Open it in your browser.
The file is read at 44.1 kHz and measured: its loudest peak in dBFS, and its loudness in LUFS by ITU-R BS.1770.
SOLIPSIUM Super resolution audio engine
Free audio tool
Make a quiet recording louder.
Raise a quiet MP3 or voice memo until its loudest peak reaches -1 dBFS (by up to 40 dB), and go further with a limiter that keeps the peaks there. Then check whether the hiss came up with it.
Drop a quiet recording here
It is made louder in your browser. It stays on your device until you ask for a repair.
MP3, M4A, WAV and more, up to 10 minutes.
Your recording
| Measure | Original | Louder |
|---|---|---|
| Loudness | Not made yet | |
| Loudest peak | Not made yet |
Loudness is integrated loudness by ITU-R BS.1770, in LUFS. The loudest peak is the largest sample, in decibels relative to full scale (dBFS).
This file has one channel and is measured that way, as the standard does: it reads about 3 LU lower than the same sound in two channels.
At +0 dB the loudest peak reaches -1 dBFS, or rises by 40 dB if it started below -41 dBFS. Above that, the limiter turns the sound down around each moment that would pass it, easing in 5 ms before and back up within a quarter of a second.
Original and Louder
Both start at the same moment, so switching lands on the same word. They are not matched in loudness, so you hear how much louder it is.
Save the louder file
Did the hiss come up too?
The quick check listens for background noise, hum and clipping, in your browser. A recording over five minutes is checked through the louder version's first five minutes.
Your first 20 seconds
After signing up, drop the same file into the editor to repair all of it.
What Solipsium hears
Make a free account to repair the whole recording
Then drop the same file into the editor. Scans and short repairs are free.
How it works
Louder, with the peaks held.
A recording can only rise until its loudest peak reaches full scale; past that it clips. This page raises the whole file until that peak reaches -1 dBFS, by up to 40 dB, and when you ask for more, a limiter catches the peaks.
Raise it to the ceiling.
Make it louder adds the gain that brings the loudest peak to -1 dBFS, up to 40 dB. The slider adds up to 12 dB more, and the limiter turns the sound down around each moment that would pass -1 dBFS, easing in 5 ms before it and back up within a quarter of a second, by the same amount in every channel, so the stereo picture stays where it was.
Listen, save, then check.
Switch between Original and Louder at the same moment, save an MP3 or a WAV, and let the quick check listen for hiss and hum that came up with the voice.
Questions
Before you turn it up.
How do I make audio louder without distortion?
Raise it until its loudest peak sits just under full scale; this page stops at -1 dBFS. Past that point the peaks would clip, so the extra loudness slider hands them to a limiter, which turns the sound down around each moment that would pass -1 dBFS and lets it back up within a quarter of a second. Pushed far, the loudest moments can sound squeezed, so compare Original and Louder before you save.
Why did making it louder make the hiss louder?
Gain raises everything in the recording by the same amount, background noise and hum included, and a limiter acts only around the loudest peaks. So the hiss comes up with the voice. Clean the noise first, then raise the level. The quick check on this page listens for background noise and hum, and Solipsium can repair the first 20 seconds for you to hear, with no account.
How loud should a podcast or a YouTube voice be?
Apple recommends that podcasts sit around -16 LKFS, within 1 dB, with true peaks no higher than -1 dBFS. Spotify adjusts music to -14 LUFS. YouTube publishes no number; uploads are commonly measured at about -14 LUFS. LKFS and LUFS are the same unit. This page holds the largest sample at -1 dBFS, and the true peak between samples can sit a little higher, so measure the louder file with the loudness checker.
Should I save an MP3 or a WAV?
A WAV keeps exactly what you heard, as 16-bit samples, and is several times larger. An MP3 at 192 kbps is the size to share or upload. This page saves it at a constant 192 kbps and 44.1 kHz, the MP3 format ACX asks audiobooks to use. ACX also asks for peaks no higher than -3 dB, and this page lets them rise as high as -1 dBFS, so measure an audiobook file with the loudness checker before you send it: it gives an ACX verdict. Turning a file into MP3 can move its peaks a little, one reason the ceiling sits 1 dB under full scale.
Where does my recording go?
Making it louder, measuring it, the quick check and the MP3 all happen in your browser. It stays on your device until you ask for a repair. Pressing Repair the first 20 seconds sends audio to Solipsium's server; the note beside that button says what goes, and the try is deleted within an hour. The privacy notice has the rest.
When the hiss came up too.
The quick check on this page listens for background noise, hum and clipping in your browser. Try a repair of the first 20 seconds with no account, or make a free account to repair the whole recording.
Try a repair on your recording
The check and the 20-second try need no account.