Best turntable mats

What a mat does

It sits between the platter and the record. Audio-Technica: “The majority of Audio-Technica turntables come with a platter mat. Its purpose is to soak up any unwanted vibrations that may affect the sound quality, potentially resulting in distortion.” (Audio-Technica). Mats come in “felt, cork, rubber, leather and acrylic”, among others, and Audio-Technica says “Which mat you choose depends on personal preference as vinyl enthusiasts have different opinions as to what sounds best on their system.” (Audio-Technica)

Pro-Ject, which sells three of the mats here, makes its case against felt and rubber in its own product copy: “Common felt mats give a smooth contact between record and platter but has the disadvantage with static.” And: “Thick rubbermats overdamp the record and have an isolation effect which leaves the static on the record and hearable noise clicks are the result.” (Pro-Ject). Those are a maker’s own claims, not test results, and we haven’t tested any mat either.

Thickness and tonearm height

Stock mats are made to a thickness for a reason. For its own turntables, Audio-Technica says: “The felt mat that comes with Audio-Technica turntables is 2.5mm.” Its rubber mats are 3 mm (AT-LPW range), 4.5 mm (AT-LP3, AT-LP2X) and 5 mm (AT-LP5X), and “They are manufactured to these specific thicknesses so the tonearm is parallel to the vinyl when a record is being played” (Audio-Technica). Those figures are for Audio-Technica turntables; for any other, check its manual or measure the mat you have.

So when you change mats, Audio-Technica’s advice: “If you are wishing to change your platter mat then it is advisable to source one that is the same thickness, unless your tonearm has VTA (vertical tracking adjustment) like the AT-LP140XP.” If your arm does adjust: “Make sure that you adjust the height of the tonearm so it remains parallel to the vinyl during playback if switching between different thicknesses of platter mat.” Ortofon, a cartridge maker, names “thickness of the slipmat or the rubmat” among the things that set the right height, and says: “Adjust the height ring found at the base of the tonearm until the bottom tonearm itself is parallel to the record during playback.” (Ortofon).

The six picks, thinnest first, as their makers publish them, with each maker’s own tonearm note where it gives one:

• Pro-Ject Cork & Rubber it (1 mm)Pick 3 · Pro-Ject: the thin one for dense or heavy platters; no tonearm note on this mat’s page1 mm
• Pro-Ject Cork itPick 1 · tonearm: Pro-Ject’s 1.5 mm VTA it arm spacer, for the Debut and Essential models it lists (standard configurations only)1.5 mm
• Pro-Ject Leather itPick 2 · tonearm: Pro-Ject’s 1.5 mm VTA it arm spacer for upgrade mats, on the Debut and Essential models it lists; none on this mat’s page2 mm
• clearaudio Vinyl Harmo-nicerPick 4 · tonearm: Re-adjust the tonearm height, per clearaudioup to 2.4 mm
• Audio-Technica’s stock felt matfor comparison: on Audio-Technica turntables that come with one2.5 mm
• Pro-Ject Cork & Rubber it (3 mm)Pick 3 · Pro-Ject: the thick one for thin metal platters; no tonearm note on this mat’s page3 mm
• Hudson Hi-Fi Acrylic Turntable Mat 1/8" ThickPick 6 · no tonearm note from the maker3 mm
• The Funk Firm APMPick 5 · tonearm: On Rega decks with fixed-height arms: Rega Spacer Kit where needed, per The Funk Firm5 mm

Thickness as each maker publishes it, checked 27 Oct 2026; Cork & Rubber it comes in both 1 mm and 3 mm. Bars to scale. Audio-Technica’s 2.5 mm is its figure for the felt mat that comes with its own turntables, not anyone else’s.

Size: about 30 cm across

A 12-inch LP is 301.6 mm across (± 0.8 mm), by the RIAA’s 1978 standard for records (RIAA Bulletin E4, scan hosted by the Boston Audio Society). The six mats here are 292 mm (clearaudio), 297 mm (The Funk Firm), 298.5 mm (Hudson Hi-Fi) and 300 mm (Pro-Ject Cork it, Leather it and Cork & Rubber it) across, as their makers publish; we found no standard size for mats. None of the six makers publishes the size of the centre hole.

Some platters are meant to run without one

It depends on the turntable, so check its manual. Pro-Ject’s manual for the 1 Xpression Classic S-Shape: “We recommend to use the record player without a mat on the platter.” (Pro-Ject manual). For its 1 Xpression Carbon Classic, the opposite: “We recommend to use the record player with a mat on the platter.” (Pro-Ject manual). Pro-Ject’s acrylic replacement platter, Acryl it, is made to be used bare: “Unlike metal platters, where you will need to place a felt met [sic] between record and platter to damp metal resonance, you can put your record directly on the acrylic surface, with nothing in between.” (Pro-Ject).

Others ship with a mat and tell you to use it. Rega’s Planar 3 guide: “Carefully place the glass platter on the hub and fit the turntable mat.” (Rega). Technics’ SL-1200G manual: “Lay the turntable mat on the turntable.” (Technics).

