Freesound aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, and all sorts of bleeps, ... released under Creative Commons licenses that allow their reuse. Freesound provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to:
We also aim to create an open database of sounds that can also be used for scientific research and be integrated in third party applications. Using the Freesound API researchers and developers can access Freesound content a retrieve meaningful sound information such as metadata, analysis files and the sounds themselves. See the developers section and the API documentation for more information. Freesound API usage is free for non-commercial use, but it can also be licensed for being used in commercial applications.
Freesound was started in 2005 in the Music Technology Group of Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. Currently it is being maintained and developed by the Freesound team, which is composed of current and former researchers and students of the research group. Freesound is possible thanks to the support of the Phonos Foundation and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, who provides the needed hardware infrastructure to handle the site, and to the contributions of the Freesound users. Check our sustainability reports for more information about how Freesound is maintained.
Currently the Freesound team is formed by:
Former members:
Furthermore, Freesound would not be possible without the help of the great team of sound moderators, members of the Freesound community themselves, who do this task voluntarily.
Check our Frequently Asked Questions section!