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    Loudness Meter in the browser is not a generate

    /free-tools/loudness-meter never spends a credit. Do not pay a model to do an in-browser file job.

    Versely Team••4 min read

    The Loudness Meter never spends a credit. It is a browser file job: your audio is decoded on this device and shown as peak dBFS, whole-file RMS, and a BS.1770-style integrated estimate. Do not pay a model to "hear how loud this is." Generation on Versely costs credits. This tool does not call a model, an API, or the network.

    People still prompt a video row to "make it podcast-loud." The model will invent a mix. It will not give you a meter. Measure the file you already have.

    Peak, RMS, and an estimate — not a delivery stamp

    Three numbers, one tab:

    • Peak — the single loudest sample, in dBFS. A click or a plosive can hit 0 dBFS while the file still sounds quiet.
    • Average RMS — whole-file RMS, closer to a crude energy average than to perceived loudness.
    • Integrated (est.) — a BS.1770-style figure with K-weighting, 400 ms blocks, a 100 ms hop, and absolute plus relative gates. The UI also reports how many blocks survived gating, plus duration, sample rate, and channel count.

    It is labelled an estimate on purpose. It is not a certified EBU R128 meter. There is no true-peak oversampling. The decoder has already resampled. The filters run in JavaScript. Use a real meter (Youlean, Nugen, ffmpeg ebur128) for a delivery spec. This page is a sanity check, not a stamp.

    Nothing is uploaded. The file is read into memory on your machine, analysed there, and never offered to Versely hardware. That is why it keeps working with the network off, and why it can be free: it does not touch a generate.

    Audio here is capped at 80 MB and 20 minutes once decoded. Compressed files expand into PCM in memory, so a long podcast is heavy even when the mp3 looks small. That guard is local, not a credit gate.

    Credits belong to models, not to meters

    What it costs is the hub for the other thing: every job billed in credits, with the formula published — per second, per 1,000 characters, per megapixel, per call, per export. Video rows are usually duration and resolution. TTS is per 1,000 characters. The loudness tool is not on that hub because its formula is zero.

    Versely has no free tier for generation. Credits are the unit. A "free loudness" pass that quietly spent a video row would contradict that. This surface exists because a biquad in the tab is not a model.

    If you need the file louder, that is an editor or a limiter, not a generate. If you need a new clip that happens to be loud, that is a model — and you still measure the result here.

    Drop the mix you already have. Read peak vs integrated — a file can be peak-limited and quiet; that pairing is the point. Fix the mix in an editor if the estimate is off. Generate picture or voice only when the take is the thing you are buying. Do not regenerate a cinematic row to discover a LUFS number.

    Disconnect the network. The meter still runs.

    When a generate is the right spend

    A 5-second product close, a talking tutor, a 30-second SKU hold: those are models. Loudness of the result is still this tool. Do not prompt the model to "hit −16." Write the mix you want. Measure the file.

    If you have not generated yet, pick the video row first, then meter the export. Paying for a 15-second miss to learn the last one was hot is how a file job becomes a bill.

    FAQ

    Is the loudness meter actually free, or is there a catch?

    Actually free, no account, no limit, because it costs nothing to run. Generation on Versely does cost credits; there is no free tier for that.

    Is this EBU R128? Can I use it for broadcast delivery?

    No. It follows the BS.1770 idea — K-weighting, 400 ms blocks, absolute and relative gates — but it is not a certified meter. Use a real meter for a delivery spec.

    Why is my peak 0 dBFS when the file still sounds quiet?

    Peak is the single loudest sample. A click or a plosive can hit 0 dBFS while RMS and integrated loudness stay low. Loudness is closer to perceived level; peak is what clips.

    Do my files get uploaded anywhere?

    No. The tool runs in your browser. The file is read into memory on your own machine, processed there, and never sent to a server, which is also why it works with the network off.