E · AUDIO LOUDNESS
True peak (dBTP)
The real ceiling of your audio — and the safe limit.
By Thomas Linck, founder · Updated June 2026
True peak, measured in dBTP (decibels true peak), estimates the highest point the analog waveform actually reaches between digital samples. It can be higher than the sample peak your editor shows. The safe ceiling is −1 dBTP.
WHY IT MATTERS
When a platform re-encodes your video to a lossy codec, inter-sample peaks can push past 0 and clip — adding crackle and harshness that was not in your export. Leaving 1 dB of true-peak headroom prevents that, even if your sample peaks looked fine at −0.1.
TARGET · STANDARD
| True peak | ≤ −1 dBTP | platform-safe ceiling |
| Sample peak | can read lower | not the same thing |
| Fix | true-peak limiter | ceiling at −1 dBTP |
How CutScore measures it
CutScore measures true peak with an oversampling meter, not just sample peak, and flags any stretch above −1 dBTP with the timestamp — so you know exactly where to drop a limiter. True peak is measured per ITU-R BS.1770.
RELATED TERMS
QUESTIONS
Frequently asked.
−1 dBTP. It leaves enough headroom that lossy re-encoding on the platform will not introduce clipping.
Because the real waveform peaks between samples. A true-peak meter reconstructs those inter-sample peaks; a normal peak meter does not.