Why your YouTube audio sounds too quiet
YouTube videos downloaded from your phone or saved offline often sound quiet because YouTube applies its own loudness normalization that targets −14 LUFS. If the original recording was quiet, the result lands well below your phone's comfortable listening level. Boost the audio track separately, then reattach it to the video, or use this tool to fix any quiet MP3 ripped from a YouTube source.
When to use this YouTube booster
- Quiet YouTube audiobook or podcast rips
- Background music tracks lifted from YouTube videos
- Lecture and tutorial audio that sounds too soft on your phone
Pro tips for YouTube
- Run the boosted MP3 through a quick listen test on your phone speaker — what sounds fine on headphones can be muddy on small speakers.
- If you're re-encoding to upload back to YouTube, output WAV here and let YouTube's transcoder do the MP3 work.
Frequently asked questions
Why are some YouTube videos so much quieter than others?
YouTube normalizes uploads to −14 LUFS but only for content that was mastered above that threshold. Quiet uploads aren't boosted, so they play back at whatever loudness the creator delivered. The result: jarring volume jumps between videos. Boost the audio separately to make it comfortable.
Does YouTube allow boosted audio uploads?
Yes — your uploaded audio is treated like any other. YouTube will normalize loud content down to −14 LUFS, so boosting helps quiet content reach a comfortable baseline. Avoid boosting already-loud audio because the platform will compress it back down anyway.
What's the best boost level for YouTube audio?
+6 dB is the sweet spot for most quiet YouTube rips. +12 dB if the source is whisper-level. Keep the limiter on — YouTube's encoder will react badly to clipped audio.