LUFS for Deezer
Published · updated · by Loopin
Deezer normalises playback like everyone else, so the target is unchanged. The useful part is what it does with the file you deliver.
Target −9 to −14 LUFS, by genre
Deezer applies loudness normalisation on playback in line with the rest of the industry. Mastering louder gets turned down and you keep only the limiting damage.
There is no Deezer-specific loudness. Any advice suggesting one is describing a listener setting rather than a delivery requirement.
Pick the figure by genre and hold it across the release. Two tracks from the same EP arriving three decibels apart is audible when someone plays them back to back, and it is the one loudness problem a listener actually notices.
The lossless tier makes your decisions audible
On a lossy stream, heavy limiting and encoder artefacts blur into each other. On a lossless one they do not — a squashed master arrives exactly as squashed as you made it.
This is a reason to master less aggressively rather than more, because the listeners most likely to notice are disproportionately on the higher tiers.
It also means an over-limited master has nowhere to hide. Where a lossy stream smears the difference between a transient and the distortion that replaced it, a lossless one hands both to the listener intact.
Deliver 16-bit 44.1 or 24-bit, and dither once
Give your distributor the best file you actually have. If your delivery target is 16-bit, dither at that final conversion and nowhere else — dithering twice raises the noise floor audibly, and on a lossless tier somebody will hear it.
Never upsample. A 44.1 kHz session rendered at 96 kHz contains no extra information and some pipelines flag it.
Ceiling at −1 dBTP, or −2 to cover everything
Lower tiers and constrained connections still get lossy streams, and lossy encoding overshoots. One decibel of headroom prevents it and costs nothing because normalisation sets the level.
If you want one file that satisfies every platform including the strictest, use −2 dBTP. Master once at that ceiling and stop maintaining per-platform versions.
Check the metadata, not just the audio
Deezer surfaces artist pages and editorial playlists from metadata, so a misspelled artist name or a missing ISRC costs you more here than a decibel ever will.
Check the artist name matches your other platforms exactly, including capitalisation and any punctuation. Mismatches create duplicate artist pages, and merging them afterwards is slow.
The same applies to track titles and featured artist credits. Deezer builds its artist pages from what the distributor sends, so a feature credited in the title rather than in the artist field does not link back to the other artist at all — which quietly costs you the discovery that collaboration was for.
Frequently asked questions
What LUFS should I use for Deezer?
The same -9 to -14 LUFS integrated range as everywhere else, chosen by genre. Deezer normalises playback like its competitors, so louder gets turned down and you keep only the damage.
Does Deezer support lossless?
Yes, on higher tiers, which makes your mastering decisions more audible rather than changing the target. Heavy limiting arrives exactly as heavy as you made it.
How many times should I dither?
Once, at the final conversion to 16-bit, and never again. Dithering twice raises the noise floor audibly — and on a lossless tier somebody will hear it.