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Royalty-Free Thunder & Lightning Sound Effects
100k+ free sound effects, growing every day. Thunder and lightning sound effects: close, sharp thunder cracks, explosive thunderclaps, rolling rumbles, distant thunder over light rain, thunder heard muffled from indoors, and stylised lightning strikes with an electric crackle. Use them for storms, horror and suspense, dramatic reveals and weather in games; a long rumble also works as a transition between scenes. For the rain itself, see rain; for gusts and howling, try wind. Free MP3 & WAV for commercial use. No account or credit needed.
Generate thunder sound effects with Sonilo
Describe the sound you need and get 2 free versions in about 10 seconds.
Make a thunder sound with AI
Describe the distance, the space and how it ends: a sharp crack directly overhead, distant thunder rolling across mountains, a muffled boom heard from inside a house.
Free credits when you sign up · generation uses your account balance
Synthesized Electrical Zap and Shattering Crash4.0s9.7simulated, lightning, electrical
- Close Lightning Strike Thunder Crack
5.0s9.9thunder, lightning, strike
- Far-Off Rolling Thunder
8.0s10.0thunder, distant, rolling
- Low Growling Thunder
5.0s9.9thunder, growl, low
- Series of Storm Thunder Claps
8.0s10.0thunder, series, storm
- Sharp Single Thunderclap
5.0s9.9thunder, thunderclap, sharp
- Thunder Echoing Through Mountains
5.0s9.9thunder, echo, mountains
- Thunder over Steady Rain
5.0s10.0thunder, rain, storm
- Thunder Rumble with a Long Tail
8.0s9.7thunder, rumble, long
- Thunderstorm Building Up
8.0s9.9thunder, thunderstorm, building
How to use thunder and lightning sound effects in a video
Delay the thunder for distance
Light arrives before sound, so the gap between flash and thunder tells the viewer how far away the storm is. For a strike nearby, put the crack on the flash. For a distant one, let the rumble arrive a second or more later, quieter and with less top end.
Use a rumble as a transition
A long rolling rumble can carry the viewer across a cut, from calm into a storm or from one location to the next. The thunder rumble whoosh transition is built for this: start it on the outgoing shot and let its tail run over the new one.
Run rain under the thunder
Thunder on its own sounds empty between strikes. Lay a rain bed from the rain category under the whole scene, drop thunder on top at key moments, and dip the rain slightly under each clap so it hits harder. Indoors, use the muffled indoor thunder boom.
Thunder and lightning sound effects: questions
Which thunder sound works for a jump scare?
A close, sharp crack. Put it on the lightning flash after a few seconds of quiet, and pull the music down just before so the contrast is as big as possible. A distant rolling rumble is better for building unease than for the scare itself.
Are there wind and hail sounds on this page?
No, this page is thunder and lightning only. Gusts and howling wind are under wind, and rain on roofs and windows is under rain; combine one of each with a thunder file for a full storm. You can also describe a hailstorm or a wind storm in the generator.
What is the difference between the lightning strikes and the thunder?
The thunder files are natural cracks, claps and rumbles. The lightning strikes are designed: an electric zap and crackle, one of them panned across the stereo field, made for stylized edits, games and magic attacks. For a realistic storm, use the thunder and leave out the zap.
License
Every sound effect in this library is free to download and use in personal and commercial projects: videos, ads (including paid ad campaigns), client work, podcasts, apps and games. No account, no credit, no royalties and no revenue cap. Sonilo does not register library sound effects with YouTube Content ID. A free download doesn’t come with a license certificate; on Pro and above you can get one for any sound effect here. Use the files inside your own projects, including templates and other products you sell, where the audio is part of a larger work. You may not sell, share or give away the files on their own, bundle them into sound, sample or music packs, or upload them to other stock or library sites.
Believe something here should not be listed? Contact legal@sonilo.com and we will remove it.
Sounds in this library are contributed by Sonilo users or generated by Sonilo’s own AI models, and are provided as is, without warranty. See section 6.4 of our Terms of Service.
Ready for your next edit
Find a transition, a precise impact or a background atmosphere. Preview sounds before downloading, then choose MP3 for a compact file or WAV for your editing workflow.
Made with Sonilo
This collection brings together 5,070 generated sound effects, organized by category and duration. Latest catalog addition: . Search by source, action or texture to narrow your choices.
For video, games and podcasts
Use short sounds for cuts, interface feedback and game actions. Layer longer textures under a scene or spoken segment, and adjust their level in your editor. Check the library license for the files you download.
Need something more specific?
Describe the material, action, setting and timing you want. Your search can become the starting prompt for a custom sound. Try AI sound effects with free account credits.
Working with a video?
Explore Sonilo’s text and video sound effects workflows when your scene needs more than a library clip. Explore sound effects generation.
Generating from an agent or your own code?
Connect Claude, Cursor or ChatGPT to your account through the Sonilo MCP server and ask for a sound effect in the conversation, or drive the same models from a terminal with the CLI. Prefer code? The developer API exposes them as REST endpoints, metered in the credits your plan already includes.
Sound effects FAQ
Can I use these downloads in commercial projects?
Yes. Every file is free to download and use in personal and commercial projects — monetized videos, ads (including paid ad campaigns), client work, apps, websites and games — under the library license on this page, with no credit needed. Sonilo does not register library sound effects with YouTube Content ID. A free download doesn’t include a license certificate; on Pro and above you can get one for any file here. Audio you generate in your account follows your plan’s terms instead.
Do I need an account to preview or download a sound?
You can listen and download MP3 or WAV files directly from this library without signing in. Creating new audio with the AI generator requires a Sonilo account.
What is the difference between MP3 and WAV?
MP3 is a compressed file that is convenient for quick previews and smaller projects. WAV is uncompressed and useful when you will edit, layer or process the sound. Both versions of a library sound use the same library license.
What if I cannot find the sound I need?
Describe the sound in the search box. If there are no matches, choose the AI generation option to bring that description into Sonilo’s sound effects generator. New accounts receive free credits; generation uses credits, and available exports and usage rights depend on your plan.
How is this different from a traditional sound library?
You can start with a ready-to-download sound or use your description to create a new one in the same product. Sonilo also offers video-to-sound-effects workflows, so you can move from finding a sound to making audio for a particular scene.
Can I share or embed a sound?
Each sound has a permanent detail-page link. Use Share to copy that link, or Embed to copy an HTML audio player with a link back to the sound. Your website editor must allow HTML audio; pasting a URL alone does not automatically embed it.
Can I make sound effects for an uploaded video or through an API?
Sonilo supports video-driven sound effects as well as text descriptions. Open the sound effects product page for the available workflows, or use the developer documentation for API integration. Account generation and API usage follow their own credit and licensing terms.
Custom generation licensing questions · Plans and free credits