Disclaimer: All sounds, free of charge or otherwise, are currently held under different licensing agreements. Be sure to check the full legal document for each library before downloading it. Licenses for each library must be suitable for individual productions and broadcast magnitudes. The author of this article is in no way responsible for any legal violations that may occur due to incorrect usage of the sounds available in this article.
Who is this article for?
Video editors - Searching to spice up their videos.
YouTubers - Who wants to take their videos to the next level by adding sound effects
Sound Designers - Searching for free ways to diversify the sound libraries.
Free sounds websites:
You should probably first check out these 3 links:
These websites provide a wide range of royalty-free sound effects. These are completely free, so the chances are that some of them are low quality or noisy, but if you search well enough, you'll probably find the sounds you need.
YouTube:
Another great place to download free sound effects is directly from youtube. This is a designated page where you can search, rate, and download sound effects to use in your videos:
BBC
This library contains 16,000 sound effects and field recordings from the BBC archive. You can find there all kinds of sounds: Animals, ambiances, foley recordings, etc.
*They were released under the RemArc license so that they can be used only for “personal, educational or research purposes.” If you need them for commercial use, you can buy them from ProSoundEffects.com.
Epic Sound Effect
Epic Sound Effects have created a whole free section with really great sound.
Check out this link.
Sounds Crate
Soundscrate.com is awesome. They provide a vast pool of sound effects.
By registering for the free plan, you can download up to 5 sound effects per day - for free.
PremiumBeat
PremiumBeat.com is a royalty-free music stock. It has an interesting blog that, among other things, provides sound effect freebies. You can find there SCI-FI UI sounds, footsteps, and other useful sounds:
SoundSnap
There are some free sounds in the Soundsnap Blog. “These free sound packs rotate every couple months,” according to the Soundsnap management.
Boom Library
BoomLibrary.com is a professional royalty-free sound effects stock and gets mentioned a lot by pros. These sample packs are not free, but they do have 2 free sample packs.
Also, by joining the newsletter, you can benefit from “Monthly FREE SOUNDS delivered directly to your inbox (commercial use allowed).”
Accusonus
Accusonus gives you great impact sounds for free! free impacts link
A Sound Effect
You can register to the 'A Sound Effect' Newsletter and get free sounds with every issue.
Soundmorph
Over 1GB of robotic sounds, UI (User Interface) sounds, and more!
Sound Bits
Soundbits.de provides all kinds of professional sample packs, and they also have an interesting blog regarding sound design.
They also have a few sample packs that you can download for free from their website.
344 Audio
By Subscribing to 344audio.com you get 1.2 GB of free sound effects!
Soundofessen
At soundofessen.com you'll find tones of high-quality recordings of ambiances from Europe!
Articulated Sounds
Articulatedsounds.com is an ever-growing great source of sound effects packs, and they also provide 3 free sound packs.
FreeSFX.co.ik
In FREESFX You can Find up to 500K completely free sound effects. All you have to do is sign up, search, choose, and download!
NASA
Nasa, apparently, "... has been making historic sounds for over 50 years”, and these sounds are now open for public use:
Record sounds yourself!
You don’t need a huge foley stage to record sounds.
These days, you can buy relatively cheap handy recorders like the Zoom H1 and go out there and record what you need.
It might be time-consuming, but it’s fun! And once you buy your recorder, the sounds are free, authentic and they are YOURS!
Conclusion
As you can see, most of the royalty sound effects stocks provide a few samples or even whole sample packs for free. If you still didn't find what you're looking for and want to try all the free possibilities, I suggest you search over the net for other companies that create sound effects packs and check if they have a "Free" section.
Another way would be to get in touch with freelancers who record Foley, ambiance, and sound effects and try to make a barter deal.
GOOD LUCK!
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