How to make audio louder or quieter
- Drop your audio file into the box or choose it. Several files at once work too.
- Set the Volume slider in decibels. Positive values make it louder, negative values make it quieter.
- Listen to the Result player, then download. If the note next to the file says part of the audio was softened, try a smaller boost.
Decibels in plain numbers
Decibels compare levels on a log scale, so each step multiplies rather than adds. These are the factors the slider applies to the waveform:
| Setting | Waveform size |
|---|---|
| +20 dB | 10 times |
| +10 dB | about 3.2 times |
| +6 dB | about 2 times |
| +3 dB | about 1.4 times |
| −6 dB | about half |
| −20 dB | one tenth |
How loud it sounds is a different matter. As a rule of thumb, +10 dB sounds roughly twice as loud, which is why a +6 dB boost feels like a clear step up rather than a doubling.
Soft limiting instead of clipping
Digital audio has a ceiling called full scale. When a boost pushes a peak past it, a simple volume change flattens the top of the wave, which you hear as crackle or fuzz. This tool bends anything above 90% of full scale smoothly toward the ceiling, so loud moments get a little rounder instead of breaking up.
That works well for occasional peaks. If you need a big boost on audio that is already loud, the softening affects a lot of it and the sound gets flat and crowded. In that case a smaller step sounds better, and normalize audio tells you exactly how much room the loudest peak leaves. Everything runs in your browser, so the file never leaves your device.