Loudness normalisation means a platform measures each song's integrated loudness and adjusts playback so songs play at roughly the same level. It's why the “loudness war” matters much less than it used to.
How the main platforms behave
- Spotify normalises to about −14 LUFS by default, with “Loud” and “Quiet” options in its settings. Louder songs are turned down; quieter ones can be turned up, with limiting to avoid clipping.
- YouTube turns loud videos down to around −14 LUFS but doesn't turn quiet ones up.
- Apple Music uses Sound Check, normalising to about −16 LUFS.
Listeners can switch normalisation off on some platforms, and targets change occasionally — treat these as reference points rather than fixed rules.
What this means for your master
- Past a point, extra loudness doesn't make you louder on streaming — it only reduces dynamics and punch.
- A very quiet master may be turned up only on some platforms, so extremely dynamic releases can sound softer than others on YouTube.
- Leave true-peak headroom (about −1 dBTP) so encoding doesn't distort your loudest moments.
The quickest way to see all of this for your own song is the loudness penalty tool, which shows how much each platform would adjust your track and lets you hear it at that level.