Limiter

A limiter is a compressor with an effectively absolute ceiling, guaranteeing audio never exceeds a set peak level — the last safety device before export.

Mastering chains end with a limiter set just under full scale (commonly −1 dBFS true peak) so nothing downstream clips. Pushed hard, limiting trades dynamics for loudness — the historical 'loudness war' — which streaming loudness normalization has made pointless.

Related terms

Compression (dynamics)A compressor automatically reduces the level of loud moments, narrowing the gap between quiet and loud so spee… True peakTrue peak measures the actual analog waveform maximum after digital-to-analog conversion, which can exceed the… Loudness normalizationLoudness normalization adjusts audio to a target perceived loudness, measured in LUFS, rather than to peak lev…