Guide
The best loudness (LUFS) for Instagram Reels, TikTok and YouTube
Short answer: export Reels, TikToks and Shorts at about -16 LUFS integrated, and longer YouTube videos and podcasts at about -14 LUFS, always with the true peak at or below -1 dBTP. What matters more than the exact number is a voice that stays at the same level from start to finish.
I'm a sound engineer. Here's what those numbers mean and how we use them.
What LUFS actually measures
LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) measures how loud something feels, not how high its peaks go. "Integrated" means the average over the whole video. Two videos can both peak at -1 dB and still sound very different: the one with a higher LUFS value sounds louder.
The numbers by platform
| Platform | Export at | Peak |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram Reels | about -16 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
| TikTok | about -16 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
| YouTube Shorts | about -16 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
| YouTube videos and podcasts (over 3 minutes) | about -14 LUFS | -1 dBTP |
A note on where these come from: YouTube turns down videos that are louder than about -14 LUFS, as many engineers have measured, but it doesn't turn up videos that are quieter. Instagram and TikTok don't publish an official target. For short videos we use -16 LUFS: it sounds full in the feed and leaves the voice room to breathe instead of squashing it. Going up to -14 is fine if your mix stays clean. For long videos we use -14, because YouTube is where most of them end up and a quieter long video just sounds quieter than the next one.
Why louder is not better
Pushing a reel to -9 or -10 LUFS with a heavy limiter makes it sound big for a second, then tiring. The limiter flattens the voice, the music loses its punch, and on YouTube the video simply gets turned down anyway. You end up quieter and worse.
Why the peak matters
The true peak is the highest point of the waveform after conversion. Keep it at -1 dBTP or lower. When platforms re-encode your audio to AAC, peaks above that can distort, and you hear little crackles on loud words.
How to check it in your editor
- Premiere Pro: the Loudness Meter effect on the mix, or "Loudness Normalization" in the export settings.
- DaVinci Resolve: Fairlight's loudness meter, and in Deliver, "Normalize audio levels".
- CapCut and phone editors: no meter, so export and check with a free tool (for example Youlean Loudness Meter on desktop).
- Final Cut Pro: a loudness meter plugin on the main output.
The common mistake
Normalizing the whole mix to -14 LUFS when the voice itself jumps up and down. The average is right but some sentences are too quiet and others too loud. Fix the voice first (a leveler or a gentle compressor), then set the final loudness.
If you'd rather not think about it
AudioReel delivers every video already at these values: -16 LUFS for reels and short videos, -14 LUFS for videos over 3 minutes, with the voice evened out and the peak around -1 dBTP. But any editor with a meter can get you there with the numbers above.
FAQ
Is -14 LUFS right for Instagram Reels?
It works, but we use -16 LUFS for short videos: it sounds just as full in the feed and keeps the voice more natural. Either way, keep the true peak at or below -1 dBTP.
Will YouTube make my quiet video louder?
No. YouTube turns loud videos down, but it doesn't turn quiet ones up, so a video at -20 LUFS will stay quieter than the rest.
What's the difference between LUFS and dB?
dB on a meter shows peaks, the highest instant. LUFS shows perceived loudness over time. For platforms, LUFS is what counts, with the peak as a safety limit.