Sound and music set the emotional tone of your game — but hiring a composer or licensing a premium library can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars you don’t have. The good news: a handful of well-maintained sites offer high-quality music you can legally use in a released, commercial indie game for free.
Table of Contents
This guide covers the six best sources, explains what their licenses actually mean in practice, and calls out the single most common mistake that trips up first-time developers: grabbing a track that turns out to be non-commercial only.
Quick Answer
The most reliable no-budget starting points are OpenGameArt.org (CC0 and CC-BY tracks purpose-built for games), Incompetech by Kevin MacLeod (CC BY 4.0, 2,000+ tracks across genres), Pixabay Music (no attribution required, commercial-safe), and itch.io’s free audio asset section. Filter by CC0 on any site to guarantee zero legal friction.
The Best Free Music Sites for Indie Games
OpenGameArt.org is purpose-built for game developers. Every asset displays its license clearly — look for CC0 (public domain: use freely, no credit needed) or CC-BY (commercial use allowed with attribution). You can filter the music library by license type and format. The community submits tracks specifically intended for games — chiptune, ambient, RPG, action, and more — making it the best first stop for any indie dev.
Incompetech (incompetech.com), the site of composer Kevin MacLeod, hosts more than 2,000 royalty-free tracks across dozens of genres, all free under Creative Commons CC BY 4.0. You must include a credit line such as “Music: [Track Name] by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), CC BY 4.0.” If attribution genuinely isn’t possible in your game — say, a mobile release with no credits screen — Kevin also sells a paid license that removes the requirement. The library quality is consistently high and widely used in commercial releases.
Pixabay Music (pixabay.com/music/) offers tracks released under the Pixabay License, which permits commercial use with no attribution required at all. Quality varies across the catalog, but there are solid ambient, lo-fi, and electronic tracks well-suited to menus, overworld maps, and cutscenes.
itch.io (itch.io/game-assets/free/tag-audio) hosts hundreds of free music packs uploaded by indie composers. A standout example is Tallbeard Studios’ FREE Music Loop Bundle (tallbeard.itch.io/music-loop-bundle) — over 200 seamless looping tracks spanning ambient, chiptune, upbeat, and more, all released under CC0, meaning no attribution is required. Because each creator on itch.io sets their own terms, always click through to the individual asset page and read the license before using any track.
dig.ccmixter.org is a Creative Commons music community that explicitly connects game developers with composers, with around 2,000 tracks tagged for game use. Most require attribution; check each track’s individual page for the exact license variant.
Free Music Archive (freemusicarchive.org) is large but demands extra caution. Many artists on FMA use Non-Commercial (NC) Creative Commons licenses, which prohibit using the music in any game you sell or monetize with ads. FMA has a royalty-free filter, but always read the license on the specific track page — do not assume the whole site permits commercial use.
How to Read a Creative Commons License
Creative Commons licenses follow a consistent pattern. CC0 means the creator has released all rights — use it in any game, free or paid, with no credit required. CC-BY means attribution is required but commercial use is allowed; list the track title, artist name, and source URL in your game’s credits or documentation. CC-BY-SA adds a share-alike condition: if you distribute modified versions of the audio, they must carry the same license. Avoid any license with an NC (Non-Commercial) tag for any game you plan to sell, charge for, or monetize with ads.
“Royalty-free” by itself only means you don’t owe ongoing royalties per sale or play — it does not automatically mean the track is free to download, nor that there are no other restrictions. Always verify the actual license terms on the original source page, not just the site’s marketing copy.
Tips and Common Mistakes
Build a credits log from day one. Every time you add a track, record the artist name, track title, source URL, and license type in a plain text file inside your project folder. Chasing down attribution details at ship time is tedious and easy to get wrong — and a missing CC-BY credit can create real legal exposure.
Prefer CC0 when you can. It eliminates every edge case: no attribution, no share-alike requirements, no ambiguity about whether your game counts as commercial. Both OpenGameArt.org and itch.io let you filter specifically by CC0 license.
Don’t skip the individual license page. A song found via a Google search for “free game music” may sit on a site that hosts mixed licenses, with a Non-Commercial restriction buried in fine print below the download button. Go to the original track page every single time.
Don’t overlook chiptune and lo-fi tracks. They are plentiful on OpenGameArt under CC0, and they frequently fit puzzle, platformer, and RPG games better than generic orchestral filler — the retro character can become a deliberate part of your game’s identity.
Explore more: Game Development guides.
Free royalty-free game music FAQs
Can I use Free Music Archive tracks in a game I sell?
It depends on the individual track’s license. FMA hosts music under many different Creative Commons licenses, and a significant portion use Non-Commercial (NC) clauses that prohibit use in games you sell or monetize. Always read the license on the specific track page — do not assume the whole site permits commercial use.
Do I have to credit Kevin MacLeod if I use Incompetech music?
Yes, under the free CC BY 4.0 license. The required format is: “[Track Name] by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) — Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).” If you genuinely cannot display credits in your game, you can purchase a paid royalty-free license at incompetech.com that waives the attribution requirement.
What is the difference between royalty-free and CC0?
Royalty-free means you don’t owe ongoing royalties for each sale or use, but the track may still require attribution, a one-time purchase, or have non-commercial restrictions depending on its license. CC0 is a specific public domain dedication where all rights are waived and there are no restrictions whatsoever — no credit needed, no conditions. For maximum legal simplicity in a commercial game, CC0 is the cleaner choice.
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Photo by C D-X on Unsplash.