Where to get free music for YouTube Shorts

Want the short version? Only the first two sources here, YouTube's Audio Library and the Shorts sound picker, are on the safest music list. Every other source below can still be claimed, and its page says so.

How this list is ordered

This is an ordered list, so here is the method. The sources are ranked by one thing: how likely a Short using the music is to get a Content ID claim, according to what each provider and YouTube Help say in writing. Sources where the provider or YouTube says there will be no claim come first. Sources where a claim can happen but clears on a documented route come next. Ties are broken by how little work the credit takes. Nothing here was tested by uploading videos, and no provider paid to be included. The first eight sources were read on 13 November 2026. Uppbeat, Pixabay, Mixkit and Chosic were read on 14 November 2026, and Free Stock Music, Audionautix, ccMixter and Musopen on 15 November 2026.

The list

1. YouTube Audio Library. Free, open to every creator, and YouTube says tracks downloaded from it "won't be claimed by a rights holder through the Content ID system." Some tracks need a credit. Filter by "Attribution not required" to skip those.
2. Shorts sound picker. Chart songs, licensed by YouTube for Shorts when you add them inside the YouTube app. Most play for up to 90 seconds in a three-minute Short. The licence does not cover the same song edited in before upload.
3. YouTube Creator Music. No-cost tracks and AI instrumentals, but only for US creators in the YouTube Partner Program, and its licensed tracks are for long-form videos. Most new Shorts creators cannot use it yet.
4. StreamBeats. Free with no account and no credit required. If a false claim appears, a form on the site handles it.
5. Free Stock Music. Free with a credit in the description. Tracks marked with a thumbs-up icon are not registered in Content ID, and the site says those should not be claimed in normal use. It helps with any claim that does land.
6. Incompetech. Kevin MacLeod's catalogue, free under CC BY 4.0. Claims happen when the credit is missing from the description, and are released within 72 hours once it is there.
7. NCS. Free for independent creators who paste the track's credit. NCS can only resolve claims on videos that use nothing but NCS music.
8. Bensound. Free with an attribution text that carries a unique code. One code covers one video, so a series needs a fresh download each time.
9. Uppbeat. The free plan works like Bensound: an Uppbeat Credit in the description, one per video, and Uppbeat stops the claim when the video is published. The allowance is small. You get 3 downloads at sign-up, then 1 a month.
10. Pixabay. No credit needed, but some composers register their tracks with Content ID. Those carry a "Content ID Registered" label, so you can skip them, and a licence certificate disputes a claim if one lands.
11. Audionautix. Jason Shaw's tracks under CC BY 4.0, credited as "music by audionautix.com". He says YouTube will not silence or remove a video using his music even if someone else claims it, but documents no claim route beyond emailing him.
12. Mixkit. No credit needed and YouTube is named in the licence. Below Pixabay because the only claim route is an email to Mixkit, with no stated response time.
13. Chosic. Creative Commons and public domain tracks, most needing a credit. Chosic issues no certificate, so a claim comes down to a dispute citing the licence, or the artist.
14. ccMixter. Free with credit, but only its CC BY tracks suit a monetised channel, because ccMixter counts anything with ads as commercial. No claim process is documented.
15. Musopen. Classical recordings meant to be public domain. Musopen says it cannot guarantee any upload is, and says nothing about claims, so check each file's licence.
16. Free Music Archive. Last because the site cannot help with claims at all, and many of its tracks carry licences that rule out monetised videos.

Why the order matters more for longer Shorts

For a Short under one minute, a claim usually means the revenue tied to that video goes elsewhere. For a Short between one and three minutes, YouTube Help says an active claim of any type means the video "will be blocked globally" until the claim is resolved. A dispute can take up to 30 days. So for longer Shorts, positions one and two on this list are worth far more than the rest.

One habit that saves you later

Whatever you use, keep a record for every track: the page you downloaded it from, the date and the licence or credit text. Every provider's route to clearing a claim starts with proof that you had the licence on the day you published.