Sound Effects: Home

Explore all aspects of filmmaking with these streaming videos from Kanopy.

This is a collection of 1450 sound effects tracks recorded by producer Greg Smith during his 20 year career in the film and television industry. This collection was provided to the Auburn University Library for the benefit of filmmakers, video and audio producers around the world.

These 16,000 BBC Sound Effects are made available by the BBC in WAV format to download for use under the terms of the RemArc Licence. The Sound Effects are BBC copyright, but they may be used for personal, educational or research purposes, as detailed in the license.

ccMixter is a community site featuring remixes of music licensed under Creative Commons. You can listen to, sample, mash-up, or interact with music in whatever way you want. Free.

Great resources for folk and historical music. Downloadable midi files can be easily remixed. Read Contemplator's use guidelines for proper attribution.

A web search engine with a focus on sounds. You are responsible for copyright compliance for any sound found through this site.

Freesound aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, etc released under Creative Commons licenses that allow their reuse.

The free remixes featured on this website are licensed under Creative Commons. You can download, rip, remix and share most these songs, free and legally. See the specific license agreement for each remix for any restrictions that may apply.

These sound effects downloads are free of charge for you to use in your movies. The sounds are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Music and recordings by Kevin McLeod published with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Free.

Audio and MP3 library containing over 2,000,000 free digital recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by users. Many of these files are available for free download.

The Internet Archive lets users upload their music with Creative Commons licenses. Free.

Free music sharing site based in Europe. Artists upload their music with Creative Commons licenses, so some may be available for use in your projects. Free, but registration required.

The KCAI SFX & Sound Arts Library is a royalty-free resource of 1,039 high-quality sound effect and music tracks for your production needs. It was created as an open resource by KCAI students working in our Sound and Interactive Arts production facilities. It is licensed through Creative Commons. You are free to copy, distribute, transmit the work, and use the SFXs in your own productions under condition of Attribution--Please credit SFXs used in your production to “KCAI SFX & Sound Arts Library."

A free pro audio community for musicians, film and video producers, DJs and multi media designers. Members can upload and download royalty free music loops, acapellas and vocals, beats and samples to use in any music software, video game design or movie soundtrack. Read Looperman's Copyright Policy.

The artist Moby has made over 150 tracks available for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short. Free, but registration required.

Opsound is a gift economy in action, an experiment in applying the model of free software to music. Musicians and sound artists are invited to add their work to the Opsound pool using a copyleft license developed by Creative Commons. Listeners are invited to download, share, remix, and reimagine.

General sound effects, public domain sound effects, and royalty free sound effects. Read Partners in Rhyme's FAQ.

Thousands of free sound effects, sound clips, and straight up sounds. Royalty Free Sounds can be used for commercial uses. The free sounds can be used if they are under a Creative Commons Attribution or Public Domain License.

UC Santa Barbara has digitized music cylinders published between 1894-early 1920s. The music is in the public domain and files are published with a Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license. Free.

Brooklyn Public Library operates an amateur recording studio for Library cardholders working on audio or video projects.

Brooklyn's BRIC Arts Media center is freely accessible to the public. Reserve a TV or audio production studio. Note that Brooklyn residency may apply when making reservations.

The Metropolitan New York Library Council runs a digital studio that is open to the public (for a fee), and provides access to audio recording and editing hardware & software, preservation-grade digitization hardware & software, AV media transfer equipment, media migration and recovery services, and a vinyl plotter station.