Ping!

A sound from the 🔔 Notifications & System 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 “Ping!” sound?

Ping! is a short, clean electronic chime that plays a single A note, created by a Freesound user as a proposed startup sound for the LMMS digital audio workstation in 2014. The tone has a bright, synthetic bell-like quality typical of UI blips: a quick attack followed by a brief decay, with no vocal or musical content beyond the single pitch. Despite its simple origin as a candidate boot-up sound for open-source music software, it has been widely repurposed across meme and video culture as a generic notification or 'ping' cue, thanks to its tags on Freesound covering everything from message alerts to menu selection sounds. Its neutral, pleasant tone makes it easy to drop into unrelated contexts without drawing attention to its software origins. Editors use it less for comedic timing and more as a functional audio cue, layering it over visual gags to simulate an app alert, a game event, or a sudden idea appearing on screen. The file's popularity on Freesound, with thousands of downloads, speaks to its versatility as a all-purpose 'ping' sound rather than any tie to a specific meme format, show, or viral moment. Its origin is not clearly documented beyond the uploader's own notes, since no further confirmation exists about wider adoption before its use spread through sound libraries and meme audio archives.

🧭 Where it comes from

Origin: Freesound (uploaded by user unfa) (2014) — well documented

Uploaded to Freesound on January 24, 2014. The uploader's description states it was made for LMMS 1.0.0 as a proposed startup sound and that it plays an A note.

🎬 How to use it in your edits

Editors drop this chime in right when a text message, notification, or pop-up appears on screen, reinforcing a sudden interruption or incoming alert. It also works well as a comedic 'lightbulb moment' cue, playing the instant a character has an idea or realization in a reaction video or parody edit.

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.

💬 Questions about this sound

Who created the Ping! sound?

It was uploaded to Freesound by a user known as unfa in January 2014, who described it as a proposed startup sound for LMMS 1.0.0.

What note does the Ping! sound play?

According to the uploader's own description, the sound plays a single A note.

Is Ping! tied to a specific show or game?

No specific show or game is documented as its source; it originated as a UI sound concept for the LMMS music software and later became a generic notification effect.