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Guided workflow variation

-16 LUFS for every episode,from the pilot to the back catalog.

Listeners notice when this week’s episode is quieter than last week’s. WavSpec brings each episode, trailer and ad read to -16 LUFS with a -1 dBTP ceiling, using the Apple Podcasts preset or one you tune yourself, and records the numbers.

Pick Apple Podcasts, or duplicate it for MP3 delivery, add the episodes, and run: each one lands at -16 LUFS under -1 dBTP, with a report.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Get it from Microsoft

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Full WavSpec overview
One-time purchase No telemetry Local-first

windows · re-measured from disk · originals never overwritten · nothing uploads

If this sounds like your week

Every episode is mixed on a different day.

A weekly show is recorded in different rooms with different guests, and each mix lands wherever the session left it. Apple Podcasts describes a target around -16 LKFS with true peak at or below -1 dBFS, and listeners reach for the volume whenever one episode sits far below the one before.

Where tooling usually breaks

Back catalogs, ad reads and trailers all drift.

Relaunching a season means reopening every old episode. Sponsor reads and trailers arrive from other editors at other levels, and Spotify’s audio ad specification has its own list of levels, file settings and edge timings, any of which can bounce a spot back to the host.

Where WavSpec lands

Season in, season out, one target.

Drop a season’s folder in, pick Apple Podcasts or Spotify audio ads, and run it. WavSpec decodes AAC, FLAC and MP3 sources, sets -16 LUFS on every episode, catches overs at the ceiling, pads the silence around ad reads, and hands back WAV for your host or MP3 for the feed, along with a report.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Get it from Microsoft

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Learn more about WavSpec

windows · re-measured from disk · originals never overwritten · nothing uploads

What you get

Feature highlights

Named client specs

ten built-in presets for broadcast, podcast, ad and audiobook delivery, each cited to its source document, plus your own specs, exported and imported as files to share.

Measured per ITU-R BS.1770-5

integrated, short-term and momentary loudness, loudness range, and 4× oversampled true peak, checked against the EBU Tech 3341 and 3342 test signals, plus RMS, noise floor and room tone.

Corrected in one run

gain to the exact target, look-ahead true-peak limiting only where needed, windowed-sinc resampling, bit depth with TPDF dither, and PCM WAV or constant-bit-rate MP3 delivery.

Re-measured from disk

every delivered file is read back and measured again, with up to three passes to land on target, and files that already meet the spec pass unchanged.

A report to send

PDF, HTML, CSV and JSON with before and after values, a loudness timeline per file, client and project details, and a SHA-256 digest for every delivered file.

Audiobook heads and tails

room tone padded with the file’s own room tone or trimmed, digital silence replaced, plain file names, and 192 kbps CBR MP3 for ACX, with originals never overwritten.

Especially when

  • Check a whole batch against the client’s loudness, true-peak and format spec instead of metering and fixing files one at a time
  • Correct loudness, true peaks, sample rate and bit depth in one run, without the gain change pushing peaks over the ceiling
  • Get audiobook chapters within the ACX rules for RMS, peaks, room tone and MP3 format before the upload
  • Send a report with before and after values and a SHA-256 digest for every file, with the audio kept on the PC and the originals untouched

Who benefits

Real-world scenarios

A weekly interview show

Each episode is exported from the edit as a stereo WAV, and the host’s upload page asks for WAV or FLAC at 44.1 kHz or higher for subscriber audio.

Choose the Apple Podcasts preset: each episode is set to -16 LUFS within ±1 LU, limited to -1 dBTP, and delivered as stereo PCM WAV. The detail pane shows the short-term loudness timeline, so a guest who ran hot is easy to spot.

Relaunching a back catalog

Two years of episodes exist only as 128 kbps MP3 files at different levels, and the show is relaunching them on a new feed with a consistent sound.

Duplicate Apple Podcasts, switch Delivery container to MP3 at the bit rate the feed uses, and run the whole archive folder. WavSpec decodes each MP3, sets -16 LUFS, limits overs, and encodes a constant-bit-rate MP3, with a report covering every episode.

Ad reads for Spotify audio ads

A host records five ad reads that will run as Spotify audio ads, and the spec calls for 192 kbps MP3 at 44.1 kHz with half a second of silence at the top and tail.

