Design · Website
Freesound
Collaborative database of over 700,000 Creative Commons audio samples and effects
Freesound is a long-running community platform hosting hundreds of thousands of Creative Commons-licensed audio samples, field recordings, and foley effects. It provides creators with a searchable, open library of sound design assets with waveform previews and clear licensing terms. It serves as a go-to alternative to commercial sample libraries for unconventional textures, ambience, and raw audio.
What it's for
- Source environmental field recordings and ambient background noise for music production
- Find raw foley and sound effects for video editing or game development
- Download drum loops, synth hits, and impact samples under Creative Commons licenses
- Explore geotagged sounds from around the world using interactive map browsing
Features
- Over 700,000 community-uploaded audio samples and sound effects
- Creative Commons licensing system (CC0, CC-BY, CC-BY-NC)
- Interactive waveform visualizers and audio preview player
- Search filtering by tags, duration, sample rate, and geotags
- Sample packs and user-curated sound collections
- Community forum and rating system for audio assets
- API access for integrating sounds into third-party tools
Pricing
Free to search and download with an account; accepts donations
Details
- Type
- Website
- Category
- Design
- Topic
- Audio & Sound FX
- Open source
- No
- Platforms
- Web, API
- For
- Music producers, sound designers, video editors, and game developers looking for free sound assets.
- Alternative to
- Splice, Sounds.com, BBC Sound Effects, Sonniss
- Tags
- audio, samples, sound effects, foley, creative commons, music production
Why it was saved
- @dotmvsic: A premier free source for foley, environmental ambient recordings, impacts, and sound design elements.
- @benkaluza: Hosts over 650,000 audio files contributed by a global community with waveform previews and detailed technical tags.
Compare
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