How to Use Full Sound on TikTok

Ever find a perfect TikTok sound only to realize the app only lets you use a short, 15-second snippet? You’re not alone. Using the full length of a song or audio clip can unlock way more creative potential for your videos. This guide will walk you through exactly how to use full sounds on TikTok, covering the methods that work for both personal and business accounts.

Why Bother With Full Sounds Anyway?

On a platform built for speed, putting in the extra effort to use a full sound might seem unnecessary, but it has some serious advantages. The standard 15, 30, or 60-second clips are great for quick trends, but they can be limiting. Going longer helps you:

• Tell a better story: Some ideas just need more time. A full sound can serve as the backdrop for a story with a beginning, middle, and end, whether it’s a comedy sketch, a heartfelt narrative, or a detailed tutorial.
• Create more engaging content: Longer, more immersive audio can keep viewers hooked. Instead of a short loop, you can build tension, transition between moods, or showcase a full dance routine, which often leads to higher watch time - a key metric for the TikTok algorithm.
• Stand out from the crowd: When everyone is using the same 15-second clip of a trending song, using a different part - like the bridge or a verse - can make your video feel fresh and original.

Essentially, having access to an entire audio track gives you a bigger canvas to paint on. It elevates your content a step beyond the trend and into more deliberate content creation.

Understanding Why Sounds Are Limited: Personal vs. Business Accounts

Before getting into the "how," it's important to understand the "why." The main reason you might be running into sound limitations is a matter of copyright law, which TikTok handles by separating accounts into two types: Personal and Business.

Personal Accounts

If you're a typical creator, you likely have a Personal Account. These accounts have access to TikTok’s massive General Music Library. It's filled with millions of popular songs from major artists, viral clips, and trending audio. While you can use these sounds, they are licensed for personal, non-commercial entertainment purposes only. You generally have a lot more creative freedom here because the licensing assumes you aren’t using Dua Lipa’s latest hit to directly sell a product.

Business Accounts

Business Accounts are for brands, retailers, and organizations using TikTok for marketing. To protect these users (and itself) from copyright infringement, TikTok limits Business Accounts to the Commercial Music Library. This is a collection of over a million royalty-free tracks that have been pre-cleared for promotional content. The upside is that you can safely use these sounds in ads or sponsored posts. The major downside? This library is much smaller and lacks the popular, chart-topping songs that typically go viral.

So, if you’re on a Business Account and can’t find a trending sound, this is why. Now, let’s get into the workarounds.

The Workaround: Use an "Original Sound" by Editing Outside of TikTok

This is the most reliable method for using any sound you want, for as long as you want (up to TikTok’s video length limit), and it works for both Personal and Business Accounts. The strategy is simple: prepare your video with the desired sound before you even open the TikTok app.

By editing your video externally, you can add any full song or audio clip and upload it to TikTok. The platform will then classify the audio as an "Original Sound" credited to your account. Here’s a step-by-step breakdown.

Step 1: Choose Your Video Editing App

You’ll need a third-party application to combine your video clips and your chosen audio. Thankfully, you have plenty of great, often free, options.

• CapCut: Made by the same parent company as TikTok, CapCut is designed to be the perfect companion app. It's free, packed with features like auto-captions and slick transitions, and integrates seamlessly with TikTok. This is the top recommendation for most users.
• InShot: Another incredibly popular and user-friendly mobile editor. It’s perfect for trimming clips, adding music, applying effects, and resizing videos for different formats.
• Desktop Editors (for pros): If you’re more comfortable editing on a computer, powerful tools like DaVinci Resolve (which has a fantastic free version), Adobe Premiere Pro, or Final Cut Pro give you maximum control.

Step 2: Get Your Audio File

This is where things get important from a legal standpoint. You need the audio in a file format like an MP3 or WAV to add it to your video editor.

• For Personal Accounts: You can typically find audio files you legally own in your music library.
• For Business Accounts (IMPORTANT): Using a popular song you don’t have a license for is a direct violation of copyright law. Brands caught doing this can face legal trouble. Instead, Business Accounts should source their music from royalty-free libraries like Epidemic Sound, Artlist, or Envato Elements. These services offer vast collections of high-quality music that you can legally license for commercial use.
• Voiceovers and Custom Sounds: This method is also perfect for creating original voiceovers, sound effects, or custom audio mixes that aren't on TikTok yet.

Step 3: Edit Your Video with the Full Sound

Open your chosen editing app and start a new project. Here's the general workflow:

1. Import Your Media: Add your video clips and the full audio file into the project.
2. Place the Audio: Put the audio track on the timeline first. This allows you to use the song's beat and rhythm as a guide for your video edits.
3. Sync Your Clips: Trim and arrange your video clips to match the music. Does the beat drop? Make sure something exciting happens on screen at that exact moment. Are the lyrics telling a story? Match your visuals to the narrative.
4. Adjust Volumes: Make sure your music levels are balanced. If you have any clips with actors speaking, you might want to lower the music volume during those parts so the dialogue is clear.

Step 4: Export and Upload to TikTok

Once your masterpiece is complete, it’s time to share it with the world.

1. Export the Video: Save the final video from your editing app to your phone’s camera roll. Aim for a high-quality export setting (1080p is usually perfect for TikTok).
2. Upload to TikTok: Open the TikTok app, tap the + icon, and select "Upload". Choose your newly created video.
3. Skip the Sound Library: In the TikTok editor, you will see your video playing with its sound. Do not tap "Add sound." Your audio is already embedded in the video file. Simply proceed to the next step.
4. Post Your Video: Add your caption, hashtags, and any other finishing touches. When you post, the sound will be labeled "Original sound" with your username next to it.

Maximizing Your Original Sound's Impact

Using an "Original Sound" has one significant drawback: it isn't linked to the official, trending version of that sound on TikTok. If someone taps on the original audio on your post, they'll see a gallery of videos that have used your original audio - not the massive list from other creators using the same trending music by official artists. This can sometimes limit discoverability.

However, you can combat this with a few simple tricks to help both users and the algorithm understand what song you're using:

• Credit the Artist in Your Sound's Title: Before uploading, add the name/title of your song with its artist name. The added SEO context of a recognizable name can help get more "hits" for relevant keywords related to that music title.
• Add the Song Title On-Screen: Use TikTok’s text tool to tastefully add the song title and artist's name somewhere in your video. This informs viewers who might want to search for the song themselves.
• Use Relevant Hashtags: Include hashtags like #[songname], #[artistname], and #[genretag] in your caption. This helps TikTok categorize your content and show it to people who have shown interest in that artist or style of music.

Final Thoughts

Using the full sound on TikTok gives you the creative breathing room to produce more compelling, story-driven content. While a bit constrained without workarounds, by preparing your videos outside of the app, you give yourself complete control over the audio, whether you're using a full chart-topping hit, a royalty-free track, or your own custom voiceover.

Thinking through these extra creative details for every post can feel like a lot to manage, especially when you're scheduling content across multiple platforms. At Postbase, we built our visual calendar to make this kind of advanced planning simpler. You can schedule your TikToks, Reels, and Shorts in one place, add notes to your posts about specific custom audio tracks you’re using, and get a clear view of your entire content strategy. It brings much-needed order to the process, so you can spend less time organizing and more time creating.