When it comes to audiobooks, some big-name subscription-based services may appear in your mind for the first time, such as Amazon Audible, Rakuten OverDrive, Scribd, etc. Despite the fact that most of those services provide xx-day free trial to explore, listen and access a large library of resources, the audiobooks will be saved in different DRM-protected audio formats, which can only be opened in exclusive players. Actually, apart from those paid services, you're able to download free audio book MP3s from a wide array of neglected websites. To save your energy and time, after the time-consuming investigation, I have compiled a curated list of 18 best sites below for free audiobook MP3 downloads.
Also Read: Create Audiobook from MP3 | Convert Audible AA to MP3 | AAX to MP3 Conversion | Transfer Audio Books to iPhone
18 Best Places to Download Free Audiobooks in MP3
1. YouTube
Website: https://www.youtube.com/
I bet most of you guys are not surprised to see YouTube in the free MP3 audiobook download list. The fact is, there are loads of full-length free audiobooks on YouTube for listening without monthly subscriptions. After submitting a search query like "audiobook", you'll find either a long YouTube video or scattered chapters saved in a playlist. The problem is, how to convert YouTube to MP3 longer than 2 hours. No worries, I've got you all set. The free program enables you to download YouTube playlist to MP3, simply copy and paste the URL > analyze > download.
Disclaimer: This guide is limited to personal fair use only. It is illegal to download copyrighted materials without the copyright holder’s consent. WonderFox does not approve of copyright infringement in any way.
2. Open Culture
Website: https://www.openculture.com/freeaudiobooks
To be honest, Open Culture is more like an audiobook archive website than it is a free audiobook download site. On this webpage, you'll find hundreds of free audiobooks of fiction, poetry and non-fiction that link to different resources, such as iTunes, Soundcloud, YouTube, Spotify, Audible and other public domain sites. It also provides free MP3 streams and MP3 zip file downloads. Just scroll down the alphabetized list or use "Ctrl + F" to find your interested audiobooks.
3. Loyal Books
Website: http://www.loyalbooks.com/
Loyal Books (formerly known as Books Should Be Free) claims to provide 7000+ free audio books & eBook downloads. These audiobooks can be filtered by 50 genres and 29 languages, and all audiobook covers are neatly arranged on the right side. Click on each title to learn the brief introduction. You're allowed to download separate chapters or a zip file that contains all MP3 audiobooks. Additionally, you can even read reviews, rate and submit your ideas on the bottom of each title page.
4. LibriVox
Website: https://librivox.org/
Librivox is a non-commercial, non-profit and ad-free project that donates its recordings to the public domain. LibriVox audiobooks are read by volunteers from all over the world, and are free for anyone to listen to and download. You can navigate this website by author, title, genre or language, and even submit an advanced search in the top-right corner of the website. Enter each title's description page, you're able to download each chapter or a whole audiobook in ZIP package. If interested, volunteer to read and record chapters of books.
5. Digital Book
Website: https://www.digitalbook.io/
Digital Book (formerly known as Librophile) is a terrific place to access thousands of free public domain audiobooks, eBooks and podcasts online from a range of online libraries covering all genres. The website is impressive owing to the clean and user-friendly interface. Explore your desired audiobook by trending, top-rated or genres. An overlaid window will pop up after clicking on each title, where you can learn the book description, stream/download free MP3 audiobooks, open as podcast or add to bookshelf.
6. Scribl
Website: https://scribl.com/browse?page=1&bf=podcasts&ac=0
Scribl doesn't seem to be a good option for free audiobook MP3 downloads, despite the fair prices, most audiobooks come at a cost. The reason why I added it into the list is that Scribl provides plenty of podcasts for free streaming and downloading, but it requires a free account as a premise. Open the above link and click on "Listen" button underneath each title to learn the synopsis. If you have logged in, scroll down the page and you're allowed to stream podcast audiobooks chapter by chapter. Click the three-dot icon to download free audiobooks in MP3. Unfortunately, there is no option to download the whole audiobook.
