True Peak Explained: Why Your Mix Is Clipping (Even When Your Meter Says It Isn't)

8 min read

Your mix bus meter says -0.1 dB. Nothing is clipping. You export, upload to Spotify, and a week later a listener says your track distorts on the chorus. What happened? Your meter was lying to you.

The number on a standard peak meter is not the actual peak of your audio signal. It's a sample-value measurement — the highest individual digital sample. But digital audio is reconstructed into a continuous analog waveform on playback, and the reconstructed waveform can peak higher than any single sample. Those hidden peaks are called inter-sample peaks, and they're the reason your mix can clip even when your meter says it's clean.

This guide explains what true peak is, why it matters for streaming, and how to measure and fix it before it causes distortion on your listeners' devices.

1. Sample peaks vs. true peaks

Digital audio is stored as discrete samples — 44,100 per second at CD quality. When those samples are played back, a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) reconstructs a continuous waveform using a process called band-limited interpolation. The reconstructed waveform can rise above the level of any individual sample, especially when the audio contains high-frequency content near the Nyquist limit or sharp transients.

A standard peak meter reads sample values. It's fast and cheap, but it misses the actual analog peak. A true peak meter uses oversampling (typically 4x to 16x) to reconstruct the analog waveform and measure its actual peaks. The difference between sample peak and true peak can be 0.5 dB or more — enough to cause audible clipping.

The unit for true peak is dBTP — decibels true peak. When you see a spec like -1.0 dBTP, it means the true peak must not exceed -1.0 dB relative to full scale.

2. Why inter-sample peaks happen

Inter-sample peaks occur when the reconstruction filter "connects the dots" between samples and the curve overshoots the sample values. They're most likely when:

• Loud, limited material — heavy limiting creates square-wave-like shapes that produce overshoots on reconstruction.
• High-frequency content — cymbals, sibilance, and bright synths near the Nyquist frequency.
• Sharp transients — snare hits, claps, and percussion with fast attack.
• Stereo imbalance — when left and right channels have different peaks, the summed mono signal can overshoot more than either stereo channel.

If your mix is heavily limited and bright, you're in the danger zone. Quiet, dynamic material rarely has true peak problems.

3. Why -0.1 dBTP isn't enough

Many producers set their limiter ceiling to -0.1 dBFS, thinking that gives a safety margin. But -0.1 dBFS is a sample peak ceiling — it doesn't account for inter-sample peaks. The actual true peak can still hit 0 dBTP or higher, causing clipping on playback.

Different platforms and delivery formats have different true peak requirements:

• Spotify: -1.0 dBTP
• Apple Music: -1.0 dBTP
• YouTube: -1.0 dBTP
• Tidal: -1.0 dBTP (Masters tier)
• CD: -0.1 dBTP (but many mastering engineers use -0.3 for safety)
• SoundCloud: -1.0 dBTP recommended

For streaming, -1.0 dBTP is the safe target. If you're delivering to multiple platforms, -1.0 covers all of them. Read our Spotify loudness specs guide for the full breakdown of platform targets.

4. How to measure true peak

You need a true peak meter — a standard DAW meter isn't enough. Most modern limiters have built-in true peak meters, but dedicated meters are more reliable.

Popular true peak meters:

• Youlean Loudness Meter — shows integrated LUFS and true peak side by side.
• MeterPlugs Loudness Meter — clean, accurate, and affordable.
• FabFilter Pro-L 2 — limiter with excellent true peak detection and metering.
• Izotope Insight 2 — comprehensive loudness and true peak analysis.
• Free option: TBProAudio dpMeter6 — free, accurate, and supports true peak measurement.

Place the meter last in your master bus chain, after your limiter. Set the meter to read true peak (dBTP) and check the maximum reading across the full track. If it hits -0.1 dBTP or higher, you have a problem — regardless of what your limiter ceiling says.

For a full analysis, upload your mix to MixDiagnose and get a true peak reading alongside loudness, frequency, and dynamics checks in one pass.

