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 do not have. The good news: both CC0-licensed music (zero attribution, zero legal risk) and attribution-based royalty-free music now exist in real volume, so you can download tracks and drop them straight into a released, commercial indie game without paying a composer.
Table of Contents
This guide covers both categories, because they are not the same thing and mixing them up is the single most common licensing mistake indie developers make. You will find where to get true CC0 game music that needs no credit at all, where to get royalty-free music that requires an attribution line (or a cheap paid license to remove it), exactly what Kenney’s Music Jingles pack allows, and how to spot a track that turns out to be non-commercial only before it ends up in your shipped build.
Quick Answer
For free music with zero attribution, start with Kenney’s Music Jingles pack (CC0) at kenney.nl, OpenGameArt.org filtered by CC0 license, itch.io’s CC0 + Music tag, and Pixabay Music’s CC0 filter — all safe for Steam, itch.io, mobile stores, or any paid release with no credits screen needed.
For royalty-free music that requires a credit line (or a low-cost paid license to remove it), the strongest game-focused options are Incompetech, Soundimage.org, ZapSplat, and Twin Musicom — all explicitly permit commercial, paid game use as long as you follow their attribution terms.
The Best CC0 Game Music Sources (No Attribution Needed)
Kenney (kenney.nl) is the single most reliable name in CC0 game assets. Nearly every pack Kenney releases, including the Music Jingles pack, is dedicated to the public domain under CC0, meaning you can use it in any game, free or paid, without crediting Kenney at all (though most developers credit him anyway since the assets are that good).
OpenGameArt.org lets you filter its entire music library by license, so selecting CC0 shows only tracks explicitly released to the public domain. The catalog is game-specific: chiptune, ambient, RPG, action, and boss-battle themes are all represented, and each asset page states the license clearly.
itch.io has a dedicated CC0 + Music tag (itch.io/game-assets/assets-cc0/tag-music) that surfaces packs like Tallbeard Studios’ FREE Music Loop Bundle, a large set of seamless looping CC0 tracks spanning ambient, chiptune, and upbeat styles. Because itch.io creators set their own terms, always confirm CC0 on the individual page rather than assuming it applies site-wide.
Freesound.org tags a large volume of CC0-licensed music and loops, searchable at freesound.org/browse/tags/cc0. It skews toward loops, stingers, and ambient beds rather than full compositions, which makes it useful for filling gaps other libraries miss. Pixabay Music also has a CC0 filter (pixabay.com/music/search/cc0) alongside its own no-attribution Pixabay License content, giving you two overlapping no-credit-required pools to pull from.
Kenney Music Jingles Pack: License Explained
Kenney’s Music Jingles pack, available at kenney.nl/assets/music-jingles, contains 85 short musical jingles released under CC0 1.0 Universal. CC0 is a public domain dedication, not a standard Creative Commons attribution license, so there is no requirement to credit Kenney, link back to kenney.nl, or add the pack to a credits screen, even in a game you sell.
This makes the Music Jingles pack safe to use in commercial releases on any storefront, including DRM-locked platforms like the Apple App Store, Google Play, and console marketplaces, where some attribution-based licenses can create friction. You can modify the tracks, loop them, remix them into your own compositions, or bundle them into a paid asset pack of your own; CC0 places no restrictions on any of that.
Music Jingles is Kenney’s main CC0 music offering. Most of Kenney’s other audio packs — including RPG Audio, Digital Audio, UI Audio, Interface Sounds, and Impact Sounds — are sound-effect and foley libraries (footsteps, weapon hits, UI clicks, and similar) rather than music, so grab them separately if you need those effects; they carry the same no-attribution CC0 terms.
Royalty-Free Music Sites for Indie Games (Attribution or Paid License)
“Royalty-free” is a broader category than CC0: it means you pay no per-play or per-copy fee, but it does not automatically mean no credit is required. These sites are all confirmed safe for commercial, shipped indie games, provided you follow each one’s specific terms.
Incompetech (incompetech.com), the site of composer Kevin MacLeod, hosts a large catalog of tracks under 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 a credits screen genuinely is not possible, Kevin also sells a paid license that removes the attribution requirement.
Soundimage.org, maintained by composer Eric Matyas, offers tracks organized by game-relevant genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Chiptune, Puzzle, Horror, and more. Files are encoded as seamless loops for game engines, and commercial use is allowed with a simple attribution credit linking back to soundimage.org.
ZapSplat (zapsplat.com) explicitly lists games, apps, and software as permitted commercial uses. Free-tier downloads require you to credit “ZapSplat” somewhere reasonably visible (credits screen, store description, or documentation); Premium members can use tracks downloaded during their subscription attribution-free, even after cancelling.
