How to Master for Amazon Music

Illustration of how to master for Amazon Music: headphones feeding three level meters matched at a moderate level, with headroom left above, as a volume normalizer sets it

To master for Amazon Music, finish your track so it sounds right at around -14 LUFS integrated with true peak at -1 dBTP or lower, then confirm both readings in a free volume normalizer before the file goes to your distributor. One caveat: Amazon has never published an official loudness number for music, so -14 LUFS is a well-measured estimate, not a spec. The check itself takes a couple of minutes in your browser, and your audio never leaves your device.

What loudness does Amazon Music actually use?

Amazon's own documentation for music is silent on LUFS. The Amazon Music audio-format docs cover codecs and bit depths, and the Amazon Music for Artists FAQ covers distribution. Neither gives a loudness target. The figure everyone quotes comes from engineers measuring what the app does on playback.

Number Where it comes from Published by Amazon for music?
About -14 LUFS Community measurement (Production Advice, 2019) No
About -13 LUFS Some mastering sources, for example Sage Audio No
-14 LUFS / -2 dBTP Amazon's spec for Alexa skills and flash briefings Yes, but not for music

Whichever figure is right, the 2019 measurements show the same pattern: tracks louder than the reference get turned down, and quiet tracks reportedly aren't turned up. The direction matters more than the exact number. A master far above -14 LUFS gets pulled back, so the dynamic range you gave up buys nothing. A master far below it may just play quieter than the songs around it.

If the unit is new to you, what LUFS means for audio loudness covers it quickly, and how streaming loudness normalization works explains why every major service now levels playback like this.

True peak for Amazon Music: -1 or -2 dBTP?

True peak (dBTP) measures the loudest point of the reconstructed waveform, including the inter-sample peaks an ordinary sample-peak meter misses. What true peak is goes deeper on the difference.

You'll often see "-2 dBTP for Amazon" in mastering advice. As far as we can trace, that comes from Amazon's loudness guidance for Alexa flash briefings, which specifies -14 LUFS and -2 dBTP for audio in Alexa skills and flash briefings. It's a real Amazon number, just not one written for music releases.

There's still a sound reason to leave headroom. On the standard tier, Amazon Music streams Opus, a lossy codec, and lossy encoding can create peaks that weren't in your source file. A master that reads -0.1 dBTP can clip once it's encoded. -1 dBTP is a solid baseline, and it's the ceiling the AES recommends for lossy-encoded streams. -2 dBTP is extra margin for dense, bright or very loud masters.

Does Amazon Music loudness normalization affect your master?

The Amazon Music app has a Loudness Normalization setting in its Android, iOS and Fire OS apps. We couldn't confirm whether it's on by default today, and listeners can change it. So you can't count on normalization being applied, or on it being skipped.

Aim for a master that holds up either way. Around -14 LUFS with controlled peaks sounds balanced with normalization on and holds its own with it off. Push to -7 LUFS and the extra loudness is thrown away whenever normalization is on, leaving you with less dynamic range and nothing to show for it.

What you'll need

  • A finished stereo master, ideally a lossless WAV or FLAC. MP3 works for measuring, but a lossy source makes a poor delivery file.
  • A current desktop or mobile browser. No account, no install.
  • A few minutes to measure, adjust, preview and export.

The normalizer handles one file at a time, so an album means working through the tracks in order. It isn't a batch volume normalizer.

Steps

  1. Do tone and dynamics first. The normalizer applies one gain change. It isn't a compressor or a limiter. If you're still at the mix stage, shape the track in the Audio Master tool first, then come back here to check levels.

  2. Drop your file into the Volume Normalizer. The Before panel shows the track's integrated loudness in LUFS and its true peak as "Peak … dBTP." Write both numbers down.

  3. Choose Loudness (LUFS) mode and a -14 preset. There's no Amazon preset. Use Spotify -14 (YouTube -14 is the same target), because -14 LUFS is where Amazon has been measured to play tracks. Apple Music -16 and Club / Loud -9 are aimed at other uses.

  4. Leave "Prevent clipping (cap true peak at -1 dBTP)" ticked. This caps the gain so the exported WAV stays at or below -1 dBTP, even if hitting -14 LUFS would otherwise need more. The Gain to apply readout shows the exact change, for example -3.2 dB.

