You have recorded, edited and cleaned the episode. The last step, exporting it, is where a surprising number of shows lose quality or end up louder or quieter than everything else in the listener's queue.
Here are sensible export settings for spoken-word podcasts, and the reasoning behind each, so you can adjust them for your show.
The short version
| Setting | Spoken-word show | Show with lots of music |
|---|---|---|
| Format | MP3 (or AAC/M4A if your host accepts it) | MP3 or AAC/M4A |
| Channels | Mono | Stereo |
| Bitrate | 96–128 kbps (mono) | 128–192 kbps |
| Sample rate | 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz | 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz |
| Bitrate mode | Constant (CBR) | Constant (CBR) |
| Loudness | −16 LUFS integrated | −16 LUFS integrated |
| Peak ceiling | −1 dBTP (true peak) | −1 dBTP |
These are common, conservative choices that most podcast hosts and apps handle well. Always check your own host's guidance; some publish their preferred settings, and theirs wins.
Keep a lossless master first
Before you export the file listeners will download, export a WAV master of the finished episode and keep it. WAV is uncompressed, so it is the best copy you will ever have. If you need to fix a mistake, cut an ad or re-export at a different bitrate later, start from the master, never from the MP3. Compressing an already compressed file loses quality each time.
The same rule applies to cleanup: clean the raw recording or the WAV master, not a downloaded MP3. If you're unsure about formats, WAV vs MP3 vs M4A explains the trade-offs.
Format: MP3 or AAC?
MP3 is the safe default. Every podcast app, host and device plays it.
AAC (usually in an .m4a file) is more efficient, so it sounds a little better at the same bitrate. Many hosts and apps accept it, but not all, so check yours before switching.
Mono or stereo?
For a show that is mostly people talking, mono is usually the better choice. Voices are normally centred anyway, a mono file is half the size at the same quality, and listeners with one earbud in hear everything. Choose stereo when the show genuinely uses it: music beds, sound design or a deliberate stereo mix.
Bitrate
Bitrate is how much data per second the file uses. Higher means better quality and bigger downloads.
- Spoken word in mono sounds clean at 96–128 kbps.
- Stereo with music benefits from 128–192 kbps.
- Going much higher rarely helps listeners and makes downloads bigger on mobile data.
Use constant bitrate (CBR). Variable bitrate can confuse some players' time display and chapter markers.
Sample rate
44.1 kHz and 48 kHz are both fine. Export at the rate your project is in, so the file isn't resampled unnecessarily. If you also publish video versions, 48 kHz is the video standard, so staying at 48 kHz throughout keeps things simple.
Loudness: the setting that matters most
Podcast apps don't all turn every show to the same level, so an episode mastered too quietly sounds weak next to others, and one mastered too loud sounds harsh and squashed. The common target for spoken-word podcasts is −16 LUFS integrated with a true-peak ceiling of −1 dBTP.
- LUFS is a measure of perceived loudness over the whole episode, not just the peaks. (New to it? Read LUFS explained.)
- True peak measures the highest point the waveform reaches after conversion, which can be higher than the samples suggest. Keeping it below −1 dBTP leaves room for the MP3 or AAC encoder, which can push peaks up slightly.
Our tool's Podcast preset normalises to −16 LUFS with a −1 dBTP true-peak limit, so you don't have to measure it yourself. Pick it before you drop the file in.
Metadata
Add the episode title, show name, episode number and artwork to the file's tags if your host doesn't do it for you. Avoid putting guests' private details in tags; they travel with the file.
Common export mistakes
- Exporting from an MP3 project file rather than the WAV master, which compresses the episode twice.
- Stereo with one voice per side. Listeners with one earbud lose a host. Pan voices to the centre or export mono.
- Normalising to peak rather than loudness. A single loud laugh decides the level of the whole episode.
- Different settings every week. Keep a written note of your settings so every episode sounds the same.
A pre-publish checklist
- Listen to the first minute, a minute in the middle and the last minute on headphones.
- Check that the loudest moment (a laugh, an ad, a sting) doesn't jump out.
- Check the quietest speaker is still easy to hear.
- Play the file on a phone speaker; that is how many people will hear it.
- Confirm the length matches your edit, with no silence added at the start or end.
- Keep the WAV master and note the export settings you used.
Clean and export in one pass
If the episode still has background noise, do that before the final export: drop the recording into the podcast audio cleaner, pick the Podcast loudness preset and choose MP3, M4A or WAV as the output. Preview the cleaned version against the original at the same moment, then download. Video podcasts work too: the picture is copied as-is and only the audio is replaced.
The podcast audio checklist covers the earlier stages: recording, levelling and cleaning. Plans for longer or more frequent episodes are on the pricing page.