Answer
What LUFS should you export video at for the web?
There is no single web number. Pick the destination.
The published loudness targets belong to destinations, not to the web as a whole. Broadcast in Europe works to -23 LUFS under EBU R 128. Apple Podcasts asks for about -16 LKFS. Spotify turns music to -14 LUFS by default. A video link sits outside all three, so the right number is the one for wherever the film ends up, and on this host the level you mix is the level your client hears.
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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026
The short answer
There is no correct web LUFS;
it depends on where the film ends up.
Every loudness figure you will find is published by someone for their own destination: a broadcaster, a podcast directory, a music service. None of them is a standard for “video on the web”. Decide where the film is going, then export to that destination’s number.
The numbers that are actually published, and checked today, are these. EBU R 128, the European Broadcasting Union’s recommendation on loudness normalisation, sets a programme loudness target of -23 LUFS; the current version is 5.0, from November 2023. Apple Podcasts asks for overall loudness around -16 dB LKFS with a tolerance of plus or minus 1 dB, and a true peak that does not exceed -1 dB FS. Spotify adjusts music tracks to -14 dB LUFS by default. Apple and Spotify both name the ITU-R BS.1770 loudness measurement on their pages; its current edition is BS.1770-5.
Notice what each figure is for. The -23 is a broadcast target. The -16 is for an audio podcast. The -14 is what a music service turns songs to on playback. A film shared as a video link is none of those, which is why a single “correct” web number does not exist, and why any page that gives you one without naming its destination is guessing.
-23 LUFS
Broadcast
EBU R 128 programme loudness target, version 5.0
-16 LKFS
Podcast audio
Apple Podcasts, plus or minus 1 dB
-14 LUFS
Music streaming
Spotify's default playback level
None
Loudness passes here
the track plays at the level it was mixed
The published targets, side by side
Three numbers,
each belongs to one kind of platform.
Figures from each publisher's own page, fetched 18 September 2026. EBU's tolerance and true-peak figures, and any YouTube, Netflix or AES loudness figure, are left out because we could not verify them today. YouTube's recommended upload settings page lists channels, 48 kHz and audio bitrates but gives no loudness target.
The gap between the extremes is large enough to matter. A mix at -23 LUFS and a mix at -14 LUFS are 9 LU apart, so if a client watches your broadcast master straight after a music video on the same laptop, yours will sound much quieter. That is not a fault in the mix. It is two destinations meeting on one screen.
Spotify’s peak advice is worth keeping in mind even though it is written for music, because it names the risk directly: it recommends keeping true peak below -1 dB, which it calls best for lossy formats, and below -2 dB when the master is louder than -14 LUFS integrated, to avoid extra distortion. The louder you push a web mix, the more headroom its peaks need.
How to choose
Name the destination,
then measure once and leave it alone.
Write down where the film ends up
Broadcast deliverable: -23 LUFS under EBU R 128, plus whatever the broadcaster's own spec adds. An audio podcast feed: Apple's -16 LKFS. A film that lives on a website, a portfolio or a client link: your call, and write it into the delivery notes so the whole team works to the same figure.
Measure with a BS.1770 meter
Read integrated loudness over the whole programme and the true peak, using a meter that follows ITU-R BS.1770. A short loud section can fool your ears; the integrated reading will not.
Set loudness once, in the mix
Hit the target in the mix and export once. Running a second normalisation over a finished export shifts levels again and can push peaks into limiting nobody approved.
Review at the delivery level
Upload the review copy at the loudness of the real destination, and ask the client to listen at a fixed system volume. Then the approval is an approval of the level they will get.
What happens on this host
The level your client hears
is the level you mixed.
Nothing here measures or normalises loudness. There is no gain stage, no limiter and no loudness pass, so your choice of target reaches the viewer unchanged.
Browser playback uses your uploaded export without another platform re-encode. Codec, device and connection requirements still apply. The web player is a plain video element with a mute control, and the audio track inside your export is the audio track the viewer’s browser plays. If you exported at -23 LUFS, the client hears a -23 LUFS mix; at -14, a -14 mix. The viewer’s own system volume, browser and speakers still apply, and no host controls those.
That is the point for a review or approval link: the level is part of what the client signs off, so it should not be changed on the way. For the export itself, AAC at 320 kbps is our recommended audio setting, and the longer argument about what re-encoding does to a mix is in audio sounds worse after uploading video.
When this is the wrong tool
Questions
Frequently asked
Is -23 LUFS too quiet for a web video?
It can sound quieter than other material played in the same browser session, because nothing on a plain video link turns it up. -23 LUFS is the programme loudness target of EBU R 128, a broadcast recommendation. If the film is a broadcast deliverable, keep it there and tell the client to judge it at a fixed, comfortable system volume. If it is headed for the open web only, mixing to a louder target is a legitimate choice, as long as you keep true peak under control.
Should I just use -14 LUFS because Spotify does?
Only if you have a reason tied to where the film will play. Spotify publishes -14 LUFS as the level it adjusts music tracks to, with Loud and Quiet settings at -11 and -19 for Premium listeners. That is a music streaming rule. It says nothing about video platforms, and we could not verify a published loudness figure from YouTube today, so this page does not quote one.
What is the difference between LUFS and LKFS?
In practice you meet them as two labels for the same kind of reading. EBU R 128 and Spotify write LUFS, Apple Podcasts writes LKFS, and Apple and Spotify both name the ITU-R BS.1770 loudness measurement. Use a meter that follows BS.1770 and the number you read applies to either label.
Does uncompressed.io normalise or limit my audio?
No. Nothing here measures, normalises, limits or re-encodes the audio track. The player is a plain video element with a mute control, and the file is not re-encoded. The viewer's own system volume, browser and speakers still apply, and those are outside any host's control.
Should the review link and the final delivery use the same mix level?
Yes, where you can. If the client approves a -14 LUFS review export and then receives a -23 LUFS broadcast master, the approved film will sound noticeably quieter on the same system, and the first note back will be about volume, not about the mix. Upload the review copy at the loudness of the real destination.
Let the client hear the mix you signed off
The audio track streams as exported: no re-encode, no loudness pass, no gain. Choose a plan for storage and seats; playback of your mix is the same on every one.
Sources
- 1.EBU R 128, Loudness normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals (programme loudness target -23 LUFS; version 5.0, November 2023) (fetched 18 September 2026)
- 2.ITU-R BS.1770, Algorithms to measure audio programme loudness and true-peak audio level (BS.1770-5, 11/2023, in force) (fetched 18 September 2026)
- 3.Apple Podcasts for Creators, Audio requirements (about -16 dB LKFS with a +/- 1 dB tolerance, true peak not above -1 dB FS, measured per ITU-R BS.1770-5) (fetched 18 September 2026)
- 4.Spotify for Artists, Loudness normalization (tracks adjusted to -14 dB LUFS; Loud -11, Normal -14, Quiet -19; true peak advice) (fetched 18 September 2026)
- 5.YouTube Help, Recommended upload encoding settings (audio channels, 48 kHz, bitrates; no loudness target on the page) (fetched 18 September 2026)