> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.magnific.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Magnific Sound Effects API > Search, filter, and download royalty-free sound effects from the Magnific catalog. Browse 42 categories including ambience, foley, transitions, and more via the Magnific API. The Magnific Sound Effects API provides programmatic access to a catalog of royalty-free sound effects. Search by keyword, filter by category and premium status, retrieve detailed metadata, and download audio files for use in your projects. ### What you can do * **Full-text search**: Query sound effects by title, tags, and categories using the `q` parameter * **Category filtering**: Browse 42 categories organized in a parent-child hierarchy (e.g., `ambience` > `forest`, `foley` > `footsteps`, `transitions` > `whooshes`) * **Premium filtering**: Control whether results include premium content via `include-premium` (default: free only) * **Flexible sorting**: Sort by `relevance`, `popularity`, `download_count`, `created_at`, `duration`, or `title` with ascending/descending support * **Pagination**: Navigate results with `limit` (1-1000, default 10) and `offset` parameters * **Detailed metadata**: Access title, tags, category hierarchy, duration, popularity score, download count, premium status, and creation date * **Direct downloads**: Get CDN-hosted download URLs for sound effect audio files ### Authentication All requests require an API key via the `x-magnific-api-key` header. See the [Quickstart](/quickstart) and [Authentication](/authentication). ### Endpoints
Search and filter sound effects Get detailed sound effect information by ID Download a sound effect audio file
### Parameters overview The search endpoint supports the following filters: | Parameter | Type | Description | | ----------------- | --------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `q` | `string` | Full-text search across titles, tags, and categories | | `category` | `string` | Filter by category slug (e.g., `"ambience"`, `"foley"`, `"transitions"`) | | `include-premium` | `boolean` | Include premium sound effects (default: `false`) | | `order_by` | `string` | Sort order: `"relevance"`, `"popularity"`, `"-popularity"`, `"download_count"`, `"-download_count"`, `"created_at"`, `"-created_at"`, `"duration"`, `"-duration"`, `"title"`, `"-title"`. Defaults to `"relevance"` when `q` is provided, `"-popularity"` otherwise | | `limit` | `integer` | Results per page: 1-1000 (default: `10`) | | `offset` | `integer` | Pagination offset (default: `0`) | ### Available categories Sound effects are organized into 42 categories with a parent-child hierarchy. Use a parent category slug to include all its subcategories. | Parent Category | Subcategories | | ------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Ambience** | `forest`, `city-ambience`, `room-tones`, `rain-and-storm`, `beach-and-ocean`, `wind` | | **Foley** | `weapons-and-warfare`, `footsteps`, `explosions-and-crashes`, `kicks-and-punches`, `clothing`, `debris` | | **Human Sounds** | `genre`, `glitch-and-noise`, `cartoon-voices-and-sounds`, `sci-fi-sounds`, `ghosts-and-horror-transitions`, `gaming-and-fantasy` | | **Interface and Alerts** | `user-interface` | | **Musical** | `drum-and-percussion-loops`, `vocal-phrases`, `one-shots`, `melodic-loops` | | **Realistic** | `wildlife`, `machines-and-tools`, `household-objects`, `cars-and-airplanes`, `water`, `electronic-devices`, `pets-and-farm-animals` | | **Transitions** | `epic-transitions`, `cinematic-impacts`, `whooshes`, `risers`, `intros-and-outros` | ### Use cases * Build a sound effects browser or audio picker into your app or CMS * Search sound effects by category for video editing and post-production workflows * Programmatically download royalty-free SFX during content production pipelines * Create curated sound libraries filtered by popularity, duration, or category * Add ambient sounds and UI feedback to games and interactive applications ### FAQ #### Is there a rate limit? Yes. See [Rate limits](/ratelimits). #### What license applies to the sound effects? Refer to the [License agreement](https://www.magnific.com/legal/terms-of-use#api-services). #### What audio format are the sound effects available in? Sound effects are delivered as audio files via CDN-hosted download URLs. #### Can I filter for only free sound effects? Yes. Set `include-premium` to `false` (the default) to return only free sound effects. #### How does category filtering work? Use the `category` parameter with a category slug. Filtering by a parent category (e.g., `ambience`) includes all its subcategories (e.g., `forest`, `city-ambience`, `rain-and-storm`). Each sound effect belongs to one category, and the response includes the full category hierarchy with parent information. #### How does sorting work? Use the `order_by` parameter. Prefix a field name with `-` for descending order (e.g., `-popularity` for most popular first). When a search query (`q`) is provided, results default to `"relevance"`. Without a query, results default to `"-popularity"`. #### What metadata is returned for each sound effect? Each sound effect includes: `id`, `title`, `tags`, `category` (with parent), `duration` (in seconds), `is_premium`, `popularity` score, `download_count`, `file_url`, and `created_at` timestamp. ## Related APIs * **[Music API](/api-reference/music/overview)**: Search and download royalty-free music tracks * **[Music Generation](/api-reference/music-generation/overview)**: Generate original music from text descriptions with AI * **[ElevenLabs Sound Effects](/api-reference/sound-effects/overview)**: Generate custom sound effects from text with AI