7. Internet Archive
Website: https://archive.org/details/audio_bookspoetry and https://archive.org/details/podcasts
Without further introduction, Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering universal access to free audiobook MP3 downloads. You may have noticed that this library of audiobooks features digital recordings and MP3's from multiple websites like LibriVox, Project Gutenberg, Internet Archive users, etc. It offers multiple sorting options on the left side to help you locate your interested audiobooks, even better, the audiobook can be downloaded in multiple audio formats by individual chapters or a whole ZIP file.
8. Project Gutenberg
Website: http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/1 and http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/categories/2
Project Gutenberg, which aims to encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks, is also a pretty good website to find free downloadable MP3 audiobooks. You're able to search and browse eBooks by author, title, subject, language, type, popularity, and even the full text search. This site provides both human-read and computer-generated audiobooks, but IMHO, I don't think you guys will like the robot voices. It is worth mentioning that you can save chapters individually or download the entire audiobook, and there are even M4A, M4B, OGG, SPX formats available for some audiobooks.
9. Storynory
Website: https://www.storynory.com/
Unlike other comprehensive websites, Storynory is geared towards kids only, with a mix of classics, fairy tales, myths & world stories, educational books and original stories. Go to each story, simply click on the download button below the audio player to download free audio book MP3. Besides, a text version is also available for each story.
10. Light Up Your Brain
Website: https://lightupyourbrain.com/stories/
Similar to Storynory, Light Up Your Brain also provides free audio stories for children. Although there are only a limited number of stories, they are downloadable MP3 audiobooks that can play on virtually any audio device without network connection. Likewise, in addition to the download button, it still lists the text version below each audiobook.
11. Miette's Bedtime Story Podcast
Website: https://miettecast.com/
As its name implies, this website focuses on short bedtime stories. You don't need to open a post to take further action, it's convenient to stream and download audiobook on the homepage. Unfortunately, it has been no longer updated since 2016, but if you're a newcomer to this website, these amazing bedtime stories may strike a chord with you. Sweet dreams!
12. Thought Audio
Website: http://thoughtaudio.com/
Thought Audio offers a selection of classic literature and philosophy titles as audiobooks and PDFs for free downloads. There is a title list arranged with book covers on the homepage. Click a title to explore more information, and you're able to stream the audio online. Or right-click on the audio track name and select "Save link as" for free audiobook MP3 download. There is also a PDF transcript provided right there. However, you have to download each chapter individually as there is no a ZIP file available.
13. Free Classic AudioBooks
Website: https://freeclassicaudiobooks.com/
Its name has explained everything, Free Classic AudioBooks is a good place to download classic audiobooks in MP3 and M4A formats. You can navigate this website by Authors Last Name and Most Popular Downloads. Not every title provides online streaming, click on the media icon to open download page. You're allowed to download separate chapters as well as the whole books in a ZIP file. BTW, if you haven't installed ADBlocker, the annoying ADs will appear on both sides.
14. Learn Out Loud
Website: https://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audiobooks
Learn Out Loud has a selection of over 50,000 educational and inspirational audio books, MP3 downloads, podcasts, and videos. You can browse audiobooks by categories like Biography, Literature, Philosophy, Arts & Entertainment, etc. And the free audiobooks are sorted by author's name, most popular, release date, alphabetical or random sort. Mark "Audio Download" option on the right side so that it will list all titles which allow you to download free MP3 audiobooks. However, in most cases, some audiobooks are free with Audible Trial or need an account to download.
15. Lit2Go
Website: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/
Lit2Go, a project established by the University of South Florida, organizes a free collection of stories and poems in MP3 format, which cover the abstract, citation, playing time, and word count for each of the passages, and can be streamed, downloaded or printed out as the teaching materials for classroom. It's a teacher-friendly website for free audiobook downloads.
16. Audiobook Treasury
Website: http://www.audiobooktreasury.com/
Audiobook Treasury claims to recommend the best audiobooks for sale & for free. To download free audio book MP3, directly go to "Latest Free Audiobooks" and "Free Audio Books" sections on the navigation bar. Open a title, you'll see an audio player for online streaming and a download option to save the audiobook.
