normalize_audio: Normalize a file's audio loudness (EBU R128)

In tidymedia: Media File Preprocessing and Metadata for the 'tidyverse'

Normalize a file's audio loudness (EBU R128)

Description

Normalize the perceived loudness of a file's audio toward an EBU R128 target. The function uses FFmpeg's single-pass loudnorm filter. It can also downmix the channel count and resample. The output holds one audio stream and no video, whatever the input and whatever container outfile names. So the output of this function is audio, as with extract_audio and convert_audio. It does not carry the other streams through. To normalize a recording's soundtrack and keep its picture, first normalize to an audio file. Then put the audio back with the picture using the ffmpeg direct command. The glossary in vignette("tidymedia") explains media terms such as LUFS, true peak and sample rate.

Usage

normalize_audio(
  infile,
  outfile,
  target_loudness = -23,
  true_peak = -1,
  loudness_range = 7,
  channels = NULL,
  sample_rate = NULL,
  audio_codec = NULL,
  two_pass = FALSE,
  audio_stream = NULL,
  run = TRUE
)

Arguments

infile	A string containing the path to a media file (with audio). An input with no audio stream is an FFmpeg error, not a silent copy of the video.
outfile	A string containing the path of the audio file to write. The function accepts any container that FFmpeg can write. The compiled command does not depend on which container it is. An audio container (.wav, .flac) holds the result exactly as a video container (.mkv) does. The video container carries one audio stream and nothing else.
target_loudness	The target integrated loudness, in LUFS (a number in -70..-5; default -23, the EBU R128 target).
true_peak	The maximum true peak, in dBTP (a number in -9..0; default -1, the EBU R128 ceiling).
loudness_range	The target loudness range, in LU (a number in 1..50; default 7).
channels	The output channel count, e.g. 1 to downmix to mono (a positive whole number), or NULL (default) to keep the source layout.
sample_rate	The output sample rate in Hz, e.g. 48000 (a positive whole number). NULL (default) lets loudnorm choose. It resamples, up to 192 kHz and capped by the encoder, and does not keep the source rate. Set this argument to fix the output rate.
audio_codec	An optional string naming the output audio encoder (e.g. "aac", "libmp3lame", "flac"), passed to FFmpeg's -codec:a. NULL (default) sets no -codec:a, which leaves the default encoder of the output container in place. "copy" is an error. Loudness normalization filters the audio, so the stream must be re-encoded and cannot be copied.
two_pass	A logical. When TRUE, the function uses accurate two-pass (measured/linear) normalization. The default (FALSE) is single-pass. A first analysis pass measures the loudness of the input. A second correction pass feeds those measurements back with linear=true, so the output hits the EBU R128 target precisely. So two-pass always runs the analysis pass through FFmpeg, even when run = FALSE. It needs the binary and a readable input. Under run = FALSE, the analysis still runs. The returned value is the exact correction command, which is not run. The single-pass default touches no binary under run = FALSE. If the input is silent, the analysis pass measures its loudness as -inf. Normalizing silence to a target is undefined, so two-pass aborts with a clear error. The single-pass default leaves silence untouched. The batch form differs here. normalize_audio_batch does not abort on a silent row. It sets that row aside, marks it in a silent column, and normalizes the rest. When the analysis pass gives no usable measurement at all, the abort has class tidymedia_loudnorm_no_measurement. The batch form raises the same class, so one handler covers both. Where FFmpeg exited non-zero, the abort also carries tidymedia_ffmpeg_exit, and the exit number on tm_status. Where FFmpeg exited zero but printed no measurement block that can be parsed, the abort carries the shared class alone. The silence abort above is neither: a silent input was measured.
audio_stream	The audio track to normalize, as a number that counts from 0 among the audio tracks of the input. 0 is the first audio track and 1 is the second. Other streams in the file, such as video, do not count. NULL (default) normalizes the first audio track. The first-track family reads NULL this way: extract_audio, convert_audio and normalize_audio, and their _batch forms. The every-track family reads it as every audio track: separate_audio_video, standardize_video, anonymize_video, crop_video, segment_video and format_for_web, and their _batch forms. This function reads NULL as the first track only. The two-pass analysis measures each audio track, but the correction uses one set of measurements. Normalizing several tracks at once would apply one track's measurements to all of them. Under two_pass = TRUE, the analysis pass measures this same track. Only the named track reaches the output, and no video does, whatever the container. So an output name with a video extension gives a video file that holds only audio. An input with no audio at all is an FFmpeg error. A track the input does not have gives an FFmpeg error, not an R one. See audio_stream for how this differs from audio_input, the input index on compare_videos and picture_in_picture. (default = NULL)
run	A logical: run the (correction) command through FFmpeg (TRUE, default) or return the compiled command without running it (FALSE). Under two_pass = TRUE this gates only the correction pass; the analysis pass runs regardless (see two_pass).

