variesper-file reviewCredit: Unclear: read the Notesverified 37d agoGo to source
Huge community audio library. Per-sound licenses are CC0, CC BY, or CC BY-NC (plus legacy Sampling+). Filter to CC0 (or BY with credit) for commercial shipping — NC / Sampling+ uploads are not commercial-safe.
[](https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/entry/freesound/)
HTML:
<a href="https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/entry/freesound/"><img src="https://tmhsdigital.github.io/Free-Game-Dev-Assets/badge/freesound.svg" alt="Licence read by Free Game Dev Assets" /></a>
Follow licence changes (an Atom feed of changes to this licence, its commercial use, credit or status)
Content ID reaches sound effects, through third parties. Freesound's own FAQ (read 2026-09-23) explains it: musicians put "raw" Freesound sounds into songs and register those songs with YouTube Content ID, so any other video containing the same unedited sound gets matched. It adds that a sound "modified with plugins, stretched or slowed" is less likely to match, and that a claim can be disputed by showing the Freesound upload predates the song. For a game, process sounds before you ship them, which also protects your players' videos
commercial: varies (set 2026-09-26): the FAQ names three per-sound licences, and one of them (BY-NC) forbids commercial use, so this is the per-file case the catalog marks varies. Still open: credit is also per sound (CC0 none, BY required), and the schema has no per-file value for attribution_required, so the entry stays needs-review
Re-checked 2026-10-04: FAQ and website ToS unchanged. Still open: credit is per sound (CC0 none, BY required), which attribution_required cannot express
Search filters are not a legal guarantee — open each sound’s license page before packaging
Attribution list tool: freesound.org/home/attribution/
Site ToS restricts commercial use of the website portal; sound reuse still follows the per-file Creative Commons choice
Review: decide how to record attribution when credit is set per sound (CC0 none, BY required), which attribution_required cannot express.
Evidence
Live FAQ — Licenses (2026-07-19): uploaders choose CC0 / BY / BY-NC; FAQ summary: NC means “you can't earn any money with the piece of work you create!”
Live website ToS (2026-07-19): sounds/metadata licensed under the CC license the uploader selects — not a site-wide commercial grant → keep needs-review / commercial: unknown
Live FAQ — Licenses (2026-09-26): "freesound lets the user select one of three licenses for their sounds. And, we used to have a 4th license"; zero: "you can do pretty much what you want with the sound"; attribution: "you should always mention the original creators"; noncommercial: "you can't earn any money with the piece of work you create!"
Live FAQ (2026-10-04): unchanged: "freesound lets the user select one of three licenses for their sounds"; "For "attribution" you should always mention the original creators of the sounds when you use them."
Live website ToS (2026-10-04): "Unless otherwise agreed in writing with us, you may not use the Freesound website portal for commercial purposes."
