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Free Normalize Audio to -14 LUFS: fix your YouTube loudness in your browser

Choose an audio or video file and download it normalized to -14 LUFS (or another target) with the peaks kept under -1 dBFS. It measures the loudness the standard way (ITU-R BS.1770), limits only the peaks that need it, checks the result and gives you a WAV. Everything runs in your browser: your file never leaves your device.

Updated · Built by Kevin Tabares, long-form YouTube editor at Umbrella Creators.

Normalize the loudness of a file

Your file stays on your device. Nothing is uploaded: your browser measures and processes the audio and writes the new file right here, in this tab.

How to use it

  1. Choose the audio or the finished video (WAV, MP3, M4A, MP4, MOV or WEBM, up to 60 minutes).
  2. Leave the target on -14 LUFS for YouTube and the ceiling on -1 dBFS, or change them, and press Normalize.
  3. Read the before and after, listen to the result and download the WAV. A long file takes a few seconds to process.

Why -14: YouTube normalizes playback. In my loudness study the loud videos played at -14.0 dB in YouTube's own player, and the quiet ones near -24 were not raised. Mixing to about -14 LUFS means your video is not turned down and does not play quieter than the one before it.

FAQ

What loudness should I use for YouTube?
YouTube turns loud videos down to about -14 LUFS and does not turn quiet ones up. In my study of 50 big-channel videos, files from -7.4 to -13.2 LUFS played at -14.0 dB in the player, and files near -24 stayed quiet. So -14 LUFS is the practical target for a voice-led video: louder only gets turned down, quieter plays softer than the videos around it.
How does this normalizer work?
It measures the integrated loudness of your file with the ITU-R BS.1770 method (the one behind LUFS), raises or lowers the whole file to your target, and runs a look-ahead limiter so no sample goes over the peak ceiling (-1 dBFS by default). Limiting lowers the loudness a little, so it measures again and corrects the gain before writing the new WAV.
Will it change how my audio sounds?
Mostly it only changes the volume. The limiter only touches the loudest peaks, and the result tells you how much of the file it had to limit. If that number is high, the file was very dynamic or very quiet, and a gentle compressor in your editor before normalizing will sound more natural than limiting a lot.
Can I use it on a video file?
Yes: choose the video and you get its audio as a normalized WAV. Put that WAV back in your editor in place of the original audio and export again. It does not re-encode the video itself.
Does it upload my file?
No. Your browser decodes the audio, measures and processes it, and writes the new WAV on your own device; nothing leaves this tab and nothing is downloaded.

Who made this

I'm Kevin Tabares. I've edited long-form YouTube videos since 2015 (1,277 videos and 152.2M+ views tracked on YT Jobs) for channels like Rex & Alexa, Puff and Mud. Every video I deliver is mixed to the loudness YouTube plays back, and this tool does that last step for you in seconds, without uploading anything. If you want an editor for your channel, get in touch.

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