--- title: "France — Loudness of Television Programmes and Commercials" description: "France's deliberation 2011-29 sets −23 LUFS for television, caps commercials at −20 LUFS short-term, and limits dialogue dynamics to ±7 LU — stricter than EBU R 128 s1 and legally binding." canonical_url: "https://elephantaudio.pk/reference/france-loudness" type: "Article" date_modified: "2026-09-23T00:59:09.381Z" publisher: "Elephant Audio" publisher_url: "https://elephantaudio.pk" source_kind: "published-standard" source_url: "https://www.arcom.fr/en/find-out-more/legal-area/legal-resources/deliberation-july-19-2011-technical-characteristics-loudness-television-programs-and-commercials" source_fetched_at: "2026-09-23" 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/" --- # France — Loudness of Television Programmes and Commercials ## What loudness does French television require? France sets television loudness at −23 LUFS, measured per ITU-R BS.1770-2. Commercials must not exceed −23 LUFS average or −20 LUFS short-term. Programmes over two minutes allow ±1 LU, dialogue dynamics of ±7 LU, and a Loudness Range no greater than 20 LU. −23 LUFS the target (measured per ITU-R BS.1770-2) · −20 LUFS commercials, short-term (stricter than EBU R 128 s1) · ±7 LU dialogue dynamics (a constraint no EBU document imposes) · 20 LU maximum Loudness Range (programmes over two minutes) ⚠️ This one is law, and it is stricter than the EBU: Almost every loudness figure in this reference is a recommendation. A broadcaster adopts it, a delivery spec cites it, and a file that misses it is rejected commercially rather than unlawfully. France is different: deliberation 2011-29 of 19 July 2011 is a legal instrument. And the number that matters is not the one it shares with everyone else. EBU R 128 s1 caps short-term loudness on short-form content at −18.0 LUFS. France caps commercials at −20 LUFS — two units tighter. A spot built to the European supplement is not automatically compliant in France. The requirements, from 1 January 2013 onward: Measurement is specified as ITU Recommendation ITU-R BS.1770-2. Quoted from Arcom's own publication: - Television loudness is set at −23 LUFS during diffusion. - Commercials: average less than or equal to −23 LUFS. - Commercials: short-term less than or equal to −20 LUFS. - Programmes longer than two minutes: −23 LUFS with a tolerance of ±1 LU. - Dialogue dynamics: ±7 LU around −23 LUFS. - Loudness Range: less than or equal to 20 LU. The dialogue rule is the unusual one: A ±7 LU constraint on dialogue dynamics has no equivalent in the EBU recommendations, and it is a mix instruction rather than a delivery measurement. It says the spread of dialogue loudness across a programme must stay inside a window, which is a statement about how the dialogue was ridden and edited, not about the final integrated figure. Together with the Loudness Range ceiling of 20 LU it makes France the most prescriptive of the territories in this reference about what happens INSIDE a programme, rather than only what it measures overall. What this does not cover: ⚠️ No true-peak limit appears in this deliberation. That is a statement about this document, not a statement that French delivery has no peak ceiling — a broadcaster's own technical specification may impose one, and most do. The deliberation also carries earlier transitional values for 2012, when commercials were permitted at −22 LUFS average and −18 LUFS short-term. Those are superseded and are noted here only so a reader who finds them elsewhere knows what they are looking at. Sources: - Arcom — Deliberation of 19 July 2011 on the loudness of television programmes and commercials — Deliberation no. 2011-29. Every figure here. Read 2026-09-23.: https://www.arcom.fr/en/find-out-more/legal-area/legal-resources/deliberation-july-19-2011-technical-characteristics-loudness-television-programs-and-commercials ## Frequently asked questions ### Is a spot that meets EBU R 128 s1 compliant in France? Not necessarily. s1 caps short-term loudness at −18.0 LUFS; France caps commercials at −20 LUFS. A spot sitting between those two figures satisfies the European supplement and breaches the French requirement. ### What is the ±7 LU dialogue rule? A limit on how much dialogue loudness may vary across a programme, measured around the −23 LUFS target. It constrains the mix rather than the delivered measurement, and no EBU recommendation imposes an equivalent. ### Does France specify a true-peak ceiling? Not in this deliberation. That is an observation about this document only — an individual broadcaster's technical specification may well impose one, and it should be requested rather than assumed. ## Related - [The EBU supplement France is stricter than](https://elephantaudio.pk/reference/ebu-r128-s1/raw) - [The European recommendation](https://elephantaudio.pk/reference/ebu-r128/raw) - [The measurement standard it cites](https://elephantaudio.pk/reference/itu-r-bs1770/raw) - [Audio for ads and digital campaigns](https://elephantaudio.pk/services/ads-digital/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