Scream Sound Effects For When You Don’t Want the Wilhelm Scream: Download the Best Scream Audio for any Genre
Jourdan Aldredge
May 26, 2025
For those who work in film and video, or are simply mild to hardcore movie fans, you’re probably familiar with the iconic Wilhelm Scream.
Originally recorded and used in the 1951 film Distant Drums, the Wilhelm scream is an infamous stock sound effect that’s been used in hundreds (if not thousands) of films, television shows, and other media over the past 70 years.
Yet, while the Wilhelm scream is indeed iconic and quite useful (albeit in a tongue-in-cheek way perhaps) even still today, it’s not the be-all-end-all for scream sound effects. And, despite it proliferation, it's not in the public domain. Soundstripe has hundreds of screams and other similar sound effects that are most likely better options for your films and other creations.
To help you on your own film and video content journey, let’s explore what makes the Wilhelm scream so great while also providing you with some helpful alternative scream sound effects to consider using in your own projects.
What is the Wilhelm scream?
As mentioned above, the Wilhelm scream was a sound effect recorded in the 1950s for a scene in the film Distant Drums in which a soldier wading through a swamp is bitten and dragged underwater by an alligator.
The scream for this scene was famously recorded in one take, with the fourth version becoming the infamous Wilhelm scream which has been attributed to voice actor Sheb Wooley (although exact citations leave this unconfirmed).
Because of the costs of creating sound effects were considered high at this time in film history, this iconic scream audio was reused in a number of Warner Bros. films of that era, including notable famous films like A Star Is Born (1954), Land of the Pharaohs (1955), and The Wild Bunch (1969).
However, the Wilhelm scream became the cultural icon it is when sound designer Ben Burtt slipped the sound effect into all of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.
The best scream sound effects
Today, the Wilhelm scream has become a bit of a novelty. When it is used, it’s often a tongue-in-cheek nod to cinema history rather than a sound effect meant to help with scene immersion.
If you are looking for scream sound effects for your projects where you don’t want to take your audience out of the moment with the Wilhelm scream’s recognizance, here are some of our top scream sound effect download options for different genres and styles.
- Classic horror scream sound effect
- Comedy scream sound effect
- Sci-fi scream sound effect
- Male scream sound effect
- Female scream sound effect
- Young scream sound effect
- Monster scream sound effect
Of course, these are just a few options. You can search for different screaming sounds and other specific scream SFX from Soundstripe in the app here.
How to marry scream SFX and music
Still, at the end of the day finding the right sound effect (or music track for that matter) is only the start of your audio and video editing journey. The real trick is to find the best way to marry SFX and music together as a seamless part of your video or content.
It’s also important to point out that in many instances, videos and longer films often make use of tons of different sound effects, background music, and other music tracks to fully weave together an audio landscape. If you want to further explore all of the great sound effects that might be helpful options for your edits, here are some additional playlists for some different genres and styles.
- Description: Frightening score and underscore tracks for the next great Horror film.
- Description: Tracks designed to build tension leaving your butt on the edge of the seat.
- Description: Magical SFX so good that witches on both sides can agree on
- Description: Thunder, lightning, and other inclement weather soundscapes.
- Description: Cinematic sound effects, pre-arranged into powerful sequences, you can cut your footage to
You can further explore more sound effect playlists and find other fun options to dive into on our Soundstripe sound effect playlist page here.