Skip to content
Soundboards
Soundboards / 8-bit sounds

8-Bit Sound Effects

These free 8-bit sound effects are classic chiptune blips: coin, jump, power-up, laser, explosion, a level-up jingle and a game-over tune. Play them here or download the MP3 for your own game jam or video.

What makes a sound "8-bit"

Old game hardware had only a few simple voices: square and triangle waves, plus a noise channel. Pitch slides, quick arpeggios and short envelopes did all the work. These sounds follow the same recipe, so the coin is two square-wave notes, the jump is a rising slide and the explosion is stepped noise sweeping from bright to dark.

Two original jingles

The level-up and game-over tunes are short melodies written for this site, not borrowed from any game. They are about one and two seconds long, which is enough to mark a stage change without getting in the way.

Using them in a project

Download the MP3 and drop it into your engine, editor or slide deck. Because the sounds are CC0 you do not need to credit this site, and you may edit them (trim, pitch-shift, layer) freely. Short sounds like the coin and jump work well played repeatedly on a hotkey.

Questions people ask

Are these sounds from real retro games?

No. They imitate the style using the same kinds of waveforms, but each one is synthesised from scratch by this site, so there are no samples or game audio in them.

Are these sounds free to use in videos and streams?

Yes. Every built-in sound is original synthesis released under CC0 1.0, so you can use it in videos, streams, games, lessons and commercial projects with no payment and no credit. See the sound licence.

Can I use these in a game I sell?

Yes. The CC0 licence allows commercial use with no attribution. See the sound licence.

What format are the downloads?

MP3, mono, 44.1 kHz. They are short, so the files are small, typically a few kilobytes each.

More ways to use the soundboard