--- title: "Apple Music — Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos delivery" description: "Apple Music requires immersive audio not to exceed −18 LKFS and −1 dBTP, measured per ITU-R BS.1770-4, delivered as 24-bit ADM BWF at 48 or 96 kHz. Upmixing from stereo is not allowed." canonical_url: "https://elephantaudio.pk/reference/apple-music-atmos" type: "Article" date_modified: "2026-09-18T19:35:56.381Z" publisher: "Elephant Audio" publisher_url: "https://elephantaudio.pk" source_kind: "published-standard" source_url: "https://help.apple.com/itc/videoaudioassetguide/en.lproj/itcf946aaace.html" source_fetched_at: "2026-09-19" entities: - name: "Lahore" type: "City" same_as: - "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11739" - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lahore" - name: "Pakistan" type: "Country" same_as: - "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q843" - "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan" author: name: "Abu Bakar Zahid" role: "Founder, Managing Director & Music Producer at Elephant Audio" url: "https://elephantaudio.pk/founder" same_as: - "https://www.linkedin.com/in/abubakarzahid94" - "https://www.youtube.com/@AbuBakarZahid" - "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12369947/" - "https://open.spotify.com/artist/1vsRY1hLmqEBXcx5xeKs0m" - "https://music.apple.com/us/artist/abu-bakar-zahid/1654787374" - "https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/190524117" - "https://on.soundcloud.com/EnpcD" - "https://www.instagram.com/abubakarzahid94/" - "https://www.facebook.com/abubakarzahid9400/" - "https://twitter.com/abubakarzahid94" - "https://soundsofpakistan.com/artist/abu-bakar-zahid/" person: "Abu Bakar Zahid" person_same_as: - "https://www.linkedin.com/in/abubakarzahid94" - "https://www.youtube.com/@AbuBakarZahid" - "https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12369947/" - "https://open.spotify.com/artist/1vsRY1hLmqEBXcx5xeKs0m" - "https://music.apple.com/us/artist/abu-bakar-zahid/1654787374" - "https://www.deezer.com/us/artist/190524117" - "https://on.soundcloud.com/EnpcD" - "https://www.instagram.com/abubakarzahid94/" - "https://www.facebook.com/abubakarzahid9400/" - "https://twitter.com/abubakarzahid94" - "https://soundsofpakistan.com/artist/abu-bakar-zahid/" --- # Apple Music — Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos delivery ## What does Apple Music require for a Dolby Atmos master? Apple Music requires immersive audio not to exceed −18 LKFS and −1 dB TP, both measured per ITU-R BS.1770-4, delivered as a 24-bit LPCM Broadcast Wave Format ADM file at 48 or 96 kHz. The Atmos master must come from multitracks: upmixing from a stereo release, de-mixing stems out of one, and adding reverb to a stereo mix in the sound field are all disallowed. −18 LKFS integrated ceiling (must not exceed; quieter is permitted) · −1 dB TP true peak ceiling (measured per ITU-R BS.1770-4) · 24-bit ADM BWF (48 kHz or 96 kHz LPCM) · 50 ms conform tolerance (immersive against the stereo source) This one really is a delivery specification: Most platform loudness numbers in circulation are normalisation: the platform measures what was uploaded and applies gain on playback, and nothing is rejected. Apple's immersive requirements are the other kind. They are stated as limits a delivered asset must satisfy, in the same provider documentation that governs whether an asset is accepted. So the practical posture is the opposite of the streaming one. For a stereo release the useful advice is to stop chasing a number and leave true-peak headroom. Here there is a number, it is a ceiling, and exceeding it is a delivery problem rather than a taste problem. The published figures: From Apple's Immersive Audio Source Profile, read 2026-09-19. Both measurements cite the same standard: - Integrated loudness must not exceed −18 LKFS, measured per ITU-R BS.1770-4. - True-peak level must not exceed −1 dB TP, measured per ITU-R BS.1770-4. - Dolby Atmos is delivered as a Broadcast Wave Format Audio Definition Model (ADM) file. - 24-bit linear PCM, at 48 kHz or 96 kHz — a 96 kHz Atmos master is converted to 48 kHz for output. - 5.1 and 7.1 surround deliver instead as LPCM in .mov containers, at 16-bit or 24-bit. - The difference between the most recently delivered stereo source and the immersive source durations must be 50 milliseconds