Free Sound Effects Sites
A lovely looking site to look at and
use, Artlist SFX has
what they call “Unlimited” sounds all nicely categorised into parent and child
categories. This means that when you click on one of the main categories you’re
given sub categories to narrow down to.This makes finding the sounds you need
quick and easy!
Alternatively you can type into the
search bar and you’ll be given all the matching results.
The audio player is nice to use and you
can quickly skim and replay sounds to make sure you source the best sound for
what you need.
Pros
·
Affordable pricing starting at just
$9.99 per month
·
Great categories and filters to find
the sound you need
·
Sound effects are of a high quality
Cons
·
Per month pricing only. You can’t
pay for sounds on a per use basis.
Library
size
Hard to know but there are a lot and
more being added all the time.
Licensing
Each pricing plan has it’s own
licence, see here: https://artlist.io/page/pricing
Epidemic Sound
SFX is as lovely looking as Artlist. In reality it’s almost as
good but not quite as easy to find the sounds you’re looking for.
To find a sound you can search,
which works great, or you can filter by tag, which works well but not as well
as Artlists categorisation, in my opinion.
In any case Epidemic Sound has a
wealth of sounds to search through and you’re sure to find what you’re looking
for.
The audio player works well and it’s
great to see the waveform for the sound you’re previewing.
Pros
·
Affordable pricing starting at just
$10 per month
·
Great categories and filters to find
the sound you need
·
Sound effects are of a high quality
·
Sounds and tracks can be purchase
individually
Cons
·
Tag system can be restrictive.
Library
size
90,000 SFX
Licensing
Each pricing plan has it’s own
licence, see here: https://www.epidemicsound.com/pricing/
Splice is
more of a sample library than a traditional source of SFX but it has a huge
amount of sounds to trawl through so we feel it has a well deserved place on
this list.
The benefit of Splice is that
searching, filtering and finding sounds is super powerful. The tools at your disposal
to drill down and find the right sound are immense.
Splice has a plugin download to keep
your sounds library on your computer. This makes it easy to fins the sounds
you’ve downloaded in the past.
Splice is more focussed towards
electronic music production but with millions of sounds to choose from you’re
sure to find the SFX you need as well.
Pros
·
A huge library
·
Affordable pricing starting at just
$9.99 per month
·
Great search and filter options to
help you find the sound you need
Cons
·
Can’t buy sounds on a per use basis
·
More tailored towards electronic
music production
Library
size
Millions of sounds!!
Although not the prettiest
site, Freesound is
easy to navigate and puts a real focus on the community of people who use the
site. As you can see from the above screenshot of the homepage, their blog is
front and centre with lots of community updates for their users (who they
affectionately call ‘Freesounders’).
It’s simple to search for any sound
via the search bar, and users can view a wealth of information at a glance,
including reviews, properties, download amounts, and the sounds license.
The community feel of the site
continues here too, with users able to follow each other and listen to similar
sounds with just one click.
Pros
·
All sounds are absolutely free
·
Account set up is quick and easy
·
Sound effects are of a high quality
Cons
·
You cannot download without setting
up an account
·
Not all sounds are available for
commercial use
·
Limited search filters
Library
size
Almost 400,000 sound effects, with
more added every day.
Licensing
Sound effects can be listed under 3
different licenses. Here’s a quick summary of each:
1. Zero – free commercial and non-commercial use
2. Attribution – free commercial use, but attribution is
required
3. Attribution Non-Commercial – free for non-commercial use,
but attribution is required
For a more detailed explanation,
visit the Freesound FAQs page.
AudioMicro is a huge site that includes stock music as
well as sound effects. As you can see, the search bar is unmissable, making it
very easy to get started on your search for sound effects.
Although the homepage boasts free
sound effects, the majority of those on the site are charged at a flat rate of
$4.95 per sound effect. It can cost more for a premium sound effect, but the
standard ones sound great too. They also have a membership option, starting at
$14.95/month for 5 sounds, going all the way to $199.95/month for 250 sounds
(this reduces the cost per sound effect to $0.80).
Pros
·
The license agreement allows you to
use your sound effect for pretty much any commercial project
·
It’s easy to filter your search by
category, length, cost, and more
·
You can create a favourites list
Cons
·
You cannot download without setting up
an account
·
Most sound effects aren’t free
·
The same price is charged regardless
of sound effect length or quality
Library
size
Just over 420,000 sound effects,
with around 2,000 of those being free.
