Adding Custom Sounds to a Resource Pack

Bedrock Edition reads Ogg Vorbis (.ogg) and uncompressed Waveform (.wav) files, though .ogg is strongly preferred in production packs because it keeps download sizes small and decodes reliably across mobile, console, and PC. Every audio file in your pack must live inside the RP/sounds/ directory, typically sorted into subfolders by feature, mob, or block type.

Before exporting your audio, check whether the sound is meant to be positional (3D) or global (2D). Positional sounds—like a mob groan, an explosion, or a block breaking—must be exported as mono (single-channel) audio so the game engine can pan and attenuate them based on where the player is looking. If you accidentally export a 3D sound in stereo, the engine plays it at flat volume everywhere in the world regardless of distance. Use stereo only for UI clicks, background music, and ambient loops that should not have a physical source in the world.

When referencing audio files in JSON later on, you always write the path relative to the root of the resource pack (starting with sounds/...) and leave off the .ogg or .wav file extension.

The file RP/sounds/sound_definitions.json is the master registry that maps your raw audio files to a dot-separated identifier, such as custom.goblin.ambient or block.ruby_ore.break. The rest of the game never talks to .ogg files directly; commands, animations, and entity components only ever call the sound event names you define here.

Each event contains a sounds array. If you list more than one file inside that array, the engine picks one at random each time the event fires, which is how vanilla footsteps and mob idle noises avoid sounding repetitive. Since format version 1.14.0, definitions sit inside a top-level sound_definitions object.

{
  "format_version": "1.14.0",
  "sound_definitions": {
    "mob.goblin.say": {
      "category": "neutral",
      "max_distance": 16.0,
      "min_distance": 2.0,
      "sounds": [
        "sounds/mob/goblin/say1",
        "sounds/mob/goblin/say2",
        {
          "name": "sounds/mob/goblin/say3_rare",
          "volume": 0.85,
          "pitch": 1.1,
          "weight": 1,
          "stream": false,
          "is3D": true
        }
      ]
    },
    "custom.music.dungeon_theme": {
      "category": "music",
      "sounds": [
        {
          "name": "sounds/music/dungeon_loop",
          "stream": true,
          "volume": 0.5,
          "is3D": false
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

An entry inside the sounds array can be a simple string path if the defaults are fine, or an object when you need per-file tuning. Properties placed at the event level apply to the whole sound event, while properties inside an individual sound object affect only that variation.

Registering an event in sound_definitions.json makes it playable with /playsound, but the game still does not know which mob or block owns it automatically. A second file, RP/sounds.json (placed in the root of the resource pack, not inside the RP/sounds/ folder), binds standard gameplay actions—like taking damage, dying, stepping, or breaking a block—to your sound definition keys.

For entities, you add an entry under entities -> events mapped to your custom entity's identifier. For blocks, you define a reusable sound set under block_sounds and then assign that set name to your custom block inside RP/blocks.json (or via the block's components in modern versions).

{
  "entity_sounds": {
    "entities": {
      "my_pack:goblin": {
        "volume": 1.0,
        "pitch": [0.8, 1.2],
        "events": {
          "ambient": "mob.goblin.say",
          "hurt": "mob.goblin.hurt",
          "death": "mob.goblin.death",
          "step": {
            "sound": "mob.goblin.step",
            "volume": 0.35,
            "pitch": 1.0
          }
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "block_sounds": {
    "custom_crystal": {
      " volume": 1.0,
      "pitch": [0.9, 1.1],
      "events": {
        "break": "block.amethyst_block.break",
        "hit": "block.amethyst_block.hit",
        "place": "block.amethyst_block.place",
        "step": "block.amethyst_block.step"
      }
    }
  }
}

For sounds timed to specific keyframes—such as a boss slamming the ground at 0.5 seconds into an attack animation—you bypass RP/sounds.json and attach the sound directly to the entity's client file and animation.

First, give the sound a short alias under the sound_effects object in your entity's RP/entity/*.entity.json description. Then reference that alias inside a resource pack animation timeline or an animation controller. You can also test any registered definition in-game immediately by running /playsound <event_name> @s ~ ~ ~ 1.0 1.0 from chat or a behaviour pack script.

{
  "format_version": "1.10.0",
  "minecraft:client_entity": {
    "description": {
      "identifier": "my_pack:goblin",
      "sound_effects": {
        "laugh": "mob.goblin.say"
      }
    }
  }
}

Applies to all modern Bedrock versions (1.14.0 and newer for the current sound_definitions.json schema). No experimental toggles are required.

Read out of the game itself, so the ids match the version you are building for.