Twin Musicom (twinmusicom.org) offers a genre-diverse catalog from jazz to chiptune under CC BY, requiring the credit format “[Track Name] by Twin Musicom (twinmusicom.org)” for commercial use, with a paid per-track license available if you’d rather skip the credit line.
dig.ccmixter.org connects game developers with composers directly and tags a large number of tracks for game use, mostly under CC BY variants. Free Music Archive (freemusicarchive.org) is larger but riskier: many artists use Non-Commercial (NC) licenses that prohibit use in any game you sell or monetize with ads, so always check the license on the specific track page rather than assuming site-wide terms. Bensound’s free tier is worth a mention too, but its default free license is written primarily for online video and streaming use — for a paid, shipped game, its Business License is the safer, unambiguous choice rather than relying on the free attribution tier.
CC0 vs. Royalty-Free: What Actually Differs
CC0 means the creator waived all rights: use the track in any game, free or paid, with no credit required, ever. Royalty-free (typically CC BY or a site’s custom “free license”) means you don’t pay a fee per copy or per play, but you usually still owe attribution, and sometimes the free tier only covers non-commercial or video use rather than a paid game release.
Neither term guarantees the license covers your specific use case. “Royalty-free” is a licensing model, not a license itself, so the same site can host tracks under CC0, CC BY, and Non-Commercial terms side by side. The only reliable approach is opening the license page for the exact track you plan to ship, not the homepage or the pack description.
OGG vs. MP3: Which Format to Use for Looping Game Music
Most CC0 and royalty-free packs ship as both OGG and MP3. OGG Vorbis is generally the better choice for game engines like Godot, Unity, and Unreal because it compresses well without the small silent gap MP3 encoding can introduce at the start or end of a file, which matters for seamless looping background tracks. MP3 remains useful for one-off stingers, menu music, or projects where engine or platform support for OGG is limited.
Where to Put Music Credits in Your Published Game
For CC0 tracks, no credits are legally required, though a short “Music” section in your in-game credits or store page is good practice. For CC BY and attribution-required royalty-free tracks, the safest placements are an in-game credits screen, your Steam or itch.io store description, and your game’s README or manual, since all three are places a rights holder could reasonably expect to find the required text. Keep a simple spreadsheet mapping each track to its source URL and exact license text as you build your soundtrack, so you can reproduce the required credit line later without re-checking every site.
Common Licensing Mistakes That Get Games Hit With Takedowns
The most frequent mistake is grabbing a track from a mixed-license aggregator like Free Music Archive or itch.io and assuming the site’s overall reputation covers it, when the individual track is actually Non-Commercial. NC-licensed tracks cannot legally appear in a game you sell or run ads against, even if the rest of the site is fine for commercial use.
The second most common mistake is relying on attribution placement that a platform strips out, such as putting credit only in a description field the storefront truncates. Put required credits somewhere durable: inside the actual game build, not just an external page you don’t fully control.
free and royalty-free music for indie games FAQs
What’s the best free music for indie games?
Kenney’s Music Jingles pack is a good starting point because it’s CC0 (no attribution ever required); pair it with OpenGameArt’s CC0 filter and Pixabay Music’s CC0 filter for longer background tracks and other genres.
Is royalty-free music actually free to use?
Usually yes to download, but ‘royalty-free’ just means no per-play fee, not no strings attached. Most royalty-free game music (Incompetech, Soundimage, ZapSplat, Twin Musicom) requires a visible attribution credit unless you buy a low-cost license that removes it.
Is Kenney’s Music Jingles pack really CC0?
Yes. It’s released under CC0 1.0 Universal, meaning Kenney has waived all copyright, so no credit is legally required even in a commercial, paid game.
What does CC0 mean for game music specifically?
It means you can use, modify, loop, remix, and ship the track in any game, free or paid, on any storefront, without crediting the creator or adding it to a credits screen.
Can I use CC0 music without any credit at all?
Yes, that’s the entire point of CC0 — it’s a public domain dedication, not an attribution license, so no credit is required by law, though crediting the creator is still a nice courtesy.
Can I use Free Music Archive tracks in a game I sell?
Only if the specific track’s license permits commercial use. Many Free Music Archive uploads use Non-Commercial (NC) licenses that prohibit use in a paid or ad-monetized game, so check the individual track page every time.
Do I have to credit Kevin MacLeod if I use Incompetech music?
Yes, unless you buy his paid license. His standard license is CC BY 4.0, which requires a credit line naming the track, Kevin MacLeod, incompetech.com, and the license.
What is the difference between royalty-free and CC0?
Royalty-free means no ongoing per-play fee but usually still requires attribution or has usage restrictions; CC0 means the creator waived all rights, so there’s no fee and no attribution requirement at all.
Can I use CC0 or CC-BY music on the Apple App Store or PlayStation Network?
Yes, both license types are accepted on closed platforms; CC0 is the simplest since there’s no attribution text to place, while CC-BY just requires you to include the credit somewhere in the app or its listing.
Does a CC-BY-SA audio license force me to open-source my game?
No. Share-alike (SA) terms apply to the audio file itself if you redistribute or remix it as a standalone asset, not to the game code or other assets bundled around it, but check the specific track’s terms since ShareAlike audio is rare and worth avoiding if you’re unsure.
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