Licensing
The license agreement allows you to use your sound effect for pretty much any commercial project. The only prohibited uses refer to distribution, for example, selling the sound effect as part of a media tool, like an e-card platform.
One of the more simple websites on
our list, SoundBible boasts
lots of sound clips, but there is no easy way to filter through them. There is
a search bar on the homepage that you can use to find sound effects by
keywords, but no way to refine those results further.
However, the sound effects are of a
high quality, free and all are available in both WAV and MP3 file formats.
Plus, there’s no need to create an account!
The website also makes it really
easy to see the licensing agreement of each sound effect, so you don’t have to
waste your time looking at effects that you won’t be able to use for your
project:
Pros
·
There are options for WAV or MP3 for
each sound effect
·
It’s easy to see the license for
each sound effect
·
There is a separate tab for royalty
free sounds to avoid confusion
Cons
·
No filtering options
·
Most sound effects require
attribution for creative use
·
Not the friendliest user interface
Library
size
The site boasts thousands, but the
exact number is not listed.
Licensing
A mixture of public domain,
non-commercial, and attribution.
According to the 99 Sounds website,
their goal is to ‘provide free sound effects and sample libraries of commercial
quality, at no charge.’ So you can rest assured that all sound effects on this
site are 100% royalty free for commercial use.
99 Sounds is less like a sound
effect directory, and more like a small collection of themed sound effects.
There is no way to search and download an individual sound, you can only
download a themed collection:
The collections are presented in a
nice, clean format and almost look like they have album covers. But because of
the themed nature of the collections, there probably isn’t something for
everyone here.
Pros
·
All sound effects are free for
commercial use
·
You can get your hands on a giant,
themed collection
·
The website looks great and is easy to
navigate
Cons
·
Collections are huge and take a long
time to download
·
The collections haven’t been updated
since 2016
·
There is no search option
Library
size
32 collections.
Licensing
All royalty free for commercial use.
FreeSFX is a ‘no-frills’ sound effects site, but it is
super-easy to navigate. From the homepage, you can either use the big search
bar at the top, click one of the categories on the left-hand side, or use the
tabs to find a sound effect.
It’s not the biggest site out there,
and if you search for something that they don’t have you will be taken to a 404
page. This happened a couple of times when we were trying it out.
You need to create an account to be
able to download sound effects, but it is quick and free to do so. The biggest
downfall of this site is that the quality of the effects is hit and miss.
Pros
·
It’s free
·
Easy navigation
·
The website has royalty free music
too
Cons
·
All downloads are MP3 (no option for
WAV file)
·
Attribution is required for each use
·
The library is small
Library
size
Approx. 4,500.
Licensing
Free for commercial use, but
attribution required.
Similar to Noise for Fun, SoundEffects+ is
a site full of exclusive sound effects that are all designed, recorded, and
produced by the site’s team of audio professionals. According to the about us
page, all of their sound effects are ‘recorded with state of the art audio
equipment, carefully edited, and mastered to be clean and crisp without any
unwanted noise or interference.’
They have a list of impressive
clients, including LG and Sony, and all of their sound effects are royalty free
and available in MP3 and WAV formats.
You do need to register to download
the sound effects, like most of these sites, but the registration form is a
little longer than most that only ask for your email address and password.
Pros
·
Exclusive sound effects
·
Attribution not required
·
High quality sound effects
Cons
·
Lengthy registration form
·
All files come with an audio
watermark
·
The site has almost 50,000 members
sharing those sound effects
Library
size
Over 5,000.
Licensing
Royalty free, for both
non-commercial and commercial use.
That’s right, even the BBC are in on
the sound effects party! Their site, BBC Sound Effects,
has a large library of WAV format sound effects that are free for personal,
educational, or research purposes.
The site isn’t much to look at, but
it is very functional. The only problem we found was with the search bar, which
wasn’t very intuitive. For example, it couldn’t recognise ‘beeping’ or ‘car
beeping’. To find this sound effect we had to type in ‘car horn’.
If you want to use the sound effect
in a commercial setting, then it’s easy to click a link to be sent to another
site called ProSoundEffects where you can buy the license to use it.