17. New Fiction
Website: http://www.newfiction.com/
New Fiction has awesome library of audiobooks that are officially described as "modern-day radio dramas". The recordings are performed by multiple actors with different BGM, and you would be interested in the novel performance. Most interestingly, each chapter has a cover, and the cover will change when you switch to the next chapter, just like a slideshow. Although there are only several works, all of them are free to be streamed online and downloaded in MP3s chapter by chapter.
18. Literal Systems
Website: https://literalsystems.org/abooks/index-php/site/titles.html
This is the last website for free audiobook MP3 downloads. Honestly, the site looks very outdated and only a very limited number of audio book titles are available on this page. To save MP3 files directly to your computer, open a title, right-click the audio track and choose "Save Link As..." or "Save Target As..." option.
Final Words...
Compared with paper books and E-books, audiobooks definitely offer a novel way to free up your hands and eyes when you're busy doing something else like driving, running, climbing, etc. I hope this handpicked list of 18 websites is of help to you guys. If you have ever bookmarked an awesome website for free audiobook MP3 downloads which is not in the list above, feel free to share with me via Facebook, and I will make an update whenever necessary. Thanks for reading!
FAQs
Where can I get unlimited audiobooks for free? ›
- Scribd – Unlimited Audiobooks & Other Digital Media.
- Audible – Unlimited Audiobooks with Audible Plus.
- Audiobooks.com – Unlimited Listening with Audiobook Clubs.
- Kindle Unlimited – eBooks with Free Audiobook Companions.
- Libby – Unlimited Audiobooks from the Library.
MP3 format, a compressed audio format commonly used to store music files and audiobooks on a hard drive. MP3 files are supported by most portable music players, such as the Apple iPod and Microsoft Zune.
Is there a free audio book library? ›Digitalbook.io is a place to find free public domain audio books and eBooks from great sources such as Librivox, Gutenberg, Google Books, and Open Library. You can explore over 100,000 free audiobooks and eBooks and browse their trending or top-rated bookshelves. Stream audio directly or download and enjoy offline.
Is there a site like Z library for audiobooks? ›LibriVox. This is for people who prefer audiobooks over e-books.
What is the largest audiobook library? ›Audible is, undoubtedly, the largest and most popular audiobook service as of 2022. Its library contains over 200,000 different book titles in every thinkable category. The service is a subsidiary of Amazon which explains its sheer size.
Is there a free version of Audible? ›Audible is not free. We offer different membership plans that cover a wide range of benefits, but all audiobooks available on Audible can also be purchased without a membership for the regular price. Not a member yet? Join Audible today for a 30-day free trial.
How do I download free audiobooks from the library? ›By using Libby, Hoopla, SimplyE, and cloudLibrary, you can find audiobooks and download them to your PC or mobile device. Before you can borrow audiobooks, you'll need an account with your public or university library.
Is converting Audible to MP3 illegal? ›You must also have the Audible app installed on your Windows 10 PC. Without the app, you will not be able to convert books to MP3 format. Once converted, do not share/sell them. It's illegal.
How do I rip audio from Audible? ›Open the Moo0 Voice Recorder, select recording folder, choose MP3 as the output format, and then click on "Start Recording". At the same time, play the Audible books you want to convert from AA/AAX to MP3. Then what you have to do is waiting. Once the recording finished and click on " stop".
What is the biggest free online library? ›Internet Archive
Featuring over 36 million ebooks, the Internet Archive is possibly the largest digital library ever created. In addition to free ebooks, its catalog includes over 778 billion web pages and millions of videos, concerts, audio files, and software programs.
Is there an online library for free? ›
Yes, Google has Google Books with access to more than 10 million free books available for users to download and browse online.
Why was Z-Library shut down? ›Although the website helped its users to save money and still finish their homework, Z-Library was in violation of multiple copyright laws.
Is the Z-Library legal? ›The law of copyrights is inherently opposed to shadow libraries. As a result, Z-Library is an illegal website. Though their intentions are good, they make works available that are not legally authorized.
What is the longest audiobook ever recorded? ›The longest audio book is 146,444 minutes 52 seconds long, titled 'Shree Haricharitramrut Sagar'.
