How to find the best lo-fi music for your content
Lo-fi music's popularity skyrocketed during the 21st century. Learn what it is, where it came from, and how to find the best examples to use in your content.
Need lo-fi music for your content? We’ve got you covered. Learn what lo-fi music is, where it comes from, and which are the best tracks to use in your videos.
What is lo-fi music?
Traditionally, lo-fi music meant music that was low-fidelity. There were imperfections, crinkles, little inconsistencies in the final mix. Back in the day, you’d have called DIY genres like punk, underground metal, and garage rock ‘lo-fi’ — they were often recorded on shoestring budgets, and as a result, featured random pops, crackles, and hisses that shouldn’t have been there.
Today, lo-fi music is a whole different kettle of fish. The rise of bedroom musicians and electronic music has led to a reclassification of the term: lo-fi music is now synonymous with chilled beats, ambient synth, and soft vocal samples.
If you want to stick a genre tag on it, think of it as somewhere between jazz, dream-pop, soul, vaporwave, and hip-hop. Before we dive into the best examples of lo-fi music, let’s look at where it came from.
When did lo-fi music start?
Lo-fi music as we know it today began in the 2000s, with artists like J Dilla and Nujabes — they’re often cited as the godfathers of lo-fi hip-hop. Their laid-back beats, low tempos, and relaxing synth-work drew from ‘90s hip-hop and boom bap, earning them the genre tag ‘chill-hop.’
Lo-fi music really took hold in the 2010s, though. Trends like vaporwave saw lo-fi beats packaged in a fresh way, often soundtracking cartoons or trippy visuals. It became something of a YouTube sensation and has remained popular ever since.
Does lo-fi music help people sleep?
Lo-fi music can help induce sleep, thanks to its relaxing tempo and instrumentation. It’s also great ‘focus music’ for studying, which is why you’ll find tons of lo-fi studying playlists on YouTube.
We guess that you don’t want to literally send your audience to sleep, but the genre’s soothing qualities set it apart from other musical movements — it’s worth bearing in mind when you’re hunting for the perfect soundtrack.
How to find the best lo-fi music for your content
Struggling to find the right lo-fi music for your content? Don’t sweat it. We’ve got you covered:
- Open the Epidemic Sound player — if you’re not signed up, you can get started here.
- Think about what tone you’d like for your lo-fi music. You can search the player for a specific vibe — browse moods including dreamy, laid-back, relaxing, peaceful, hopeful, and happy.
- Consider the related genres that would fit your lo-fi music brief. Try looking for genres like lo-fi hip-hop, alternative hip-hop, boom bap, and old-school hip-hop.
Looking for a shortcut?
If you want to pick and mix the best lo-fi music from a playlist, we can help you out. Epidemic Sound’s music experts have curated playlists for:
- Lo-fi Beats Essentials: This is Epidemic Sound’s boldest, most diverse lo-fi playlist. Our Music Curation team handpicked everything from old-school hip-hop to jazzy lo-fi, neo-soul to Latin. Lo-fi is a broad genre and this covers every inch of it.
- Lo-fi Hip-Hop: This playlist hones in on lo-fi’s straight-up hip-hop flavor, without any extra genre-blending.
- Lo-fi Christmas Beats: Hey, you can never be too early.
Five lo-fi tracks that’ll elevate your content
Now that you know what lo-fi music is, where it comes from, and how to find it, it’s time to wrap up with five gold-standard examples you can use in your content.
Curli Loxx – Back Outside
Let’s kick things off with Curli Loxx and Back Outside. It’s a woozy, dreamlike track, blending 808s and old-timey sax with clipped-up vocal samples and shiny glockenspiel. It’s a proud-sounding, loud track that never veers into bombast or excess — it’d be perfect for a vibrant TikTok sync.
Rebecca Mardal – Sonic Raindrops
Rebecca Mardal nailed the brief on Sonic Raindrops, channeling chill beats and warm bass through that cleaner-than-a-dentist’s-office mix. Seriously, when the bass hits, it’s like sunshine injected through your ears. Pile on the fun little arpeggios, the whizzing samples, and you’ve got yourself a gorgeous soundtrack.
Daniel Fridell & Sven Lindvall – Oceantic
We mentioned genre-blending earlier, and Oceantic is a great example. The twinkling dream-pop keys, the lo-fi hip-hop beats, the ambient synth — Daniel Fridell and Sven Lindvall have cooked up a sonic onion, so great are its layers. This track might not be right for all of your lo-fi needs, but once you match it with some content, it’ll give it a glow-up.
Henyao – My Sun
Need something bubbly and uplifting? Try My Sun by Henyao. This track takes you all over town, flitting between nostalgic vocal samples and analog pops to pinchy synth jabs and wiry guitar noodling. What a treat.
Guustavv – Dinner in Oaxaca
Guustavv’s bringing it home with Dinner in Oaxaca, painting that crackling, vinyl-style finish against chunky lo-fi beats and Latin strings. It’s gorgeous, evocative — try it out for size in your content.
Like what you hear? There’s plenty more where that came from — use Epidemic Sound to find the perfect soundtrack every time.
Our catalog is high-quality, affordable, and safe. An Epidemic Sound subscription goes beyond royalty-free music, removing the headache of licensing and freeing you up to do what you do best. You can enjoy the safety of our license hand-in-hand with our massive catalog of 40,000 tracks, covering just about every genre you can think of. You’ll also gain unlimited access to our advanced search functions — finding the right sound’s never been easier.
It’s better than royalty-free. It’s worry-free. Get started with Epidemic Sound below.
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