Loudness
No social platform we researched publishes a loudness target for uploads. The official audio rules are about codecs, channels, sample rates and bitrates. Loudness targets you can compare with are standards or common practice that you choose, and the app never presents them as platform rules.
What each platform publishes
- Meta
No official loudness target · 56 audio rules
- TikTok
No official loudness target · 4 audio rules
- YouTube
No official loudness target · 28 audio rules
- Pinterest
No official loudness target · no audio rules
Target profiles you can choose
| Profile | Integrated | Max short-term | True peak | Loudness range | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Social practice (-14 LUFS / -1 dBTP) | −14 LUFS ±1 | — | ≤ −1 dBTP | — | DBest practice. Evidence details
Widely used practitioner convention; not an official requirement of any platform researched. Open source ↗ |
| EBU R 128 (-23 LUFS / -1 dBTP) | −23 LUFS ±0.2 | — | ≤ −1 dBTP | — | DBest practice. Evidence details
European broadcast recommendation (v5.0, 2023), offered as a user-selectable target; not a social platform rule. Open source ↗ |
| EBU R 128 s1 adverts (-23 LUFS / max S -18 LUFS / -1 dBTP) | −23 LUFS ±0.2 | ≤ −18 LUFS | ≤ −1 dBTP | Not applicable | DBest practice. Evidence details
EBU recommendation for short-form content (adverts, promos; up to about 2 minutes). Broadcast context; not a social platform rule. Open source ↗ |
| EBU R 128 s2 streaming (-20 to -16 LUFS / -1 dBTP) | −20…−16 LUFS | — | ≤ −1 dBTP | — | DBest practice. Evidence details
Interim Distribution Loudness Level the EBU allows for streaming when no loudness metadata manages playback (R 128 s2 g). The EBU's primary recommendation is still to stream unchanged at -23 LUFS (s2 e). Not a rule of any social platform. Open source ↗ |
| ATSC A/85 (-24 LKFS / -2 dBTP) | −24 LUFS ±2 | — | ≤ −2 dBTP | — | DBest practice. Evidence details
US broadcast recommended practice. Open source ↗ |
| AES TD1008 speech (-18 LUFS / -1 dBTP) | −18 LUFS ±1 | — | ≤ −1 dBTP | — | DBest practice. Evidence details
Streaming guideline (speech, assorted, adverts). Open source ↗ |
| DV360 / IAB (-24 LKFS ±2)Official only for Display & Video 360 | −24 LUFS ±2 | — | — | — | AOfficial requirement. Evidence details
Official requirement only for Display & Video 360 hosted video creatives; Ad Manager normalises to -24 LKFS. Not applicable to YouTube uploads or Google Ads YouTube campaigns. Open source ↗ |
How we measure
The meter is the Rust ebur128 crate compiled to WebAssembly, run in your browser. It implements ITU-R BS.1770 and EBU Tech 3341 and 3342.
Validation: EBU Tech 3341 (2023) and Tech 3342 (2023) minimum-requirements suites, signals synthesised from Table 1: 29/29 synthesisable cases pass at 48 kHz and 44.1 kHz (crate 0.1.10; 0.1.6 identical). 4 authentic-programme cases skipped by owner decision (D8); a K-weighting sweep and an independent-meter cross-check replace them before release.
Not used for true peak: FFmpeg ebur128 filter (6.1.1; same code in ffmpeg.wasm @ffmpeg/core 0.12.10). True peak over-read +0.26 to +0.60 dB on 4/5 inter-sample-peak cases (tolerance +0.2/-0.4).
Sources
- Practitioner loudness figures for social platforms (-14 LUFS etc.) · Third partiesSearch excerpt only · 15 Oct 2026
- EBU R 128 v5.0 (November 2023) · EBURead directly · 15 Oct 2026
- EBU R 128 s1 v3: loudness parameters for short-form content (August 2020) · EBURead directly · 15 Oct 2026
- EBU R 128 s2 v3: loudness in streaming (November 2023) · EBURead directly · 15 Oct 2026
- ATSC A/85 recommended practice · ATSCSearch excerpt only · 15 Oct 2026
- AES TD1008: loudness guidelines for streaming · AESSearch excerpt only · 15 Oct 2026
- Guidelines for video creatives (Display & Video 360 Help) · GoogleRead directly · 15 Oct 2026
- Video and audio formats and transcoding (Google Ad Manager Help) · GoogleSearch excerpt only · 15 Oct 2026