Spotify cannot lift a quiet master to -14 LUFS if True Peak headroom is insufficient

When Spotify applies positive gain to a quiet master (to bring it up to -14 LUFS), the gain correction is constrained by the track’s True Peak ceiling. If applying the full required gain would push a True Peak value above 0 dBFS, Spotify leaves 1 dB of headroom and lifts the track only as far as the True Peak allows. The official example: a track at -20 LUFS with a True Peak maximum of -5 dBFS would ideally need +6 dB of gain to reach -14 LUFS, but that would push the peak to -5 + 6 = +1 dBFS, which would cause clipping. So Spotify lifts it only to -16 LUFS (the most it can without the peak exceeding -1 dBFS). This means a quiet master with peaks near 0 dBFS will never reach -14 LUFS on Spotify — it will play softer than intended compared to normalized tracks.

Examples

Track: -20 LUFS, True Peak: -5 dBFS. Spotify headroom reserve: 1 dB. Maximum gain allowed: -5 + gain ≤ -1 dBFS, so gain ≤ +4 dB. Result: track plays at -16 LUFS instead of -14 LUFS.

Assessment

A mastering engineer delivers a quiet, dynamic master at -22 LUFS with a True Peak of -2 dBFS. To what LUFS level will Spotify lift it? Show the calculation.