macOS

A sound from the 😂 Memes category

Free download 🎬Make a video

Also as: Discord-ready (≤5 s) · iPhone ringtone (.m4r) · Android ringtone (MP3) · how to add it to Discord · how to set it as a ringtone

📖 What is the “macOS” sound?

This clip is the familiar chime that plays when an Apple Macintosh computer finishes its internal diagnostics and finishes booting. The tone is a warm, layered chord, bright and slightly synthetic, lasting only a few seconds in its original form, though the uploaded version here runs about 7.6 seconds and may include surrounding boot noise or a short loop. It was composed by Apple engineer Jim Reekes using a Korg Wavestation EX and debuted with the Quadra 700 in 1991, later becoming a fixture across every subsequent Macintosh and macOS release. Because the sound is so instantly recognizable as 'a computer turning on successfully,' it has been repurposed constantly outside of Apple hardware, most famously in the Jurassic Park scene where the park's systems reboot, and later in WALL-E when the titular robot recharges. In internet culture the chime now functions as shorthand for a fresh start, a system reset, or an ironic 'everything is fine' cue dropped into chaotic footage. It is also loosely associated with the MacOS 7-9 era Quack alert sound, part of the same nostalgic library of classic Mac audio cues that meme editors draw from. Its origin as a professional, deliberately composed piece of consumer software audio gives it a cleaner, more polished character than most meme sounds, which is part of why it reads as funny when placed in mundane or absurd contexts.

🧭 Where it comes from

Origin: Apple Macintosh startup chime, composed by sound designer Jim Reekes on a Korg Wavestation EX and first shipped with the Quadra 700 (1991) — documented

Multiple sources agree Reekes created the chime for the Quadra 700 launch in 1991; it replaced the earlier 600 Hz square-wave beep programmed by Andy Hertzfeld for the original Macintosh. The chime has remained largely unchanged through later Mac OS and macOS releases, which is why it is now simply labeled 'macOS' in meme libraries.

🎬 How to use it in your edits

Editors drop this chime right as a screen, device, or person visibly 'reboots' or regains composure after chaos, milking the contrast between the clean corporate sound and a messy scene. It also works well as a punchline right after someone says something foolish, implying their brain just rebooted or finally loaded properly.

Download the file above, then import it into CapCut, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve — or straight into TikTok / Instagram. The sound is free for your videos.