01
Drop in the release
Your master and your cover art, together or one at a time. Each file is recognized by what is inside it, not by its name, and routed to the right checks.
Drop in the files you are about to upload and see exactly what a store would find. One pass over your master, your cover art, your codes and your release date, with a straight answer on every line.
Drop another file anywhere here to add it, or to replace one you already loaded.
Everything on this page is file parsing and arithmetic. It cannot hear whether the mix is any good, and it is not a promise that a store will accept the release.
The files are one part of it. The checklist walks the rest of the release, phase by phase, with the reason behind every step.
These are the checks that catch the common mechanical rejections, not every rule every store applies. The full requirements we apply at Unchained are in our audio file guide and our cover art guide. No automated check replaces listening to your master top to tail.
Runs in your browser. Your master and your artwork never leave your device. Only a code or a name you type is ever looked up.
Your master and your cover art, together or one at a time. Each file is recognized by what is inside it, not by its name, and routed to the right checks.
ISRC, barcode, release date and artist name are optional. Each one you fill adds its own checks. Anything you leave empty is reported as not checked, never guessed.
One line per check, with a pass, a warning, a failure or an honest not checked. Every failure says exactly what to change and why.
Most rejected releases are rejected mechanically. A cover that is not square, a master delivered as an MP3, a barcode whose check digit does not add up, a release date too close to today for stores to process it in time. None of those need a human listener to spot, which is why they can be caught before you upload rather than a week after.
This page runs the checks the five Unchained file tools run, over the same files, in one pass. The artwork checks are the cover art rules as code: square, 1400 x 1400 at minimum, 3000 x 3000 as the sweet spot, RGB, under 10 MB, and not a blank color block. The audio checks read the container from its magic bytes, so a renamed MP3 does not pass as a WAV, then decode the file and walk every sample for clipping, edge silence and DC offset.
Loudness is measured and never graded. There is no correct LUFS value, so reporting a pass or a failure would be a lie. What you get is the integrated reading to ITU-R BS.1770-4, your true peak, and what the two platforms that publish a target will do with the track at playback. Only targets we can link to a source are listed.
There is no score here, and that is deliberate. Store rules are pass or fail facts, and weighting them into a single number out of a hundred would mean inventing weights that no store publishes. You get the facts and the fixes instead. What this cannot do is tell you whether the music is any good, or promise that a release will be accepted. It catches the common mechanical rejections, which is most of them.
Cover art format, proportions, resolution, color mode, blank covers and file weight. Audio container, channels, bit depth, sample rate, clipping, edge silence, DC offset and duration. Integrated loudness, true peak and loudness range. ISRC and barcode structure, including the barcode check digit. And the runway between today and your release date.
No. Drop only what you have. Every dimension you do not supply is reported as not checked and stays out of the verdict, so the answer is never quietly based on half a release.
No. The master and the artwork are read on your own device and never sent anywhere. If you type an ISRC, a barcode or an artist name, that one value is looked up on Spotify through this site so we can show you what is already out there.
Because it would be invented. Stores publish rules, not weights, so any single number would be our guess at how much each rule matters dressed up as a measurement. One line per check with a plain verdict is more useful and more honest.
Because loudness normalization is not rejection. Platforms turn tracks up or down at playback and your file is never altered. The number matters, so it is measured and shown against the targets we can cite, but there is no threshold to fail.
No. This catches the common mechanical reasons releases get rejected, not every rule every store applies. Content rules, like what text may appear on a cover, still need your eyes, and the final review happens at distribution.
Not yet. This version checks one track and one cover. Checking a full release, including whether the tracks match each other on format and loudness, is the next step for this tool.
The code checks are arithmetic and run entirely in your browser, so they still stand. Only the part that shows the release behind a code goes quiet, and it says so rather than showing an error wall.
Yes. Free to use, no account, no upload. It is one of a set of browser tools we build for artists and labels preparing releases.
Distribution, mastering and promotion for artists and labels, run from one account with a human checking every release.