Here’s a List of Some of the Best Royalty-Free Stock Footage and Audio Sites
Jamie Perez • March 28, 2024
For professional content creators who rely on paid sites for their video and audio needs, here's a list of subscription-based video and audio libraries that content creators can consider for access to a wide range of high-quality video footage and audio assets:
For Royalty-Free Stock Footage:
- Pexels: Pexels offers a vast collection of high-quality, free stock videos that you can use for any purpose, including commercial projects.
- Videvo: Videvo provides a wide range of free and premium stock footage and motion graphics. They have a user-friendly search filter and offer HD and 4K videos.
- Pixabay: Pixabay not only offers free stock images but also has a growing library of free videos and animations for your creative needs.
- Videezy: Videezy features a community-driven collection of free and premium HD stock footage. They offer a variety of video categories to choose from.
- Coverr: Coverr specializes in providing free, visually appealing videos for website backgrounds. Their selection is updated regularly.
- Storyblocks (formerly Videoblocks): While it's primarily a subscription-based service, Storyblocks offers a free section with a limited selection of high-quality videos.
For Royalty-Free Stock Audio:
- YouTube Audio Library: YouTube provides a wide range of free music and sound effects that you can use in your videos without worrying about copyright issues.
- Free Music Archive: FMA offers a vast collection of music tracks that are free to use, with options for various licenses.
- Incompetech: Incompetech is known for its extensive library of royalty-free music composed by Kevin MacLeod. You can use his music in your projects by giving proper credit.
- AudioJungle: While it offers paid music tracks, AudioJungle also has a free section that includes high-quality audio tracks and sound effects.
- Free Music for Videos: This website provides a selection of free music tracks specifically curated for video creators, with easy-to-understand licensing terms.
- SoundCloud: Many independent artists and creators share their music on SoundCloud under Creative Commons licenses. Be sure to check the license details for each track.
Remember to review the licensing terms and restrictions for each resource to ensure compliance with your specific project needs. Always attribute or credit the creators when required, and consider supporting these creators whenever possible, especially if you find their work valuable for your content. ***
Subscription-Based Video Libraries:
- Artgrid: Artgrid offers a subscription service that provides access to a diverse collection of high-quality cinematic footage. They offer various subscription tiers based on video quality and licensing options.
- Storyblocks: Storyblocks offers an extensive library of stock footage, motion backgrounds, and After Effects templates. They offer affordable subscription plans for unlimited downloads.
- Shutterstock Footage: Shutterstock provides a vast collection of stock footage with various subscription options, allowing you to access video clips in different resolutions.
- Getty Images Video: Getty Images offers a subscription service that includes premium video content alongside their renowned image library.
- Adobe Stock: Adobe Stock, in addition to images, offers a wide range of video assets. It seamlessly integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud applications.
- Envato Elements: Envato Elements is a subscription-based platform that includes stock video footage, After Effects templates, and a plethora of creative assets for designers and video editors.
Subscription-Based Audio Libraries:
- Epidemic Sound: Epidemic Sound offers a subscription service that grants access to a vast library of royalty-free music and sound effects designed for content creators.
- PremiumBeat: PremiumBeat, a Shutterstock company, provides a subscription service with access to a diverse selection of high-quality music tracks for videos.
- Artlist: Artlist offers a subscription-based music licensing service for content creators, with a simple and straightforward licensing structure.
- Soundstripe: Soundstripe provides a subscription service that offers unlimited access to their music library for video projects. They also offer sound effects and stock video.
- Pond5: Pond5 offers a subscription plan that includes access to a vast library of music tracks, sound effects, and video footage, making it a one-stop shop for multimedia content.
- Musicbed: Musicbed offers a subscription option for unlimited access to their music catalog, which includes a wide range of genres and moods.