Pros
·
Large library
·
High-quality sound effects
·
No sign up needed
Cons
·
Not free for commercial use
·
The search is hard to use
·
A lot of the sound effects are long
and will need to be cut before use
Library
size
16,000.
Licensing
Royalty free for non-commercial use,
and a paid option for commercial use.
Zapsplat boasts a collection of approximately 98,000
royalty free sound effects, and also a collection of royalty free music. The
ability to post requests, along with the ‘top searches’ section, gives the
website a ‘social media’ feel.
You do need to sign up for an
account to download sound effects, and you must include attribution if you use
the sound effect for commercial purposes. However, if you give a donation (a
minimum of £20 per year or a monthly fee set by you) you don’t have to give
attribution.
You can download sounds individually
or as a pack of similar effects, and it is easy to choose either MP3 or WAV.
Pros
·
Social media feel
·
Easy to use
·
Donations are flexible
Cons
·
Sign up required
·
Not the greatest-looking site
·
The search results often bring up a
lot of choice, causing it to feel overwhelming at times
Library
size
Approx. 98,000
Licensing
Attribution required for commercial
use, but this can be removed for a small donation.
Similar to Zapsplat, SoundGator has
also borrowed some features from social media sites, including the ability to
make friends with other users and send messages back and forth. But that is
seemingly where the similarities end.
SoundGator has a very small library
of sound effects and, although there is a ‘recently added’ section and a
prominent search bar on the home page, it is difficult to find specific sounds.
However, SoundGator is unique in the
fact that it includes voice clips as well as sound effects. These are quite
random, and could in no way be used as a replacement for a voiceover in your
video, but would be great for the odd character exclamation.
Pros
·
You can communicate with other site
users
·
Voice clips are available
·
All sounds are free for commercial
use
Cons
·
Small library
·
Search bar is not very intuitive
·
Registration is required
Library
size
Approx. 1,000
Licensing
Free for non-commercial and
commercial use.
One of the first things that stands
out about Sound Jay is
that there is no search bar. The only way to search for sound effects is by
clicking on one of the ten categories on the homepage, as you can see from the
screenshot above.
Clicking on a category, say
‘weather’, will take you to a list of more niche categories, for example: ‘rain
sounds’, ‘wind sounds’ etc.
The sound effects on Sound Jay are
16 bit stereo 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz high-quality, and available in MP3 or WAV
format. The size is also disclosed before download, which is helpful. Although
the library seems small, there is a message on the homepage advising users to
bookmark the site as they often add new sounds.
Pros
·
High-quality sound effects
·
No sign up required
·
All sounds are free for commercial
use
Cons
·
Small library
·
No search bar
·
Tons of ads
Library
size
The navigation of the website makes
it too difficult to know for sure, but it is clear that the library is small
compared to other sites on this list.
Licensing
Free for non-commercial and
commercial use.
PacDV has
been around since 2001 and their sound effects have been featured in a variety
of films and TV programmes.
At first glance, the layout is very
similar to Sound Jay. There is no search bar and the only way to find sound
effects is to navigate through the list of ten categories on the left-hand
side. However, whereas Sound Jay has categories that become more and more
niche, PacDV sticks with the broad categories and that makes it more difficult
to find what you’re looking for.
Some of the files are WAV and some
are MP3, so it is kind of just ‘luck of the draw’ when it comes to finding
sound effects for your project. The sound effects are free for commercial use
and you are not required to give attribution, but PacDV does politely ask for
it!
Pros
·
It’s a long-standing website
·
No sign up required
·
All sounds are free for commercial
use
Cons
·
Small library
·
No search bar
·
Difficult to navigate
Library
size
The navigation of the website makes
it too difficult to know for sure, but we can estimate that they have a couple
of thousand.
Licensing
All royalty-free for commercial use.
When you visit Partners in
Rhyme, it is clear to see that it is a well-organised directory of
sound effects. All of the sound effects are categorised in a way that makes it
easy to find what you’re looking for. There’s also a search bar to give you the
option to search via keyword.
Clicking on a category will usually
take you to a different site that hosts the sound effects. All of these (that
we came across) were royalty free, however some cost a couple of dollars to
download.
All of the sound effects we found
were available in WAV or MP3, and none of the sites that Partners in Rhyme
linked to required users to sign up for an account.
