Glossary
LUFS
Loudness units relative to full scale, a perceived-loudness measurement used to hit podcast platform loudness targets.
LUFS, loudness units relative to full scale, measures how loud audio sounds to human ears over time, rather than just its raw peak level. Two clips can have the same peak dBFS but very different LUFS values if one is consistently loud and the other has quiet stretches, which is why LUFS has become the standard for matching perceived loudness across episodes.
Podcast platforms and apps increasingly normalize playback loudness, turning quiet shows up and loud shows down to a target level. A commonly used stereo podcast target is around -16 LUFS, with some platforms preferring closer to -19 LUFS for mono voice content, so checking the target of the main distribution platform is worth doing before final export.
Most editing tools include a LUFS meter or a one-click loudness normalization option that measures the whole episode and adjusts gain to hit the target. Applying this at the very end of editing, after compression and noise reduction, keeps episode-to-episode loudness consistent for listeners switching between shows or episodes on the same playlist or app.