AGC on saved and recorded/played files

Hello,

I recorded a stereo test audio from YouTube ove Chrome browser on my latop.
When I playback the recorded audio, the audio is normal for about half of a second. Then the audio level drops. I made a similar recording while varying the recording level and saw the variation in the waveforms. However, when I playedback the audio, the sound was a constant low level except for the initial bust of normal audio.
The exported version of the file had the same limited level as the playback I heard. The audio from the browser is normal.
Any ideas on what can be done?

Thank you,
Jim

Turn-off Windows audio-enhancements, (such as “loudness equalization”),
see … https://youtu.be/sxnUjiGgBaI