audio-archive
Freesound
A collaborative database of more than 650,000 Creative Commons-licensed sound samples and effects. Search works on the website, and a clean JSON API is available with a free token. The natural stop when you need a clearly licensed sound clip or want to trace the origin of a widely reused sample.
API key required
Why it’s useful & how it works
Free token (APIv2; v1 retired). Clean JSON. Reachable both ways. Good sound-search inline with key.
What’s inside
650k+ CC sounds.
API access
https://freesound.org/apiv2/search/text/?query= (Authorization: Token <KEY>)
An API key is required — usually free; see the endpoints above for where to get one.
Access
Programmatic API access (a key may be required — see the API tag).