Free Rain Sounds for Sleep, Meditation, YouTube, and Film

About these rain sounds

Rain sounds are some of the handiest backgrounds to keep around. Calm rain can make a study video feel cozy. A heavy downpour can turn a quiet scene dramatic. And a rolling thunderstorm puts people right in the weather, without needing expensive location audio. Here you've got Calming Rain, Monsoon Downpour Ambience, Rain on Leaves, Wind and Rain Ambience and Thunder and Rain. There's also Crispy Rain and Thunder, Thunderstorm Rumble Ambiance, Thunder Cracking, Stormy Night and Storm Sounds. Toads Enjoying the Rain and a hybrid car driving in the rain are in here too. You can play all of them right in the browser, and each one has its own page to download from.

These rain sounds get used all over the place, like sleep and meditation channels, podcast beds and YouTube background tracks. For sleep, the best rain is usually steady, without many sharp pops, and long enough to loop without anybody noticing. For video it's different. It should match the surface on screen and leave room for dialogue. And it needs enough detail to still sound real after social media compresses it.

Start with the job the rain has to do. For calm videos, put gentle rain or rain forest ambience low under the narration. For suspense, stack heavy rain with distant thunder. Leave a little quiet before the thunder hits so the scene can settle. For games, use looping rain beds and drop in one-shot thunder cracks at random now and then. For podcasts, keep the rain quieter than you think. People in earbuds pick up on harsh highs fast.

Good rain moves around naturally and doesn't obviously repeat. Listen for it getting a little heavier and lighter. The stereo spread should sound believable, and the low rumble should be clean so it doesn't cover up voices. If you need plain background sound, skip anything with birds, traffic or music in it. Pick rain that fits the place on screen, like a tent, a cabin, a street, a forest or the ocean. Don't just throw the same storm under everything.

Every sound here is free for personal and commercial projects, with no credit required. Read the license.