Pros
·
Lots of choice
·
It’s easy to find what you’re
looking for
·
No sign up required
Cons
·
Opens a new tab for every sound
effect
·
Not all sound effects are free
·
The search bar isn’t specific to
sound effects, so you’ll get results for other things too
Library
size
Thousands
Licensing
All royalty free.
SoundsCrate
Sounds
Crate is an excellent source of sound effects for creative and
independent filmmakers. Starting from ambient sounds to weapons to animals and
more, one can select from a range of sound effects. The website also offers the
preview option. Besides sound effects, Sounds Crate offers various graphics and
textures to use in video contents.
FindSounds
Unlike
the sites mentioned above, FindSounds doesn’t
have a database of sound effects to download from. It instead enables you to
search for the require music and sound effects from the internet directly. You
can either select the category provided on the website or type the name of the
sound you are looking for.
OrangeFree Sounds
Last
but not the least, Orange
Free Sounds comes with an array of categories from water sounds and
scary to street sounds and miscellaneous. Not only sound effects, this website
also offers background music and loops to be used for videos, apps, etc.
Music
producers, sound designers, video game developers, explainer
video makers, students, documentary filmmakers and other professionals can
browse through Orange Free Sounds’ directory for that perfect music.
In case you are wondering which one of the above is our
favorite, the answer is “Zapsplat”. Here is a video that we produced recently
with sounds from Zapsplat:
Adobe Audition Sound Effects
Audition is a comprehensive toolset for
creating, mixing, editing, and restoring audio content. While you pay for that
upfront, they have an extensive library that can surely help most filmmakers'
needs. Better yet, the sound effects are now integrated into Premiere so
you can easily search them and add them into your timeline with ease.
Filmstocks
This is a one-stop-shop for a lot of creative resources. You
have to dig a little, but the right sound is within their back catalog, and
they are always taking suggestions for what they should ask for next.
GameSounds
This site is an aggregator of sounds collected from all over the
internet. They troll lots of other sites and then have deep folders with
royalty-free sounds and music you can collect for yourself.
GDC 2019 Special by Sonniss
It's hard to phrase it better than Sonniss, so check this out: "Every year we give away thousands of dollars
worth of sound effects for free in celebration of the Game Developers
Conference. This is our archive. Everything is royalty-free and commercially
usable. No attribution is required and you can use them on an unlimited number
of projects."
GR Sites
This site will go down in May 2021, but for now, you can
download an extensive sound effects archive with 5,700 background
textures and images, 6,800 true-type fonts, and 1,980 sound
effects. Get them while they're still available.
Partners In Rhyme
Easily our favorite website title on here. This one specializes in royalty-free music, though it has a smaller sound effects page. Always worth checking out, depending on how specific of a sound you need.
RØDE
Ambisonic Library
If you're working in the
360° surround sound format, there's nothing better than the RØDE Ambisonic
Library. From natural ambiance to urban sprawl, the curated selection of
high-quality royalty-free ambisonic recordings is sure to immerse your
audience.
Envato Elements – Royalty Free Sound Effects (with Subscription)
Find your perfect sound effect in this royalty free directory for any application you could think of. Over 80 thousand sound effects available and ready for use! No need to worry about having to continuously pay out royalties.
Making a video game? Then you will need this arcade game sound effects pack! Included in this pack are the sound effects for explosions, weapons, fighting, and game overs.
Discover incredible free sound effects from Mixkit’s growing library of assets for video creators. All sound effects are free to use in your next commercial or personal project. They are royalty-free and can be used without attribution, plus no sign up is required.
This service allows you to use their music in exchange for proper credit given to both them and the artist with no worry about copyright claims on the Twitch and Youtube platforms.
Purple Planet Music has a wide array of musical scores that you can purchase or attribute. With genres ranging from Americana to Seasonal, you’re sure to find something that will be perfect for your needs.
Music that you find on whatfunk is available for you to download and use for any purpose you want with the exception of selling the original work you downloaded.
Free Music Archive is backed by WFMU, the most renowned freeform radio station in America. They offer music from the blues all the way to Soul R&B with everything in between.
Pond5 has a really sweet
way of getting all your needs met as a one stop shop. They have stock and
production music, sounds, videos, and even images. If you need something, Pond5
probably has exactly what you need.
Comments
Post a Comment