5. How to fix true peak clipping

If your true peak is too high, you have three options:

Option A: Lower your limiter's true peak ceiling

Most modern limiters (FabFilter Pro-L 2, Oxford Limiter, RX Maximizer) have a true peak ceiling option. Set it to -1.0 dBTP and the limiter will oversample internally to prevent inter-sample peaks. This is the cleanest solution — the limiter catches the peaks before they become a problem.

If your limiter doesn't have true peak mode, replace it. Free options like Limiter No. 6 (with true peak enabled) work well.

Option B: Reduce the limiter's output ceiling

If you can't enable true peak mode, lower the output ceiling to -1.0 dBFS or lower. This gives the reconstruction filter room to overshoot without hitting 0 dBTP. It's a blunt approach — you lose 1 dB of headroom — but it works.

Option C: Reduce the input gain

If the limiter is being pushed hard (more than 3–4 dB of gain reduction), back off the input gain. Heavy limiting creates more inter-sample peaks. Less limiting means fewer overshoots and a more natural sound.

6. True peak and streaming normalization

Streaming platforms normalize to a target loudness — Spotify to -14 LUFS, Apple Music to -16 LUFS, YouTube to -14 LUFS. If your track is louder than the target, the platform turns it down. If it's quieter, some platforms turn it up (with their own limiter).

Here's where true peak matters: when a platform turns your track down, the peaks come down too — so inter-sample peaks that were at -0.5 dBTP drop to -2.0 dBTP. No problem. But when a platform turns your track up (because you delivered quieter than the target), its own limiter can create new inter-sample peaks that clip on playback.

The solution: deliver at or below the platform's target loudness, with true peak below -1.0 dBTP. This way, the platform never turns you up, and your peaks stay safe. Read our loudness units guide to understand the relationship between LUFS and normalization.

7. True peak in mastering vs. mixing

True peak is primarily a mastering concern — it's the final stage before delivery. But it can affect mixing too:

• Individual track clipping — if a track peaks above 0 dBFS, it clips at the DAC even if your master bus is clean. Check track peaks, not just bus peaks.
• Plugin internal clipping — some plugins (especially analog emulations) can clip internally even when input and output look fine. Use trim plugins to keep levels reasonable.
• Bounce verification — always check the true peak of your final export, not just the live meter. Offline bounce can produce different peaks than real-time playback.

8. Common true peak mistakes

• Trusting the sample peak meter. If your DAW meter says -0.1 dBFS, your true peak could be +0.3 dBTP. Always use a true peak meter for final delivery.
• Setting the limiter ceiling to -0.1 dBFS without true peak mode. This is the most common cause of streaming distortion. Use -1.0 dBTP or enable true peak mode.
• Normalizing after limiting. If you normalize the final file, you undo the limiter's ceiling and can introduce new peaks. Set the level before limiting, not after.
• Ignoring the stereo-to-mono sum. When platforms or devices sum to mono, peaks can be higher than either stereo channel. Check mono true peak separately.
• Only checking the loudest moment. True peak spikes can happen on transients you don't expect — a snare ghost note, a hi-hat accent. Meter the whole track.

9. A true peak workflow you can trust

1. Mix at a reasonable level — master bus peaking around -6 to -3 dBFS.
2. In mastering, set your limiter's true peak ceiling to -1.0 dBTP.
3. Verify with a dedicated true peak meter placed after the limiter.
4. Check the full track — not just the chorus — for the maximum true peak reading.
5. Check mono true peak by summing to mono before the meter.
6. Export and re-import the file; verify the exported file's true peak matches the live reading.

Do this on every deliverable and you'll never have a "sounds distorted on Spotify" problem again.

True peak is one of the easiest things to get wrong and one of the easiest to fix — once you know to look for it. For more on the loudness ecosystem, see our guides on LUFS, compression, and the best mix analysis tools for catching these issues before release.

Ready to find out what's actually wrong with your mix? Try MixDiagnose — free analysis, no signup required. See pricing for advanced features.

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