  5. Click Preview after-LUFS. The After panel shows the loudness and true peak your exported file will have. If the peak reads -2 dBTP or lower, skip to step 7.

  6. Optional: add a -2 dBTP safety margin. If the After peak is above -2 dBTP and you want more room for Opus encoding, switch to Peak mode and set Target peak to -2.0 dBTP (the slider runs from -6 to 0 in 0.5 dB steps). Peak mode sets the true peak to exactly that value, so the gain drops and integrated loudness lands a little under -14 LUFS. That's the tradeoff: since Amazon reportedly doesn't turn quiet tracks up, the song will play that much quieter. Preview again to see the new numbers.

  7. Export. Choose a format and click Export WAV (the button follows your format choice). WAV is lossless (16-bit) and is the right choice for delivery. MP3 and Opus (where your browser supports it) are handy for reference copies, but the distributor should get the WAV.

What file to send your distributor

Artists can't upload directly to Amazon Music. Releases go through a distributor or label, and the FAQ names services such as DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby. Send the lossless file your distributor asks for. The same master goes to every store, so one well-made master covers Amazon, Spotify and Apple alike.

Amazon then encodes it for each listening tier:

Tier Format Who gets it
Standard Opus, 48 kHz (48, 192 or 320 kbps) Free and Prime listeners
HD FLAC, 16-bit / 44.1 kHz (about 800 kbps) Amazon Music Unlimited
Ultra HD FLAC, 24-bit, up to 192 kHz Amazon Music Unlimited
Spatial Dolby Atmos (separate immersive mix) Amazon Music Unlimited, supported devices

A 16-bit WAV from the normalizer fully covers the HD tier. If you mastered at 24-bit and your distributor accepts it, deliver your original 24-bit master (or make the final gain change in your DAW at 24-bit) so the Ultra HD tier gets the extra resolution. In that case, use the normalizer only to measure and check. Lossy vs lossless audio explains why the lossless source matters even though Free and Prime listeners hear Opus.

Troubleshooting

The track got quieter after normalizing. Your master was louder than -14 LUFS, so the tool turned it down. That's the same reduction Amazon reportedly applies on playback, so listeners with normalization on should hear little or no difference.

It won't reach -14 LUFS. "Prevent clipping" stopped the gain at the -1 dBTP ceiling. Usually a few sharp transients are using up the headroom. More loudness has to come from compression or limiting in the mastering stage. A gain change alone can't do it.

Related

For the full chain from rough mix to release, see how to master a song online for free. The sister guides on how to master for Spotify and how to master for Apple Music show how the same master behaves on other services, what LUFS you should master to compares targets side by side, and the how-to library covers every tool.

Frequently asked questions

What LUFS should I master to for Amazon Music? Aim for about -14 LUFS integrated. Amazon doesn't publish a loudness target for music, but community measurements put its playback reference near -14 LUFS, with some sources saying -13. Louder tracks are turned down and quieter ones reportedly aren't turned up, so around -14 LUFS with true peak at -1 dBTP or lower works well whether or not the listener has normalization on.

Does Amazon Music require -2 dBTP true peak? Not for music, as far as Amazon's published documentation shows. The -14 LUFS and -2 dBTP pairing comes from Amazon's guidance for Alexa flash briefings. For music, -1 dBTP is a sound baseline. Going to -2 dBTP adds extra protection against the inter-sample peaks that lossy Opus encoding on the standard tier can create, at the cost of slightly lower loudness.

Can I upload my master directly to Amazon Music? No. Amazon Music takes releases through distributors and labels, such as DistroKid, TuneCore or CD Baby. You send the distributor a lossless master, usually WAV or FLAC, and it delivers to Amazon along with other stores. Amazon then makes its own Opus and FLAC streams for each tier, so the same master serves every platform.

Do I need a separate master for Amazon Music HD or Ultra HD? No separate loudness master is needed. HD streams FLAC at 16-bit and 44.1 kHz, and Ultra HD streams FLAC at 24-bit, both made from what your distributor sends. If you have a 24-bit master and your distributor accepts it, deliver that so Ultra HD listeners get the full resolution. The loudness and true-peak targets stay the same.