Which app has the most audiobooks? ›Best audiobook app overall
Owned by Amazon, Audible uses a credit-based system to select titles. The app gives you easy access to more than 200,000 titles.
- New York Public Library.
- National Library Board Singapore.
- Seattle Public Library.
- Multnomah County Library, Oregon.
- Hennepin County Library, Minnesota.
- Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio.
- Mid-Continent Public Library, Missouri.
Spotify – Free Music/Audiobooks for Everyone
If you are looking for the best free audiobook app, then Spotify is a great choice. Spotify is a Sweden-based music streaming platform that also offers its users a good selection of audiobooks. The audiobook app is available for all Android and iOS devices.
LibriVox audiobooks are free for anyone to listen to, on their computers, iPods or other mobile device, or to burn onto a CD.
Are there free audiobooks on Spotify? ›Over 1,000 of the best free audio books we could find on Spotify that you can learn from! We've collected the first track of each audio book on this playlist. Click the album for the full audio book.
How to get unlimited audiobooks? ›Audible Plus is a monthly membership which includes access to unlimited streaming and listening from the Audible Plus Catalog. Look for the "included" tag and hit "play now" to instantly stream from the app. You can also save these titles to your Library or download to listen off-line.
Which is better hoopla or libby? ›
Libby/Overdrive offers nearly 50k eBooks and almost 20k eAudiobooks, but Hoopla offers over 600k eBooks and 155k eAudiobooks! Even though Hoopla has a massive library, many major authors don't have their entire collection on Hoopla.
Is using Audible cheating? ›Brains interpret written and spoken information in the same way because humans haven't had enough time to evolve a strategy to differentiate the two. Writing is younger than 6,000 years old, Willingham wrote. So, in short, listening to audiobooks isn't "cheating" as some die-hard readers might purport.
What is the best convert Audible to MP3? ›Top 1.
TuneFab Audible Converter stands out from the rest as it offers you a pleasant user experience in all respects. It can convert Audible AA/AAX files to MP3, M4A, FLAC, and WAV. The available output options are all frequently-used audio formats for many playback devices.
- Step 1 Add Audible Books to Any Audiobook Converter. Click the "Add files" button to add Audible . ...
- Step 2 Choose MP3 as the Output Format. Click on the “Settings” button in the upper right corner. ...
- Step 3 Export AA/AAX Audible Audiobooks to Computer as MP3 Files.
OpenAudible is an open source Audible DRM Removal which can remove audible drm free and convert protected Audible books to DRM-free MP3 files. It combines the DRM removing process with the Audiobook format converting process as a whole.
How do I download audiobooks without Audible? ›- Kindle Unlimited with Whispersync. ...
- Amazon Prime. ...
- Overdrive Libby. ...
- Scribd. ...
- Chirp. ...
- Speechify. ...
- How do I listen to audiobooks on my iPhone without Audible? ...
- What is the easiest way to listen to audiobooks?
- Audible. While Audible, a service from Amazon, isn't strictly a site for free audiobooks, it does offer some audiobooks for free online. ...
- Digital Book. ...
- Spotify. ...
- OverDrive. ...
- Open Culture. ...
- Storynory. ...
- LibriVox. ...
- LearnOutLoud.
Yes! Audible Premium Plus members (formerly Gold and Platinum members) can listen to all the titles in the Audible Plus Catalog at no extra cost. Any title without a label is included with your membership or is already part of your Library—just press play to start listening!
Can you keep Audible books forever? ›Will my audiobooks disappear after I've listened to them? No, not at all! The titles that you purchase from Audible with a credit or credit card are yours to keep forever and are available to be downloaded across multiple devices.
How many free audiobooks are on Audible? ›Can I get Audible for free? You can try Audible for free for 30 days. Then, your subscription will renew monthly depending on which plan you chose. If you subscribe to Audible Premium Plus you'll get at least 1 audiobook to keep even after the free trial is over.
How many audiobooks can you listen to on Audible per month? ›
You get unlimited access to thousands of select audiobooks and podcasts in the Audible Plus Catalog for $7.95/month. Listen as much as you like!