The Spotify audio ads preset sets each read to -16 LUFS, holds peaks under -2 dBTP, pads the head and tail to at least 0.5 seconds, checks the 60-second maximum, and writes 192 kbps CBR MP3 to the delivery folder.

Deep dive

Podcast loudness for Apple Podcasts, Spotify ads and your own feed

Why -16. Apple Podcasts asks for loudness around -16 LKFS with a ±1 dB tolerance, measured per ITU-R BS.1770, and a true peak no higher than -1 dBFS, and Sound Check normalizes playback toward -16 when loudness metadata is present. Spotify’s audio ad specification uses -16 LUFS ±1.5 with a -2 dBTP ceiling. A mix delivered at -16 plays back close to the level it was made at.

True peak at -1. Podcast audio is encoded to MP3 or AAC, and encoding can create peaks between samples. WavSpec measures true peak 4× oversampled per BS.1770-5 and holds it with a look-ahead limiter, with a 0.5 dB margin when the delivery is MP3, then measures the encoded file again.

WAV for the host, MP3 for the feed. Apple’s subscriber audio upload takes WAV or FLAC at 44.1 kHz or higher, while RSS feeds carry MP3 or AAC. The built-in Apple Podcasts preset delivers stereo PCM WAV for the host to encode. For a direct RSS upload, duplicate it and choose MP3 (constant bit rate, Windows encoder) under Delivery container, at the bit rate you publish.

Ads with exact edges. Spotify audio ads are MP3 at 44.1 kHz and 192 kbps, stereo, with 0.5 seconds of silence at the top and tail. The Spotify audio ads preset sets the loudness, holds the ceiling, pads short heads and tails, checks the 60-second maximum, and writes 192 kbps CBR MP3.

Any source format. Episodes arrive as WAV, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, AAC, M4A or WMA. WavSpec decodes the compressed formats through Windows, resamples when the rate differs, and normalizes from there.

One season, one sound. The report’s consistency line shows the spread of loudness and true peak across the batch, so you can see the whole season sits within a fraction of a LU, and the short-term timeline for each episode shows where a segment ran loud or quiet.

Hands-off for weekly shows. Point the Watch folder at the folder your editor exports to and choose Start watching (Ctrl+W). Each new episode is picked up once it has finished writing, corrected under the selected spec, and added to the growing report.

How it is built

Built to change only what the spec needs, and show the numbers.

Verified from disk

Every delivered file is read back and measured again, with up to three passes to land on target. The report’s After columns and SHA-256 digests describe the exact bytes delivered.

Originals never overwritten

Sources are opened read-only. Delivered files go to a separate delivery folder as a temporary file moved into place, and Broadcast Wave bext, iXML and LIST chunks are carried across.

Nothing leaves your PC

No account, no telemetry, no update check and no cloud processing. Measurement and correction run on your PC. One-time purchase in the Microsoft Store.

FAQ

Straight answers—no glossary dump

What loudness should a podcast be?

Around -16 LUFS integrated for most podcast platforms. Apple Podcasts asks for about -16 LKFS with a ±1 dB tolerance and a true peak no higher than -1 dBFS, and Spotify’s audio ad specification uses -16 LUFS ±1.5 with a -2 dBTP ceiling. LKFS and LUFS are the same measurement. Check your host’s own sheet, then set the target in a WavSpec spec.

How do I normalize a whole season of episodes at once?

Add the season’s folder to WavSpec with Add folder or by dragging it in, choose Apple Podcasts under Client specification, and press Check and correct batch. Each episode is decoded if needed, set to -16 LUFS, limited to -1 dBTP, and delivered to the delivery folder, with a PDF, HTML, CSV and JSON report covering every episode.

Can WavSpec deliver MP3 for my podcast feed?

Yes. Duplicate the Apple Podcasts preset in Client specifications, choose MP3 (constant bit rate, Windows encoder) under Delivery container, and set the bit rate. WavSpec encodes with the MP3 encoder built into Windows after correction and measures the MP3 it wrote, so the report shows the loudness and true peak of the file your listeners download.

What happens to my original audio files?

