"Normalize" and "boost volume" sound like two names for the same action, turning audio up, but they work on fundamentally different logic, and mixing them up is a common way to end up with distorted, clipped audio when the actual goal was just a more consistent level.
Volume boosting: a blunt, fixed multiplier
Boosting volume applies a fixed gain increase across the entire file, every sample gets multiplied by the same factor, regardless of whether that part of the audio was already loud or quiet. This is straightforward and predictable, but it carries real risk: if the loudest existing peak in the file is already close to the maximum level a digital file can represent, boosting pushes that peak past the ceiling, causing clipping, a harsh, distorted crackle that can't be fixed after the fact. The Audio Volume Booster is the right tool when you know a file is genuinely too quiet throughout and want direct control over how much louder it gets.
Normalization: analyze first, then adjust just enough
Normalization works differently: it first scans the entire audio file to find its peak level (or, for loudness normalization, its perceived overall loudness), then calculates the exact amount of gain needed to bring that peak up to a target level, typically just under the maximum to leave headroom and avoid clipping. This makes normalization the safer default for cleaning up a recording, since it can't accidentally cause distortion the way a manual boost can, it automatically stops short of the ceiling. The Audio Normalizer is especially useful for recordings with inconsistent levels, like podcast episodes recorded in separate sessions, where you want everything to sit at a comparable, listenable volume without clipping any single loud moment.
For fine-tuning tonal balance rather than just overall level, the Audio Equalizer adjusts specific frequency ranges instead of the whole signal uniformly, which is a separate concern from either normalizing or boosting volume.