Search Sound Effects API

Search through thousands of royalty-free sound effects by keyword — "lion roar", "thunder storm", "footsteps on gravel", and many more. Each result returns a direct link to the audio file so you can preview or use it right away, together with its duration, tags, author, and license. The sound effects are released under the Pixabay Content License (free to use, no attribution required), and the author and license link are included with every result so you can credit the creator if you wish.

GET
https://api.apileague.com/search-sound-effects
Example Request and Response
GET
https://api.apileague.com/{{ examples.getSearchSoundEffects }}
{
    "sounds": [
        {
            "id": "519008",
            "title": "Lion Roar",
            "url": "https://cdn.pixabay.com/audio/2022/03/10/audio_lion-roar.mp3",
            "thumbnail": "https://cdn.pixabay.com/audio/2022/03/10/lion.jpg",
            "duration_seconds": 9.586,
            "license": {
                "name": "FREE",
                "link": "https://pixabay.com/service/license-summary/"
            },
            "author": "SoundsForYou",
            "tags": ["lion", "roar", "animal"],
            "views": 12843,
            "upload_date": "2022-03-10"
        }
    ],
    "available": 42,
    "offset": 0,
    "number": 3
}
cURL
Java
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 {{ codeCopyText }}
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Frequently Asked Questions

Are the sound effects royalty-free?

Yes. The sound effects are released under the Pixabay Content License, which lets you use them for free in commercial and non-commercial projects. No attribution is required, but the author and license link are returned with every result if you would like to credit the creator.

What audio format are the sound effects in?

The url field points directly at an MP3 file hosted on the provider's CDN, so you can stream or download it without any extra processing.

How do I page through more results?

Use the offset and number parameters. The response includes an available field with the total number of matches so you can calculate how many pages there are.

What kinds of queries work best?

The search is keyword-based and matches against the title, tags, and description of each sound. Short, descriptive queries such as "rain", "sword clash", or "cash register" work very well, and multi-word queries like "lion roar" are matched in natural-language mode.

Questions? Need Help? Ask Away