LUFS vs RMS & dBFS

LUFS (Loudness Units Full Scale) was developed as part of the EBU R128 and ITU-R BS.1770 standards specifically to measure how loud audio *sounds* to the human ear, not just how loud it measures electrically. LUFS applies a frequency weighting curve (K-weighting) that accounts for human hearing sensitivity — we perceive midrange frequencies as louder than the same energy at low frequencies. This makes LUFS measurements correlate much better with perceived loudness than raw RMS. LUFS is the standard that streaming platforms use for loudness normalization. Spotify targets -14 LUFS integrated, Apple Music targets -16 LUFS, YouTube targets -14 LUFS, and Tidal targets -14 LUFS. If your master is louder than the platform target, it gets turned down. If it is quieter, some platforms turn it up. This means the loudness war is effectively over for streaming — there is no benefit to slamming your master to -6 LUFS because it will just be turned down. There are three types of LUFS measurement: Momentary (400 ms window, for real-time monitoring), Short-term (3 second window, for section-level loudness), and Integrated (the entire track from start to finish, what platforms use). For delivery, Integrated LUFS is the number that matters.

RMS (Root Mean Square) and dBFS (decibels Full Scale) are older but still important metering standards that serve different purposes than LUFS. RMS measures the average signal level over time by calculating the root mean square of sample values. It provides a rough indication of loudness, but unlike LUFS, it does not apply any psychoacoustic weighting. This means RMS treats all frequencies equally, even though humans perceive a 1 kHz tone as much louder than a 60 Hz tone at the same RMS level. RMS is still useful as a quick reference during mixing — a healthy mix typically reads around -18 to -14 dBFS RMS — and some older metering standards and broadcast specs reference RMS values. dBFS (decibels Full Scale) measures the peak amplitude of individual digital samples relative to the maximum possible value (0 dBFS). It is an absolute scale: 0 dBFS is the loudest a digital signal can be before clipping. dBFS is essential for monitoring headroom and preventing digital clipping. True Peak metering (dBTP) is a refined version that accounts for inter-sample peaks — moments where the reconstructed analog waveform between samples exceeds 0 dBFS. Most streaming platforms require True Peak below -1 dBTP to prevent distortion during codec conversion.

RoastYourMix measures your track's LUFS integrated loudness, True Peak, and dynamic range. We tell you exactly where your loudness sits relative to streaming targets and whether your peaks are safe. No more guessing if your master is too loud, too quiet, or clipping.