DJ slipmats

DJs want the opposite of grip. Audio-Technica: “DJs have an additional requirement as they want to let the platter move underneath them when the record is being held in place for the start of a mix, or spun backwards to find the correct starting point. DJs typically use felt mats as other materials won’t allow the platter to move freely beneath them.” (Audio-Technica). Technics’ manual for its SL-1200M7G DJ turntable has you lay a slipmat and a slip sheet on the platter, and says: “A record on the rotating turntable can be stopped manually as well as rotated in reverse.” (Technics).

No slipmat met our rules, so there is no DJ pick. The DJ slipmats we looked at, from Ortofon and Serato, publish no thickness. The Funk Firm APM (pick 5) is listed by The Funk Firm for the Technics SL-1200 MkII–VII, SL-1200G and SL-1200GAE, but it is an 850 g mat on a glass sub-plate, not a slipmat, and The Funk Firm says nothing about cueing on it.

The picks in detail

Each pick says what it suits and what to watch for, from the maker’s own pages and the dated, sourced notes listed under it. Where a maker doesn’t publish a spec, we say so. Claims about damping, static and sound are the makers’, quoted as theirs; we haven’t tested them.

How we picked

• One job per pick: replacing a felt mat in cork or leather (picks 1 and 2), choosing a thickness (pick 3), a vinyl mat (pick 4), a mat for named decks with lipped or flat platters (pick 5), and acrylic (pick 6).
• Size and thickness from the maker. Every pick’s maker publishes its diameter, about 30 cm, and its thickness, because thickness changes the tonearm height. Tonearm advice appears only in a maker’s own words.
• No rubber or silicone mat passed. The one rubber-type mat left on our list, Fluance’s silicone mat, is out because we couldn’t confirm the dollar price on its US shop. Oyaide’s BR-12 rubber mat has no maker’s shop in the EU, UK or US. So this guide has no all-rubber or silicone mat; pick 3 is cork and rubber together.
• Three picks are Pro-Ject’s. Pro-Ject publishes both sizes for each, sells all three from its own EU shop, and each does a different job.
• Prices from the maker’s own shop. On 27 Oct 2026: in euros, Pro-Ject’s EU shop (run by Pro-Ject’s company, Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH; imprint) and clearaudio’s analogshop (run by Clearaudio electronic GmbH; legal notice); in pounds, The Funk Firm’s UK shop, because it has no EU shop and the euro figure its shop can show visitors is a currency conversion; in US dollars, Hudson Hi-Fi’s US shop. Never a retailer’s price, and no comparison across currencies. Prices change, so the shop link shows today’s.
• Shop links go to the maker’s page for that exact model, plus MediaMarkt where we opened the page for the exact model: Cork it in Belgium and the black Leather it in Austria.

We have not used or measured these for this guide, and we don’t give scores. Where Max has used one himself, his notes will appear under that pick. The full method is on How we pick.

Not published by the maker:

• Pro-Ject Cork it: weight, centre hole, label recess
• Pro-Ject Leather it: weight, centre hole, label recess
• Pro-Ject Cork & Rubber it: weight, centre hole, label recess, tonearm height
• clearaudio Vinyl Harmo-nicer: centre hole, label recess, which turntables
• The Funk Firm APM: centre hole, label recess
• Hudson Hi-Fi Acrylic Turntable Mat 1/8" Thick: weight, centre hole, tonearm height

Considered but left out: bFly-audio PA1 (cork and rubber in 1 mm or 3 mm, too close to pick 3); Thorens Ledermatte braun (leather, 1.7 mm, too close to pick 2); Fluance silicone mat (the only rubber-type mat left, but we couldn’t confirm the dollar price on its US shop); Oyaide BR-12 rubber mat (no maker’s shop in the EU, UK or US); Pro-Ject Felt mat, Rega wool mat, Thorens DM 208 and Collaro cloth mat (no thickness published); Ortofon and Serato DJ slipmats (no thickness published); Dynavox PM2 (no shop we could find sells the single mat); The Funk Firm Achromat (too close to pick 5).

Questions

Pictures and sources

• All six pictures are our own drawings. Wikimedia Commons has no photo of any of these mats. Each is drawn in plain shapes from the maker’s published size and description, with the edge showing its thickness, exaggerated.
• Sources for every spec and price are linked under each pick. What a mat does, thickness and tonearm height, size, platters without a mat, DJ slipmats and cleaning: Audio-Technica (EU) support: What you need to know when changing your platter mat, Ortofon DJ FAQ, Pro-Ject Audio Systems: Cork it product page, RIAA Bulletins E1 and E4 (1978 LP dimensional standards), scan hosted by the Boston Audio Society, Pro-Ject 1 Xpression Classic S-Shape, instructions for use (PDF), Pro-Ject 1 Xpression Carbon Classic, instructions for use (PDF), Pro-Ject Audio Systems: Acryl it product page, Rega Planar 3 quick start guide (PDF), Technics SL-1200G owner’s manual (Panasonic, PDF), Technics SL-1200M7G / SL-1200M7GL owner’s manual (Panasonic, PDF), Audio-Technica AT-LP3XBT user manual (PDF). All checked 27 Oct 2026.