What YouTube says, and what it does not
YouTube does not publish a loudness target. Its help pages describe two playback features, Stable volume and Voice boost, and a setting that lets creators turn audio enhancements off for their future uploads. They give no figure in LUFS and no true peak ceiling.
So everything you read about YouTube loudness, including the figure below, comes from people who measured it rather than from YouTube.
What has been measured
- YouTube: -14 LUFS integrated, no published true-peak ceiling. Measured by third parties; YouTube publishes no loudness figure and no true-peak ceiling.
In practice: a video that measures louder than about -14 LUFS is turned down by the difference, and one that measures quieter is, by those reports, left as it is rather than turned up.
Two things follow. Pushing a master louder does not make it louder for most viewers; it only removes dynamics that the turn-down does not give back. And a quiet upload stays quieter than the videos around it.
What Stable volume does
Stable volume works on playback, not on your file. YouTube describes it as balancing “the range between quiet and loud, continuously adjusting volume levels to reduce variations in sound”. It is on by default for viewers, it is not available on every video, and YouTube turns it off for YouTube Music and official music videos.
Voice boost is a second feature, which makes dialogue easier to hear by reducing background sound and highlighting speech. Stable volume switches off while Voice boost is on, and viewers can turn either off in the player’s settings.
As a creator you can turn audio enhancements off for your channel’s future uploads in YouTube Studio on a computer, by unticking “Let YouTube enhance audio quality”. YouTube says the setting does not change videos you have already uploaded. If the quiet moments in your video are deliberate, a slow build or a film score, that is the setting that keeps them quiet.
Music on YouTube
Master for YouTube as you would for the other streaming services. A master louder than about -14 LUFS is turned down to it, so a loud master and a dynamic one end up at about the same level, and the dynamic one keeps its impact.
Keep a true peak ceiling even though YouTube states none. Lossy encoding rebuilds the waveform, and the result can peak higher than the file you uploaded. We measured this on 38 songs: encoded as Opus at 128 kbps, the professionally mastered versions peaked above 0 dBTP on 37 of them, at a median of +1.5 dBTP. LUFS vs true peak explains what that ceiling protects.
Videos with speech
There is no published YouTube level for dialogue either. Broadcast standards such as EBU R 128 deliver programmes at -23 LUFS, which is right for television and sounds quiet on YouTube next to videos made louder.
What matters most for a spoken video is that the voice is clear and steady: the same level from one line to the next, and any music far enough under it that every word is understood. Then measure the finished audio with a LUFS meter. Well under the level YouTube is reported to play at, it will sound quieter than the videos around it; far over it, it will be turned down and lose only its dynamics.
Clean the recording before you set its level, because a limiter raises background noise along with the voice. How to remove background noise from a video covers that step.
Doing it with Euphona
Mastering delivers music at a competitive level by default. To deliver close to where YouTube is reported to play it, set the loudness to -14 LUFS, or ask to hear the master at the streaming standard as well and keep whichever you prefer. Either way the true peak ceiling holds.
For a spoken video, restoration removes background noise, hum, clicks and echo from the voice track and keeps its length and timing, so it drops back into your edit in sync.
Questions
Does YouTube turn quiet videos up?
The measurements say no: louder videos are turned down and quieter ones are left as they are. YouTube itself has not said either way.
Should I master music to exactly -14 LUFS for YouTube?
There is no need to. A louder master is turned down to the same playback level, so what differs is dynamics, not volume. Master for the sound you want, keep a true peak ceiling, and listen at the level YouTube plays it before you decide.
Does Stable volume change the file I uploaded?
No. It adjusts the volume while someone watches, and they can switch it off. You can also turn audio enhancements off for your channel’s future uploads.
Why is my video quieter than other videos?
Usually because it measures below the level YouTube is reported to play at, and quieter videos are not raised. Measure it, and bring it up with a limiter rather than with gain alone, so its peaks stay under the ceiling.
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