royalty-free sound effect websites offer a way to use any effects you like without fear of legal action. This is especially helpful if you want to create music or videos for your own projects.
Hey, everyone! We have our own YouTube channel and we also made a video on the best sites to get free sound effects. So be sure to check it out!
Public Service Announcement: Royalty-Free isn’t Free
Before you start exploring royalty-free sound effects, it’s important to understand what “royalty-free” means. At most, you need to pay for the sound effect once and then be free to use it in your projects without having to pay the creator additional money for every view or copy sold of the final product. ..
The clip in question is royalty-free, but the terms of the agreement say that it can only be used for a type of project called “clip.”
There are a variety of ways to get royalty-free sound effects clips, but the most common way is to find them on websites that advertise themselves as being royalty-free. However, not all of these sites are legitimate. Some of them mix in public domain and Creative Commons clips, which can lead to confusion.
The bottom line is that you should carefully check the licence attached to a particular clip before using it.
SoundBible
SoundBible is a website that offers royalty-free sound effects for users to download. The specific license for each clip is clearly marked right next to it, and there are thousands of them. If users can’t find the sound they want on SoundBible, they can request it from the community which is an amazing feature. ..
We didn’t like that searching for clips can be a little clunky and the site design itself can take a few seconds to make sense of. Other than that, this is an amazing resource and a real credit to the community that supports it. ..
Freesound
Freesound is a music streaming service that differs from SoundBible in one major way: you need an account to download sound clips. Besides that, it’s pretty straightforward to find the right clip and in general these are licensed under the Creative Commons licence scheme.
The Freesound library is a great place to find information about sound design. The forums are filled with helpful information and probably answers to most of the questions you’d want to ask.
There are sound packs that are specifically designed to create a certain effect or mood. For example, this SFX pack has a few cool firearm effects.
GameSounds
GameSounds is a royalty-free sound effects site that offers sounds specifically for video game projects. The site is simple and easy to use, mirroring sounds from other sites with the added advantage of being curated specifically for video games. ..
While GameSounds may not have a large collection of clips, all 9,505 tracks are focused on this singular purpose. So if you’re working on a video game project and don’t have much of a budget, this is an essential destination for finding soundtracks.
ZapSplat
ZapSplat is the best sound effect site on this list because it has a massive 59,000 sound clip library and users can download just about all of the clips for free. However, there are some limitations on users who don’t upgrade their accounts or donate. ..
If you choose to pay for audio clips from the website, you can download them faster and with less hassle. You also don’t have to do attributions and have access to higher quality audio clips. The owner of the site is constantly creating new sounds, so whatever your budget, there’s always a reason to come back.
freeSFX
FreeSFX is a website that offers sound effects for free. Unfortunately, you will need to register an account before you can download anything. ..
The royalty-free sound effects site has a collection of 4,500 sounds, but you need to credit the site when using them. There are many great sounds on this site, so it’s worth checking it out.
AudioMicro
But this is not a fake site. The clips are all real and the sound effects are from some of the most famous media sources in the world.
AudioMicro offers royalty-free clips for use in your videos, but you’ll need to spend a few dollars to get them. Sometimes the perfect clip simply has to be paid for, but at least you know it’s a one-time payment and then it’s yours to use as you see fit. ..
SoundEffects+
SoundEffects+ is a site that specializes in providing users with high-quality sound effects. The site has a small library of clips, but each clip is recorded by an audio professional. ..
The clips in this set are all free to use, but there are some important limitations built into the license agreement. For example, you can only use 100 clips per month, or you’ll get an account suspension.
Sound Effects+ is a great addition to your audio toolkit.
GR Sites
GR Sites has a small sound effect library of just over 2,000 royalty-free sound clips that are curated to be perfect for website projects. So you’ll find exactly the sorts of sound clips that will save your bacon when designing a site and realizing at the last minute that you don’t have the right little jingle or chime to pull it all together. ..
If you’re looking for a great place to host your video or podcast project, then definitely check out Video Creators. The site is easy to navigate and doesn’t require an account before downloading the resources, so it’s a great resource to bookmark. ..
Partners In Rhyme
Partners in Rhyme is a music library and video sharing site that offers a wide variety of professional-grade clips for use in projects. After paying for access, users are free to use the clips as they please with no questions asked. ..
This website has a lot of great information and it’s organized in helpful ways. ..
SoundGator
SoundGator is a site that offers users a quick and easy way to download audio files. After registering and signing in, users can quickly download what they need and get started with their project. ..
SoundGator is a site that allows users to use the clips however they like, as long as they don’t sell the clips themselves. ..
The sound selection is decent in variety, if not outright volume. There’s a good chance that one of these clips will end up being the one sound effect you needed to get the job done. ..
Sound Good?
We’ve put together a list of the 10 best royalty-free sound effect websites to help you find what you need. Whether you’re looking for a video, podcast or retro-flash game, these sites have the sounds you need. And with so many options available, it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.
