How to Optimize Loudness & File Format in Your Audacity Podcast

Mike Russell

2 days ago

audacity podcast - How to Optimize Loudness & File Format in Your Audacity Podcast

As a podcaster, there are a few key things to check before uploading your new episode. Whether you’re just getting started or refining your workflow, mastering loudness standards and file formatting is essential for creating a professional-sounding Audacity podcast.

In this Audacity podcast tutorial, I’ll walk you through the steps to make sure your podcast meets platform requirements, sounds great, and is exported in the correct format—using Audacity, the powerful (and free) audio editing tool.

🎚️ Hitting Loudness Standards in Audacity

One of the most important aspects of producing a professional Audacity podcast is ensuring consistent loudness throughout your episode. Nothing disrupts a listener’s experience more than wildly varying volumes between speakers or segments.

Why Loudness Matters

For podcasts, the standard loudness range is typically between -16 LUFS and -20 LUFS. Here’s a quick breakdown:

Apple Podcasts adjusts everything to -16 LUFS
Spotify has a limit around -14 LUFS

So it’s best to normalize your episode’s loudness before uploading.

How to Normalize Loudness in Audacity:

Select all tracks by pressing CTRL / CMD + A.
Go to Effects > Volume and Compression > Loudness Normalization.
In the popup:
- Set “Perceived Loudness” as your normalization method.
- Enter your desired LUFS level (e.g. -16 LUFS).
- Untick “Normalize stereo channels independently” (most Audacity podcasts are mono).
- Tick “Treat mono as dual-mono”.
Click Apply.

This will even out the overall volume, so every part of your podcast sounds clear and consistent.

Loudness Normalization takes into account the overall sound of the audio you’ve highlighted and normalizes it to be the same level as everything else. So even if you have different clips in your timeline, it will normalize all of them and ensure that no segment is too loud or too quiet.

On the Loudness Normalization tab, choose Perceived Loudness as your normalize process and input the amount of loudness level in the LUFS box. I suggest you untick ‘normalize stereo channels independently’ because most podcasts are mono and speech-based. Finally, make sure to tick ‘treat mono as dual-mono’.

Click Apply to save the changes.

💾 Best Export Settings for Your Audacity Podcast

Choosing the right file format is critical—not just for sound quality, but also for compatibility with platforms like Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

How to Export Your Podcast in Audacity:

Go to File > Export Audio > Export to Computer.
In the Export Audio dialog:
- Format: Select MP3 Files.
- Channels: Choose Mono for speech-only shows. Use Stereo only if you’re including music or effects.
- Sample Rate: Set to 44100 Hz (the standard for podcast audio).
- Bit Rate Mode: Select Constant.
- Quality: Use 128 kbps. If using Mono, you can go lower (like 96 kbps) to save space without losing quality.

Once your settings are correct, hit Export. Your Audacity podcast is now ready to upload to your favorite podcast platform!

Then on the Export Audio tab, choose MP3 Files under Format. MP3 is the most common and recommended file format for audio podcasts. It is designed to compress a sound sequence into a small file size while maintaining playback quality. Other format types like WAVs and AIFFs offer the highest quality sound through lossless compression, but they’re usually too large.

As for Channels, Mono is generally recommended especially if your podcast is speech only. However, if you are including music and jingles, you can choose Stereo. The only difference is Mono saves more space.

Next, for the Sample Rate, 44100 Hz is recommended for audio podcasts. If you’re working with video, 48000 Hz is the better choice.

For Bit Rate Mode, always choose Constant. Never select anything else.

Finally, choose 128 kbps for Quality. However, you can go lower to 96 kbps if you are exporting a Mono track. You won’t notice much of a difference in terms of quality and at the same time, you can save a bit of space.

Once you are happy with everything, click Export. And that’s it, you exported your podcast episode using Audacity with the correct loudness and the right format. You can now upload it to different platforms and reach the world with your show.

If you prefer to watch the video version of this Audacity podcast tutorial, check my YouTube video.

Final Thoughts

Getting your Audacity podcast to hit the right loudness levels and file format ensures your show sounds professional and is ready for distribution across any platform. Using tools like Loudness Normalization and the correct export settings in Audacity gives you more control over your audio, even if you’re just starting out.

Podcasting is all about connection—and clean, well-leveled audio helps your voice shine through.

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