or less. - For gapless playback, each track boundary must fall within 0.5 seconds of the same boundary in the stereo master. The rule that decides who can actually do this: > "A Dolby Atmos track must be created from multitracks or stems created from multitracks. Upmixing from a stereo release is not allowed." — Apple Music Provider Support. Delivering Dolby Atmos audio, read 2026-09-19 Why the provenance rule matters more than the loudness figure: Apple disallows three separate routes to a fake immersive master: upmixing from a stereo release, extracting or de-mixing stems out of a stereo release, and taking a stereo mix, placing it in the sound field and adding ambience or reverb. Read together they say something a loudness number cannot. The requirement is not that the result sounds a particular way — it is that the material genuinely exists as multitracks. There is no processing chain, and no separation tool however good, that satisfies a rule written about where the audio came from. ⚠️ That is also why an immersive mix cannot be retrofitted to a finished record whose sessions are gone. The decision to keep multitracks archived is taken years before anyone asks for an Atmos version, and it is the thing that makes one possible. What this does not tell you: Stated so the page is not read as more complete than it is: - Binaural render mode settings and binaural peak limiting are governed by Dolby's own master delivery specification, which is distributed as an image-only PDF and was not transcribed here. Nothing about them is asserted on this page. - Apple publishes no numeric loudness target for its stereo catalogue. The figures above are the immersive profile only. - Royalty treatment of Spatial Audio is reported in the trade press rather than stated in the delivery documentation, so no figure for it appears here. Sources: - Apple Video and Audio Asset Guide — Immersive Audio Source Profile — The loudness, true-peak, format and conform figures. Read 2026-09-19.: https://help.apple.com/itc/videoaudioassetguide/en.lproj/itcf946aaace.html - Apple Music Provider Support — Delivering Dolby Atmos audio — The multitrack requirement and the three prohibitions. Read 2026-09-19.: https://itunespartner.apple.com/music/support/5216-delivering-dolby-atmos-audio ## Frequently asked questions ### Should a Dolby Atmos master be mixed to −18 LKFS? No — it must not exceed −18 LKFS, which is a different instruction. Anything quieter is permitted. Summaries that render the requirement as a target turn a ceiling into a goal, and mixing up to meet it spends dynamic range that the specification never asked for. ### Can an existing stereo album be converted to Dolby Atmos? Not for Apple Music. The Atmos track must be created from multitracks or stems made from multitracks, and Apple explicitly disallows upmixing from a stereo release, de-mixing stems out of one, and placing a stereo mix in the sound field with added ambience. If the multitracks no longer exist, there is no compliant route to an immersive version. ### How closely must the Atmos version match the stereo one? Apple requires the immersive and most recently delivered stereo sources to differ in duration by no more than 50 milliseconds, and for gapless records each track boundary must fall within 0.5 seconds of the stereo boundary. In practice that means the immersive mix is conformed to the stereo edit rather than treated as an independent cut. ### Is −18 LKFS comparable to Spotify's −14 LUFS? They are the same unit measured the same way and they are not comparable requirements. Apple's figure is a delivery ceiling for immersive assets. Spotify's is a playback normalisation target for stereo, applied after upload, which nothing is rejected for missing. ## Related - [Spotify's playback normalisation, for contrast](https://elephantaudio.pk/reference/spotify/raw) - [The measurement standard both cite](https://elephantaudio.pk/reference/itu-r-bs1770/raw) - [Delivery specs versus playback normalisation](https://elephantaudio.pk/guides/broadcast-loudness-specs/raw) - [Mixing and mastering to delivery spec](https://elephantaudio.pk/services/mix-master/raw) ## Studio - **Studio:** Elephant Audio — Lahore, Pakistan - **Founder:** Abu Bakar Zahid — Founder, Managing Director & Music Producer at Elephant Audio - **Website:** https://elephantaudio.pk - **Contact:** abubakar@elephantaudio.pk