Listeners jumping between shows and hitting wildly different volumes is the most common production complaint in podcasting. To solve it, platforms publish “loudness” specs — measured not at the waveform’s peak but in LUFS, the loudness unit defined by the international standard ITU-R BS.1770, which averages perceived loudness across the whole episode. Skip loudness processing after editing and your show will play noticeably quieter (or get turned down) on the platforms.
Apple’s official “Audio requirements” document gives concrete numbers: episode loudness should land at -16 LUFS (±1 dB), with true peak no higher than -1 dBTP to avoid distortion on playback. Accepted formats include AAC and MP3.
Apple’s recommendation is referenced to stereo; mono spoken-word programs can relax the target by about 3 dB.
Spotify’s official help page (Spotify for Artists: Loudness normalization) states the platform normalizes playback to about -14 LUFS by default — louder content gets turned down, and quieter content may be turned up in some contexts. In other words, mastering your show extra loud will not make it louder; it only sacrifices dynamics.