EBU R128 is the European Broadcasting Union’s loudness standard, and the reference most of the world’s platforms have adopted. It measures audio in LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale) — a perceptual measure of how loud audio actually sounds, rather than how high its peaks are — and sets a target of −23 LUFS integrated loudness for broadcast, with a true-peak ceiling of −1 dBTP.
Platforms apply their own targets derived from the same logic: YouTube normalizes to about −14 LUFS, and podcast and streaming services sit between −14 and −16. Deliver audio louder than the target and the platform turns it down for you — often ungracefully, squashing the dynamics of your mix.
For localized video, loudness normalization is the final QC step. AI-generated voice tracks, studio voice-over, and music beds arrive at different levels; without normalization, the German version booms while the Arabic version whispers, and every platform re-processes them differently.
MediaLocalize delivers every dubbing and video project normalized to EBU R128 loudness with true-peak limiting, plus stems when you need them — audio that passes platform QC on the first upload, in every language.