True Peak Meter

What is a true peak meter?

A true peak meter measures inter-sample peaks — the peak levels that occur between digital audio samples when a signal is reconstructed by a DAC (digital-to-analog converter). Standard sample-peak meters only look at individual samples and can miss peaks that occur between them, especially in heavily limited material. True peak is measured in dBTP (decibels True Peak) using 4x oversampling to estimate the continuous signal's actual maximum. Our free true peak meter reads your file and reports the highest inter-sample peak so you know if your master is safe for streaming.

Why true peak matters for mastering

When a streaming platform or listener's DAC reconstructs your digital audio, the continuous waveform can peak higher than any individual sample. If that inter-sample peak exceeds 0 dBFS, the DAC clips — creating audible distortion even though your sample-peak meter showed no clipping. True peak mastering means setting your limiter ceiling to −1 dBTP so inter-sample peaks never exceed the safe threshold. This is the standard requirement for Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Tidal, and all major DSPs. Without a true peak meter, you're flying blind on whether your master will clip on playback.

What's a safe true peak level?

True peak vs sample peak — what's the difference?

Sample peak (dBFS) measures the amplitude of individual digital samples — the numbers in your audio file. True peak (dBTP) estimates the peak of the continuous analog waveform that a DAC will reconstruct from those samples, using oversampling to detect peaks between samples. True peak is always equal to or higher than sample peak. In heavily limited material, the difference can be 0.5–2 dB — enough to cause clipping that your sample-peak meter completely misses. That's why all mastering engineers use true peak meters for final delivery.

How to fix true peak issues

If your true peak exceeds −1 dBTP, set your limiter's output ceiling to −1 dBTP and enable true peak detection (available in FabFilter Pro-L 2, iZotope Ozone, Waves L2/L3, etc.). For material already mastered without true peak limiting, you may need to reduce output by 1–2 dB to bring inter-sample peaks under control. Never deliver a master that peaks at 0 dBFS sample peak — it will almost certainly have true peak overshoots that clip on playback.