They stay exactly as they were. WavSpec opens originals read-only and writes every delivered file to the delivery folder you choose, first as a temporary file and then moved into place. If the delivery folder is the source folder, the delivered file gets a new name, so the original is never overwritten. Copies renamed for a platform’s file-name rule are new files too, and the source keeps its name.

Does my audio leave the PC, and how do I get WavSpec?

Your audio stays on this PC. WavSpec opens no network connection: there is no account, no telemetry, no update check and no cloud processing, and settings, specs and the log stay in your local app data folder. It runs on Windows 11 version 22H2 or later on an x64 PC. WavSpec is a one-time purchase in the Microsoft Store, and the Store runs a 15-day free trial of the full product.

Related pages

A folder of WAVs in, every file at the target LUFS. Every chapter checked against ACX, and the fixable ones fixed. -24 LKFS for every spot, checked and corrected in a batch.

A batch of audio in.
A verified delivery and its report out.

WavSpec checks every file against the client’s spec, corrects loudness, true peak, sample rate and bit depth in one run, re-measures each delivered file from disk, and writes a PDF, HTML, CSV and JSON report. Originals are never overwritten, nothing uploads, and the Microsoft Store runs a 15-day free trial.

Pay once. Own it forever.

One-time purchase on the Microsoft Store · No subscription · Instant install

Get it from Microsoft

Buy through the Microsoft Store—instant install, automatic updates, and a Microsoft receipt for easy expensing. No account needed on our site, and no subscription on Store purchases.

Open full product page

ACX and Audible are trademarks of Audible, Inc. or its affiliates. Apple Podcasts is a trademark of Apple Inc. Spotify is a trademark of Spotify AB. EBU R 128, ATSC A/85 and the other named specifications belong to their publishers. WavSpec is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.

Technical specifications

Technical specifications for procurement

Spec Implementation
Data Sovereignty Reads only the files and folders you add, or the watch folder you choose, and opens originals read-only; writes delivered files and reports only to the delivery folder you pick, as a temporary file moved into place; settings, specs and the log stay in your local app data folder on this PC
Telemetry Status None; no account, no telemetry, no update check, and the app opens no network connection
Core Runtime C# on a self-contained .NET 10 runtime with WPF, packaged as MSIX for the Microsoft Store; loudness metering, true-peak detection, resampling and limiting are implemented natively; AIFF is read with NAudio, and MP3, AAC, FLAC and WMA use the Windows Media Foundation codecs
Network Requirements Fully functional offline; WavSpec makes no network connections, and the Microsoft Store handles the trial and purchase
Deployment Compatibility Windows 11 version 22H2 or later, x64, with 4 GB of RAM and about 150 MB of disk; one-time purchase on the Microsoft Store with a 15-day free trial
Inputs WAV, BWF, RF64, AIFF, FLAC, MP3, AAC/M4A and WMA; mono, stereo, 5.1 and 7.1; files, whole folders, or a watch folder
Measurement ITU-R BS.1770-5 integrated loudness, EBU Tech 3341 short-term and momentary loudness, Tech 3342 loudness range, 4× oversampled true peak, sample peak, whole-file RMS, noise floor, and head and tail room tone
Correction Gain to the exact LUFS or RMS target, look-ahead true-peak limiting, windowed-sinc resampling, bit depth and float conversion with TPDF dither, CBR MP3 through the Windows encoder, room-tone padding and trimming, and plain file names on delivered copies
Built-in specs EBU R 128 v5.0, EBU R 128 s1, UK DPP AS-11, ARD/ZDF/ORF TV (2025), ATSC A/85 (2026) full-mix / short-form, Apple Podcasts, Spotify audio ads, ACX audiobook, Author’s Republic audiobook, and generic 48 kHz / 24-bit; user specs export and import as files
Verification Every delivered file is read back from disk and measured again, with up to three passes to land on target
Outputs Corrected PCM WAV or CBR MP3 in a separate delivery folder, with bext, iXML, LIST and cue chunks kept and verified loudness written to bext (EBU Tech 3285 v2)
Report PDF, HTML, CSV and JSON with before and after values per criterion, loudness timelines, a batch consistency line, client and project details, and SHA-256 digests of delivered and source files
Automation Watch folder in the app (Ctrl+W); command line with --spec, --out, --check-only and exit codes for scripts