When choosing a subscription-based library, consider your specific needs, budget, and the types of projects you'll be working on. Each platform may have its own unique features, licensing terms, and pricing structures, so it's essential to review them carefully to find the best fit for your content creation workflow. ***
When it comes to video production, a major part of the art happens during the editing process. A good editor can take bad footage and still make a decent story out of it. But a bad editor cannot take great footage and make a great story out of it. You should be able to be decent at both -- but if your footage isn't the greatest, a good edit can still save you. Here are some key elements to thoroughly consider when editing your videos to ensure the final product is as great as it can be: 1) Music selection: Music will drive the narrative and set the tone for whatever emotion you want your audience to feel. The music needs to compliment the video. In many music libraries online you can narrow down the search results by putting in filters like instruments, mood, beats per second, etc. If you have a promo video that you want people to be excited about, for example, use music that is quick paced, has a hard bass, etc. 2) A-roll: These are your interviews -- the driving sound that will literally narrate the video. The first ten seconds are super important. That's your hook. It's what captures the audience's attention. Once you start bringing the viewer into the middle of the narrative, stakes are high so it's important to choose soundbites that reveal more layers to the story to keep their attention on the story. One of the biggest challenges editors face is deciding what stays and what goes. When you have so much good sound, it's hard to decide. A bit of advice here is to step away from the project for a day and come back and watch it with fresh eyes and ears. Then decide-- what sound would move me the most if this were my first time watching it? What sound advances the story and does the best job of driving home the message? And then lastly -- how do you want your story to end? Choosing that final soundbite is important because that's the overall feeling that your audience will walk away with. If you are moved by the sounds you choose -- chances are your audience will be too. 3) B-Roll: These are your visuals. Anything that is not an interview shot that helps move the story. It's great to use the phrase "say dog, see dog" when choosing your b-roll. If the soundbite talks about walking on a beach looking at the sunset, choose footage that shows that. One of the other challenging parts during the editing process is you could have an amazing shot of something--- but if the soundbite that talks about that didn't make it into the final cut of the story, then you also have to cut that beautiful shot you were super proud of if it doesn't move the story forward. But this can always be used in a separate standalone cut to promote the video on social media. 4) Practice: All of these things take time to master. Even when you've been at it for years, it's still a continuous learning process because every story is different. Find the moments that move you and the shots that ignite some sort of emotion in you. Cut different versions until you find the right one. And have fun with it when all is said and done!
Learn how to direct b-roll with authenticity. These 4 tips help you capture real emotion on camera without staging or losing the human connection.
Mastering the art of storytelling takes years of practice. You can buy all the top-tier equipment in the world and still struggle with telling a good story. Because while the nice cameras can make a good visual, no amount of equipment in the world can produce a good soundbite. Only the person behind the camera can do that. If you are someone who has been creating videos or sharing stories and wonder why your videos just don't hit you in the feels the way you want them to, it's time to do some self-reflection and ask yourself how good the interview questions were that you came up with. Because your interviewee is a direct reflection of the interviewer . We see so many people pay thousands of dollars for incredibly cinematic video... but the message just isn't there. It fell flat and now you've just spent all this money for a video that ultimately won't work the way you wanted it to. If you are running an organization and are about to sit down for a video interview, I would want to know that the person behind the camera was a good interviewer and knew how to calm my nerves, knew how to ask the right questions to make me really think about my WHY, and could pull emotion out of me that I'm not used to sharing. We've put together several tips about how to approach an interview, from the way you enter the room, to the questions you ask when the lights and camera are rolling: If the tone of your story is raw, emotional and authentic, enter the room this way. Have conversations with your interviewees as you're setting up your gear to talk about soft, heartwarming topics. Maybe even share something vulnerable about yourself so break down that wall we tend to put up around others. Show them that it's okay to not always put your best self forward. That we are all human and life happens. This helps them not only feel comfortable with you before the camera starts recording, but allows them to open up during the actual interview. If you enter the room with a serious demeanor or frazzled because you're running late, you're bringing that energy onto the set and your interview will be reflective of that. Ask better questions if you want better answers. For example: If you ask someone if they like the sunset-- that's a yes or no answer you're going to get. But if you ask them," Tell me through the use of colors what you love about the sunset and paint a picture so I can imagine what you're seeing -- that is a prompt that encourages them to share a memory, an emotion, a sensory experience that invites a much richer soundbite. Stay away from yes or no questions. Those will not help you the editing process. Talk from the heart, not from a script. If you're sticking to a pre-planned script -- that's all you're going to get. But if you go into an interview and just have an authentic conversation driven by curiosity and natural chatter, you're more likely to get sound that you didn't even anticipate. Let the curiosity of the moment drive the conversation instead of bringing a piece of paper that has a list of questions to get through. Be curious and go off script if you MUST have one. When you are genuinely curious about someone's life and you approach it in a caring way, they want to share their story. They want to feel seen, they want to feel heard and not judged. No one likes to keep things inside. And keeping things inside is not good for us. We need connection, we need people and we need people who care. Embrace silence. This is such an important skill to master. Most of the time when we are talking to someone, we interject with "Yea" "Uh huh" "Absolutely" and so on. When you are recording an interview on camera, it's important for the interviewer to stay completely silent after they've asked their question. It's hard to edit out your interjections so you want to make sure your voice cannot be heard during their answer. A simple head nod to address that you're listening will suffice. And after your interviewee has finished their sentence, don't start talking immediately. Give it a few seconds of silence. We do this for two reasons: it helps during the editing process to have some padding to work with in case we need to dissolve or add a transition between clips, and it opens up an opportunity for the interviewee to say more... and oftentimes, that "more" can turn into a really powerful soundbite that you weren't expecting to get simply because they wanted to fill that silence. These aren't just good tips to use during interviews -- these are good tips to help you have a more rich and meaningful connection with others in real life!