Details

The default targets follow EBU Recommendation R 128 (2014). They are target_loudness = -23 LUFS and true_peak = -1 dBTP. Loudness is measured per ITU-R BS.1770-4. The default loudness_range is 7. This is single-pass (dynamic) loudnorm. The same input and arguments always compile to one reproducible command, with no separate measurement pass. The filter changes the audio, so FFmpeg re-encodes it. Set audio_codec to name the output encoder, or leave it NULL to use the default of the output container. Leaving channels at NULL keeps the source channel layout. FFmpeg's loudnorm filter resamples its output, up to 192 kHz, capped by the encoder. So the output sample rate is not the source rate unless you set it. Set sample_rate to control the output rate.

The function warns when no audio_stream is named and infile carries tracks that the output will not. extract_audio and convert_audio emit the same warning. Naming a track with audio_stream silences it, as does suppressWarnings(classes = "tidymedia_dropped_audio"). The check costs one FFprobe call per distinct input, which is one call here, because this function takes a single infile. The warning is given when FFprobe is available and the input can be probed. Otherwise the check is skipped silently. It never runs under run = FALSE, and never changes the compiled command. Under two_pass = TRUE, the warning comes before the analysis pass. So it arrives while adding audio_stream can still save that pass.

To switch the check off and skip its FFprobe call, use options(tidymedia.check_tracks = FALSE) for the session. Use withr::local_options(tidymedia.check_tracks = FALSE) for the rest of one function.

Value

The compiled FFmpeg command (invisibly when run = TRUE). Under two_pass = TRUE this is the correction command built from the measured values.

References

EBU Recommendation R 128 (2014), Loudness normalisation and permitted maximum level of audio signals; ITU-R BS.1770-4.

See Also

ffm_loudnorm(), the pipeline function it wraps. normalize_audio_batch() for the many-file form. extract_audio() and convert_audio(), the other task functions whose output is one audio stream.

Other task functions: anonymize_video(), anonymize_video_batch(), compare_videos(), compare_videos_batch(), concatenate_videos(), concatenate_videos_batch(), convert_audio(), convert_audio_batch(), crop_video(), crop_video_batch(), extract_audio(), extract_audio_batch(), extract_frame(), extract_frame_batch(), format_for_web(), format_for_web_batch(), normalize_audio_batch(), picture_in_picture(), picture_in_picture_batch(), sample_frames(), sample_frames_batch(), segment_video(), segment_video_batch(), separate_audio_video(), separate_audio_video_batch(), standardize_video(), standardize_video_batch(), strip_metadata(), strip_metadata_batch()

Other audio selection functions: anonymize_video(), anonymize_video_batch(), audio_stream, compare_videos(), compare_videos_batch(), convert_audio(), convert_audio_batch(), crop_video(), crop_video_batch(), extract_audio(), extract_audio_batch(), format_for_web(), format_for_web_batch(), normalize_audio_batch(), picture_in_picture(), picture_in_picture_batch(), segment_video(), segment_video_batch(), separate_audio_video(), separate_audio_video_batch(), standardize_video(), standardize_video_batch()

Examples

video <- system.file("extdata", "sample.mp4", package = "tidymedia")
# The output holds audio only, so name an audio file for it
normalize_audio(video, "normalized.wav", run = FALSE)
# Normalize to a streaming target and downmix to mono
normalize_audio(video, "mono.wav", target_loudness = -16, channels = 1,
                run = FALSE)
# Name the output audio encoder instead of taking the container's default
normalize_audio(video, "normalized.m4a", audio_codec = "aac", run = FALSE)

tidymedia documentation built on Oct. 11, 2026, 5:08 p.m.