This is a list of websites offering free sound effects. The list is in order with the best websites at the top.
The key aspects are sound quality, library size, licensing and navigation within the website.
You can also find a summary table at the end of an article for a quick glance.
For the best quality sound effects I recommend visiting the following websites:
- Mixkit.co
- 99sounds.org
- Freetousesounds.com
- Airbornesound.com
- Blog.accusonus.com
- Boomlibrary.com
These websites have the largest free sound effects libraries:
- Youtube.com
- Zapsplat.com
- Freesfx.co.uk
- Freesound.org
#1 Mixkit.co
Mixkit.co is the best website for free sound effects. It has a good variety of sounds effects and includes amazing cinematic sounds.
I wish the audio library would be bigger, but it covers a good variety of sounds to be used for many different projects. Also, the website is new and very easy to navigate.
Pros:
- Very high quality sound effects
- No registration
- Easy to navigate
- Cinematic sounds
Cons:
- Small sound effects library
#2 99sounds.org
99sounds website offers a free very high quality 99 sounds effects pack. It includes lots of high-quality cinematic sounds. The biggest drawback is how small the audio library is, but the quality of sound effects is way above the par.
Pros:
- Very high quality
- No registration
- Cinematic sounds
Cons:
- Very small sound effects library
#3 Freetousesounds.com
Freetousesounds website offers a small library of very high quality free sound effects. They have a donation system with no minimum budget, meaning you can get an audio track for 0$.
Some of the audio tracks at Freetousesounds are very long which is nice as you can get long environmental sounds for your background audio.
Pros:
- Very high quality sound effects
- No registration
- Long audio tracks
Cons:
- Small sound effects library
#4 Airbornesound.com
Airbornesound website has a small audio library of very high quality free sound effects. Similarly to Freetousesounds, it has some long audio tracks that are nice to use as a background.
Pros:
- Very high quality sound effects
- Long tracks
- No registration
Cons:
- Small sound effects library
#5 Freesound.org
Freesound.org website has an audio library of over 500,000 free sound effects of low to high quality. The navigation is nice and no registration is needed. It’s one of the biggest free sound effects libraries and will cover all topics imaginable.
The biggest drawback is the inconsistent quality of sound effects. While some are great, others are below the par.
Pros:
- Large sound effects library
- Overall decent quality
- No registration needed
Cons:
- Not consistent quality
#6 Youtube audio library
Youtube owns a large audio library of low to high-quality free sound effects and music.
It is one of the largest sources of sound effects in this list and getting larger, however, the sound effects sometimes are great and sometimes quite bad.
You also might spend a lot of time while looking for relevant sound effects due to the lack of good navigation system. I wish they added a simple categories list.
In addition, you must sign-in to access the audio library.
Pros:
- Large sound effects library
- Music library
- Overall decent quality
Cons:
- No categories
- Registration needed
- Not consistent quality
#7 Blog.accusonus.com
Blog.accusonus.com website owns a small library of 300+ high-quality free sound effects. The free package includes not only environmental sounds but some high-quality cinematic sound effects as well. To receive free sound effects you have to sign for a newsletter.
Pros:
- High quality sound effects
- Cinematic effects
Cons:
- Small sound effects library
- Requires to sign for a newsletter
#8 Boomlibrary.com
Boomlibrary website requires to sign-in for a newsletter to receive 45 free very high quality cinematic sound effects. It’s very small, but nice to grab for free and have in your personal audio library.
Pros:
- Very high quality
- Cinematic
Cons:
- Very small sound effects library
- Requires to sign for a newsletter
#9 Soundjay.com
Soundjay.com is an old website but they offer around 3000 high-quality free sound effects. There’s no search bar but they have categories to navigate through.
Pros:
- High-quality sound effects
- No registration
Cons:
- No search bar
#10 Zapsplat.com
Zapsplat website offers over 75,000 medium to high-quality free sound effects and some music with a nice navigation system. However, attribution is required.
Pros:
- Decent size library
- Decent audio quality
- No registration
- Easy to navigate
Cons:
- Requires attribution
#11 Freesfx.co.uk
Freesfx website offers over 500,000 low to medium-quality free sound effects and music. It has listed categories and a search engine for convenience.
Pros:
- No registration
- Large sound effects library
- Easy to navigate
- Music
Cons:
- Low quality sound effects
#12 Soundeffectsplus.com
Soundeffectsplus website offers a small library of over 5000 medium to high-quality free sound effects. It is a tiny website, but it has a list of categories and is easy to navigate. The integrated ad is annoying, however.
Pros:
- No registration
- Decent quality sound effects
- Easy to navigate
Cons
- Integrated ad
#13 Soundbible.com
Soundbible website offers over 1500 medium to high-quality free sound effects in an easy to navigate website. However, the website requires attribution.
Pros:
- No registration
- Decent sound effects quality
- Easy to navigate
Cons:
- Requires attribution
#14 Mediacollege.com
Mediacollege.com is a small outdated website with no search bar for sound effects. Still, it offers a modest free sound effects library with low to medium quality recordings.
Pros:
- No registration
Cons:
- Low-quality
- Small sound effects library
- No search bar
#15 Audiomicro.com
Audiomicro offers over 2,000 low to high-quality free sound effects for personal use only and has easy to navigate website.
Pros:
- No registration
- Easy to navigate
Cons:
- Only for personal use
- Small sound effects library
#16 Freesoundeffects.com
Freesoundeffects.com has over 10,000 low to medium-quality free sound effects available only for personal and educational projects. The website is old but easy to navigate.
Pros:
- No registration
- Easy to navigate
Cons:
- Only for personal and educational projects
- Low quality
#17 Pacdv.com
Pacdv website has a tiny library of low to medium-quality free sound effects. It’s sectioned by categories but unfortunately, there is no search function.
Pros:
- No registration
Cons:
- Low quality
- No search bar
#18 Dramaticpublishing.com
Dramaticpublishing website has a small library consisting of low-quality free sound effects. Most of which have underlying hiss noise. There’s no search bar for sound effects.
Pros:
- No registration
Cons:
- Low-quality sound effects
- Small sound effects library
- Underlying hiss
- No search bar
Summary table
| Website | Library size | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| mixkit.co | Small | Very High |
| 99sounds.org | 99 | Very High |
| freetousesounds.com | Small | Very High |
| airbornesound.com | Small | Very-High |
| freesound.org | 500000+ | Low-High |
| Youtube audio library | Very large | Low-High |
| blog.accusonus.com | 300+ | High |
| boomlibrary.com | 45 | Very High |
| soundjay.com | 3000 | High |
| zapsplat.com | 75000+ | Medium-High |
| freesfx.co.uk | 500000+ | Low-Medium |
| soundeffectsplus.com | 5000+ | Medium-High |
| soundbible.com | 1500+ | Medium-High |
| mediacollege.com | Small | Low-Medium |
| audiomicro.com | 2000+ | Low-High |
| freesoundeffects.com | 10000+ | Low-Medium |
| pacdv.com | Small | Low-Medium |
| dramaticpublishing.com | Small | Low |