiet master stays quiet.
This matters twice for music: your Art Track (delivered by your distributor) and any visualiser or lyric video you upload yourself are both normalised. A -8 LUFS master loses about 6 dB either way.
Because YouTube re-encodes audio to AAC/Opus, keep true peak below -1 dBTP as well - inter-sample peaks become audible distortion after the re-encode. Check your levels below.
Check your track
Use your final audio file to estimate the dB difference for YouTube and other platforms. Free and private in your browser.
Open the Loudness Penalty CheckerCommon questions
What LUFS should my YouTube upload be?
The same master you deliver to streaming is fine. YouTube turns loud uploads down to about -14 LUFS and leaves quieter ones alone.
Does YouTube normalise Shorts too?
Playback handling may differ by format and device. Do not assume a Shorts upload receives the same gain adjustment as a long-form video.
Why does my track sound quieter on YouTube?
If your master is louder than -14 LUFS, YouTube has turned it down. Compare your file with the reference level below.