Good sound effects are very important for any video. They have a psychological impact which allows the public to feel the situation explained in the video. This would become more apparent when the sound effects are removed from the stream. In this case, the visuals would seem so raw.
Find royalty free sound effects
As important as the sound effects are, you can’t just copy them from a video and download them. A license must be attached. Yes, you can create your own sound effects, but it is neither easy nor doable. Here are some of the best websites to download royalty free background sound effects for video editing.
- 99 sounds
- Noise For Fun
- SoundJay
- ZapSplat
- FreeSFX
- Partners In Rhythm
- SoundBible
- Freesound
- Gamesounds
- SoundGator.
1]99 sounds
99Sounds is one of my favorite websites for royalty free sound effects. It has a huge library with 32 collections, so it covers almost everything. Collection is free, not even once. The audio files are placed with images as if they were album art, which would help you to sort the sounds after downloading. The disadvantages are that the collection is old, mainly added before 2016, they are a sound production company and not a community, so they have a limit to the number of sounds, and do not know why, but they have no search option. Find out more on their official website here.
2]Noise For Fun
Noise For Fun is a unique concept of its own. If you are tired of the usual sound libraries, I strongly suggest that you check their collection. They have a small but unique collection of fairly unconventional sound effects. However, your audience will certainly appreciate innovation in audio. In addition, the sounds are in high quality WAV formats. The disadvantages are that the sound effects will not suit each project and you will have to attach the attribution to each copy. Learn more about their incredible collection on their website here.
3]SoundJay
SoundJay has collected all the usual sound effects you would need in your videos, all carefully organized into 10 collections. The sounds are high quality and free. You can download sounds in WAV and MP3 formats. Since the sizes are very different for the two formats, the website mentions the file size before downloading. SoundJay continues to add new sounds to its library, so you can count this as another positive. As for the drawbacks, it has no search bar and the advertisements are annoying. Learn more on the site here.
4]ZapSplat
ZapSplat is perhaps the most extensive website for royalty-free sounds. The website has a collection of over 34,000 sound effects and countless categories. So if you can’t find a sound effect on ZapSplat, chances are you will find it elsewhere. The sounds are free for commercial and non-commercial use, however, you will need to include attribution for commercial use. To make it totally unallocated, you can send them a small donation. Download audio files in MP3 or WAV format from website here.
5]FreeSFX
FreeSFX is a huge royalty free sound effects website with a collection of over 500,000 sound effects and the collection continues to grow. It has a search bar which facilitates navigation on the website. FreeSFX also has a collection of free music files. However, it only allows downloading files in MP3 format. In addition, the website requires registration and an attribution must be attached to each sound effect. Check more on the site here.
6]Partners In Rhythm
Partners In Rhythm is not a sound effects website per se, but a linking website. Once you click on the desired sound effect, it redirects you to the royalty-free website that hosts that effect. However, the reason to prefer Partners In Rhythm to many of the other websites on this list is its huge, carefully navigable database. However, the limitations are no less. You will need to register on the website to download any audio files. In addition, while most sound effects are free, some are premium. More could be checked on their website here.
7]SoundBible
SoundBible is a website simple enough to download royalty free sound effects. Although not all audio files on the website are free, they do have a separate tab for royalty-free sounds. The sound effects are of high quality and can be downloaded in MP3 and WAV formats. However, attribution is required for each effect and there are not enough categories and filters on the website. Learn more on the website itself here.
8]Freesound
Freesound is a huge and huge community website for finding royalty free sound effects. A lot of content is uploaded by the community, so the quality differs among the audios. While you can’t download anything without signing up for Freesound, believe me, it’s worth it. All sounds are free, however, not all are available for commercial use. An assignment may be required for some audios. Learn more about this amazing website here.
9]Gamesounds
Gamesounds is a royalty-free sound library specific to game sounds. Although the library is not large enough, this is exactly what a game designer needs. It is rather obvious that the sound effects on Gamesounds were borrowed from other important libraries like 99sounds. Check the website and decide if that’s what you need.
ten]SoundGator
SoundGator may be an average library of royalty-free sound effects, but the fact that it allows you to interact with the community makes it different. The sound effects are categorized and the search bar is clearly very useful. However, you may need to register to download audio files from the website. Learn more about SoundGator on the website here.
Lily: Royalty free copyright music that you can use in your videos.
If you have a better royalty free sound effects website, please let us know in the comments area.