problem
The ceiling is not just a safety number. It controls how much peak margin survives export and streaming conversion.
Your exported WAV looks clean, but the encoded streaming preview shows overs or brittle high end. The limiter ceiling may have left too little margin for inter-sample peaks and codec conversion.
A ceiling of 0 dBFS can pass a sample-peak meter while still creating true-peak overs between samples.
For streaming delivery, many engineers set the limiter ceiling around -1 dBTP. Hotter masters may use a smaller margin, but that increases the risk of overs after encoding.
The ceiling should be chosen alongside the loudness target. If the limiter is working too hard, lowering the ceiling alone will not fix distortion.
Watch true peak after the final limiter and after any export or codec preview when available. If the track gains harshness only after upload, peak margin is one of the first places to check.
Meter Core keeps true peak and integrated loudness visible so the final ceiling decision is measured, not guessed.