Freesound — Creative Commons sound library (byte-exact originals)
- Free allowance
- 1 GB per upload batch ('there is a file size upper limit of 1GB ... when uploading multiple files at once, the size limit is applied to the sum of all file sizes'), no published total-account cap.
- Verdict
- caveatusable, with a named limit or an unprobed read path
- Cost
- free tier
- Identity
- institution?placeholder, not evidence; card unknown, phone unknown
- Binding limit
- per-object-cap1 GB per upload
- Evidence
- reported3 sources; a third party said so
- Freshness
- stale on 2026-11-05checked 2026-10-21 (inherited); stale on 2026-11-05
| Free tier | 1 GB per upload batch ('there is a file size upper limit of 1GB ... when uploading multiple files at once, the size limit is applied to the sum of all file sizes'), no published total-account cap. Volume comes from the number of sounds, not their size. unit GB; metered on unstated |
|---|---|
| Price | none stated |
| Limits |
1 GB per upload (summed across a batch); every sound must be given one of exactly three licences and pass human moderation; sounds must be sounds, not songs — 'don't be offended if your sound gets rejected by a moderator'. That moderation queue is the throughput ceiling. |
| Identity | institution (inferred, not read) not published |
| Egress | Free downloads, no metering, CDN-served. The site is explicitly built for bulk download (a Freesound Data Packs Portal exists for model-training dumps). |
| Per-object cap | 1 GB per upload (1000000000 bytes) |
| Retention | not stated |
| Interface | rest rest |
| Tooling | Public Freesound APIv2 (freesound.org/docs/api/) with OAuth2 for upload; documented endpoints for search, download, and upload. Bulk metadata via CSV/XLS upload ('Bulk description of files', unlocked after 40 sounds). |
| Composes with | Unlimited sounds per account x 1 GB batches. The API makes it fully scriptable, unlike every podcast host here. 40 uploads unlocks bulk describe, which removes the per-sound metadata tax that otherwise makes this unusable at volume. |
| Reliability | Serves the original, byte-for-byte, and says so explicitly: 'When you download the sound you get the exact same original file that was uploaded, no transcoding nor any kind of editing at all, without the artefacts' — the in-site player is a low-bitrate mp3/ogg preview, the download is the master. Data does not vanish, but a moderator can reject an upload before it is ever stored. |
| Parsed numbers |
|
Evidence 3
| date | source | what it proved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-21 | freesound.org/help/faq/ | 'there is a file size upper limit of 1GB. Note that when uploading multiple files at once, the size limit is applied to the sum of all file sizes' |
| 2026-10-21 | freesound.org/help/faq/ | 'When you download the sound you get the exact same original file that was uploaded, no transcoding nor any kind of editing at all' |
| 2026-10-21 | freesound.org/help/faq/ | moderation can reject; bulk describe at 40+ sounds |
Unknown values 3
- per object cap notes: the field may be stated in a source that was not read
- retention notes: the field may be stated in a source that was not read
- retention stated: the field may be stated in a source that was not read