Is my master clipping?

Upload a track above and you'll see its true peak in dBFS in about thirty seconds, alongside integrated LUFS and dynamic range. If the peak is over -1 dBFS, the analysis flags it and tells you whether it's worth fixing — and if the file is already audibly clipped, you'll see that too. Free, no account, file deleted after analysis.

Why your DAW says it's fine but your phone disagrees

Your DAW meters the samples. The listener hears the reconstructed waveform between the samples — and on a loud master, that waveform swings higher than any single sample. Those are inter-sample peaks. A good DAC rides through them; the cheap ones in phones and earbuds clip them. Lossy encoding makes it worse: AAC and Ogg transcodes push peaks up by a dB or more. That's the gap a true peak meter closes: it measures what playback reconstructs, not what the file stores.

What true peak do you actually need?

-1 dBTP covers streaming. Spotify suggests -2 dBTP only for masters louder than -14 LUFS, because transcoding pushes peaks. You'll see -3 dBTP recommended around the internet — that's broadcast and Netflix delivery spec, not music streaming, and on a dense master that extra headroom isn't free: every dB you give back is loudness you paid for elsewhere in the chain.

Clipping isn't always the enemy

Deliberate clipping is a mastering tool. A true-peak clipper shaves transients cleanly and gets density a limiter can't reach without pumping — it's how a lot of loud rock and electronic masters are made. The difference between grit and damage is choice: overs you put there on purpose, versus overs you found out about from a listener's earbuds. The checker tells you which one you have. And if you master here, the loud path uses a true-peak clipper you control — with every intermediate stage peak-checked.

Related: Free LUFS checker · How loud is my song? · Free mix analysis & AI mastering