There are many struggles for the average Indie Game Dev, as well as hobbyist developers. Not everyone you work with can handle all the things people expect to see in a game, and not every team has a music composer.

Music and Sound effects might end up being an afterthought for everyone, including players, but when it’s missing, the effect can be bad for immersion. Fortunately, there are avenues that can be used to get those necessary assets for free. We found 8 places where indie developers can find free video game sound effects.

Here are the 8 places to download free game sounds and music for your video game!

1. Unity Asset Store

For those who have chosen to use the Unity Engine for their game development, the Unity Asset Store has many free game sound effects and music options. The only drawback to this service is it’s only functional in the Unity Engine.

Simply go to the Unity Asset Store, log in and go to the audio tab. Click the option for pricing and check the box for free assets and then go to town. There are multiple sound packs and themes for any genre of game, all for the indie friendly price of free.

For music, you can find much casual game music to orchestral tracks, horror soundtracks and more. You can also find zombie sound effects, soldier voices, and weapon sounds here.

2. Epic Stock Media

The next website that you can reference is Epic Stock Media. With this particular website, you won’t be tied to a specific engine, and it’s a good resource for more than just game devs.

Upon first login, you can get an offer for a percentage off purchases in case you have the budget for sound effects and game music later. There is indeed free sound effects here however. The interface isn’t quite as simple as the Unity Asset Store, but the offer of a discount later and no proprietary file types makes this a great place to pick up free game sounds.

3. GameDev Market

There is also a website geared toward Indie Game developers with limited budgets and small teams. GameDev Market is great for getting placeholder sound clips, as well as GUI assets, and other models for games.

To find the free sound effects for games you’ll need to browse around the site using the audio tab. Every selection does have an option to filter for free stuff. It may take a few minutes to track down something that fits, but a free download is always worth the effort. If you end up with the budget to pay, there’s still plenty of reasonably priced assets here for you to check out as well.

4. Unreal Engine Marketplace

For those of you who chose the Unreal 4 Engine, there’s an option for free assets at the Unreal Engine Marketplace that you can take advantage of as well. Their website user interface makes finding those free game sounds easy.

They offer a rotating selection of free sounds for games every month as well as a permanently free option as well, just in case nothing from the monthly offerings feels right for your specific game design. This is of course tied to the Unreal Engine so it’s not the most dynamic option, but it’s still free, and that’s pretty great.

5. Sonnis

If you aren’t interested in the other options so far, there is a website called Sonniss. It’s a great resource for Indie Devs and filmmakers alike. Sonniss also provides free sound assets for games during GDC, so it’s always good to check there during the conference to get a chance to get free high quality assets for your next project.

They offer free game sounds throughout the rest of the year too, so you don’t have to wait when the GDC is going on to snag something for your video game.

6. Open Game Art

Open Game Art is also a great site to browse for free assets. Pay attention to the license agreements and take a look at the FAQ so you can find out where to credit the artists on the site. It’s not the easiest thing to navigate, but there is a wide selection of assets for any section of your indie project.

The bulk of creators have multiple licenses they create for, so keep an eye out for those if you pull assets from the site. It’s all free, so show the creators on the site some love.

7. PacDV

PacDV is another place where a game designer can find free game sound effects and music. It’s all royalty free sound effects and the site itself has a pretty easy to use interface. There’s a huge collection of audio assets to help you on your way. You don’t even have to do much digging to find specific sounds, so that’s a plus.

8. Alternative methods

You can also try YouTube's Audio Library to use in your videos. Lastly there are ways for you to convert audio files on Youtube that should work in whatever program you’re creating your project in. Some websites offer digitized versions of music that’s passed into the public domain. You have to be careful when using those files, because while the song itself may gone public domain, but the performance itself may still fall within copyright.

If you’re needing old sounding music or period specific music there are many resources in addition to the ones linked here. The Library of Congress is a good place to start for old music that’ll add an authentic flair to a period piece.

Hopefully this has helped you find some good resources to help you on your way to finishing your next game. It’s tough being a small team or being a single dev, so having open resources to get your concept solidified.

Getting everything you need to can be tough, and not everyone can do every job, so there’s no shame in getting free assets to make sure people can enjoy your project.

Download these 68 royalty free video game music loops, sound effects, and background music for free
The tracks in our free game sound effects pack are variations of existing tracks in our royalty free sound library! If you like them and want the full track with all its variation, do purchase them in the link below!

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