From a vlog to a movie – sound effects can spice up any video. In this guide, we’re looking at the best sites to download free sound effects for video editing. Whether you’re making a meme for YouTube or want to add some cool video SFX to your latest home video, you can’t just download any sounds you wish to as they might be protected by copyright. On top of that, it helps to find specific sounds for videos that are easily categorized and easy to download and drag and drop into your editing software. Check out the ten sites below to find free sound effects for your next project.
Mixkit is a platform run by Envato, one of the biggest stock audio and stock video marketplaces on the internet. The company describes itself as being “behind some of the world’s leading marketplaces for creative assets and creative people.”
There are a lot of people contributing video sounds and editing sound effects that are simply categorized. You don’t even have to make an account to get your first free downloads. There are some different licenses on their sounds, but most are no copyright and free sound clips. If you are using these video SFX for your projects, you can use most of their free sound effects for video editing.
Zapsplat has over 86,000 different video sound effects for use in your video projects. They offer flexible licenses allowing you to use the samples on YouTube, and the SFX are tagged and categorized to find what you need in seconds, whether you want something funny or more serious.
Zapsplat has also worked with media creators to provide royalty-free music. You can download full tracks to use in the background of your project.
PremiumBeat is owned and operated by Shutterstock. This is a stock website and platform, and PremiumBeat is their outlet for free sounds for video.
The license is simple, making the SFX appealing for YouTubers, video editors, and makers of games and apps. “You are free to use all of these sound effects in any commercial or personal project. You only agree not to resell or redistribute these free sound effects.” So, no matter what you use these sounds for, you don’t have to pay for a license.
Unfortunately, there are only 280 sounds, but they are a good selection of both funny and serious sound effects for video editing. They’re MP3 files which are great for compatibility, but the files aren’t as high quality as WAV files. Keep this in mind if you are working on a professional project.
The second of the sites owned by Envato on this list. Envato Elements is a professional platform that is easy to use and has a vast number of free samples and sound effects. There are over 450,000 sounds currently available, and despite the huge volume, it’s really easy to navigate through and find the perfect sound.
What’s the catch? Well, while you can get video editing sound effects for free on the site, you are limited on a free account to just 12 a month. If you want to access more, you can pay for a subscription and get unlimited downloads.
FindSounds is a free source of high-quality editing SFX. You can search the web for any sort of sound you want, and the partner network of FindSounds sites will come up with results that you can download and use. There are also some categories of sounds to browse through on the website. Though it doesn’t have the most modern interface, this is a quick and easy way to find a sound that you specifically want.
Partners in Rhyme is an excellent source of free audio. As well as loads of high-quality WAV sound effects for editing videos, you can also download MIDI and even royalty-free pieces of music to use. The samples include transitions, funny sounds, horror collections, and more. You can easily search through their platform if you know the specific sound you want or take a look through their collections.
Partners in Rhyme sells CDs containing royalty-free audio that you can use in your projects, but the free samples are sufficient for many people searching for free sound for videos.
Free Sound is, in their own words, “a collaborative database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds.”
One of the best things about this website is the fact that there is a brilliant community. Loads of people share their collections of recordings, audio effects, and field recordings that you can grab and use on your video editing projects.
Because of the Creative Commons License, you might have to make sure you give appropriate credit, but you can use the sounds in the majority of video projects. You need to create an account before you can download any audio, but this is free.
This is another totally free website that has a significant reliance on the community spirit. Downloads are totally free, and there are a great number of royalty-free sound FX for video editors and to use in music and other sound projects. Some of the SFX are “Attribution 3.0” in their license type, meaning that the original creators need to be credited.
Many websites that offer free sound effects for video are plastered with unsightly ads, and you can’t tell what the actual download link is. With SoundBible, the ads are subtle, and it is easy to choose between MP3 and WAV files, so you can even select the quality you need.
AudioMicro is another relatively small audio library that covers many basic free sounds for audio editing and free sound clips you can use without worrying about paying for the license.
AudioMicro is a brand that sells a lot of effect packs and other music subscriptions, and the free samples they offer for video editing are a promotion tool, so you don’t get masses of sounds, but there are over 2,000 to choose from.
In addition to their stock video library, Videvo.net offers a vast collection of stock audio, which includes sound effects. In the same way as with their other creative stock assets, Videvo offers hundreds of their sound effects for free, as well as an extended library under their premium plans that brings this number to almost 200K sound effect clips!
Both free and premium sound effects come with royalty-free licensing, which allows you to use them in your personal and professional video and audio projects. The library has an intuitive interface, a filter system, and is organized in several categories and genres that allow you to find exactly what you are searching for.
Movavi Video Editor
Сreate awesome videos easily
*The free version of Movavi Video Editor may have the following restrictions depending on the build: watermark on exported clips, 60-second video or 1/2 audio length limit, and/or some advanced features unavailable when exporting videos.
Frequently asked questions about using free sound effects for video
There are a number of places online where you can get editing sound effects. The sites we’ve collected and collated all offer samples totally free of charge, whereas some sites claim to offer free SFX for videos but actually have hidden costs.
Websites to download royalty-free sound effects:
Yes, Adobe® Creative Cloud® software has thousands of royalty-free audio sound effects included, and within Adobe® Audition®, there are also many sounds to choose from. A lot of these have been used time and time again in video editing projects.
Adding audio to video is not a difficult task if you have good software. Movavi Video Editor lets you add simple transitions and easily import free sound effects.
Download and install Movavi Video Editor. Download the video editor, open the file, and follow the on-screen instructions to install the app on your PC or Mac.
Add media files to the program. Launch an existing project or start a new one. To add audio to the video, click Add Files and upload the video and audio files you want to merge. Drag and drop the files to add them to the Timeline board. Audio files on the Audio Track are marked with the musical note icon.
Adjust the audio file. You can edit the audio in a number of ways, drag it to the section of the video you want to use the audio on, or stretching it to fit.
Save the result. Click Export and choose the desired format or the ready-made presets. Finally, choose the destination folder in the Save to field and click Start.
YouTube has had some music you can add to the background of their videos for a long time. They now have over 150 royalty-free tracks that you can download from the YouTube Audio Library and use for free, however, and wherever you want. You don’t even have to use them on YouTube if you don’t want to.
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