/stopsound only works on players. @a silences everyone online, @p the nearest player; with @e you must add type=player in the selector arguments.
Background music
Leave empty to stop everything in the selected source. Sound ids look like music.game or entity.ghast.scream; the minecraft: prefix is optional.
Stops every sound currently playing on the music channel for the targets.
It cuts sounds mid-playback but never blocks new ones. To keep music off, run the command from a repeating command block.
Only the targeted players go quiet. Everyone else keeps hearing the world normally.
A sound only stops when the source you name is the channel it plays on. Any source emits the * wildcard and covers them all.
Permission: /stopsound needs operator permission level 2. Run it from chat with cheats enabled, from a command block, or from the server console.
/stopsound silences sounds that are already playing for the players you target. Pass just a selector to stop everything, add a source channel like music or record to narrow it down, or name one exact sound event. It needs cheats in singleplayer or operator permission level 2 on a server.
Every sound in Minecraft plays on one of eleven source channels, the same categories you see as volume sliders on the Music and Sounds settings screen: music, record, weather, block, hostile, neutral, player, ambient, voice, ui and master. /stopsound tells the targeted players' game clients to cut playback, either on every channel at once or on the one you name. Because sound is handled per client, the effect is per player: whoever the selector matches goes quiet, and nobody else notices a thing.
The command stops sounds, it does not block them. Background music will pick a new track minutes later, mobs keep making noise, and a jukebox loaded with a fresh disc plays again. When map makers want lasting silence, they run /stopsound @a music from a repeating command block, then layer their own soundtrack on top with /playsound. That pairing, stop the vanilla track and start a custom one, is the single most common use of this command.
The generator above covers the full syntax: build the player selector, choose a source channel or leave it on Any source, and optionally pick one of the vanilla sound events from the searchable list. The command updates live, so you can copy it straight into chat, a command block or the server console.
The full syntax is /stopsound <targets> [<source>] [<sound>]. Only the targets are required, and they must be players: use @a, @p, @r, @s, an exact player name, or @e restricted with type=player. These are the four forms the command takes:
The source argument accepts these eleven channels. A sound only stops when the channel you name matches the one it plays on, which is why the * wildcard exists for the third argument:
The sound argument is a sound event id such as music.game, entity.ghast.scream or music_disc.pigstep. The minecraft: namespace prefix is optional for vanilla sounds, and sounds added by resource packs or data packs work too if you type their full id.
Five commands you can copy directly:
In adventure maps, the usual rhythm is a chain of command blocks: first /stopsound @a music to clear the vanilla track, then /playsound minecraft:music_disc.pigstep record @a to start your own. Playing your custom audio on the record channel keeps it out of the music slider, so a later /stopsound @a record can end it cleanly without touching anything else.
Run /stopsound @a to stop every sound currently playing for all players, including music, jukeboxes, mob sounds and ambience. You need cheats enabled in singleplayer or operator permission on a server. It only silences sounds that are already playing; new sounds start normally afterwards.
Run /stopsound @a music to cut the background music for every player. Minecraft picks a new track on its own later, so map makers usually put the command in a repeating command block to keep music off, then play their own soundtrack with /playsound.
Run /stopsound @a record. Music discs play on the record source channel, so this silences every disc currently playing for the targeted players. To stop one specific disc, add its sound event, for example /stopsound @a record minecraft:music_disc.pigstep.
The asterisk is a wildcard that matches every source channel at once. Use it to stop one specific sound without naming its channel: /stopsound @a * minecraft:entity.ghast.scream stops the scream whether it plays on the hostile, master or any other channel. The * always needs a sound id after it.
Check three things. Permissions: the command needs cheats in singleplayer or operator permission level 2 on a server. Targets: /stopsound only affects players, so @e fails unless you add type=player. The channel: a sound only stops when the source you typed matches the channel it plays on, so use * when in doubt.
Only for the players matched by the target selector. /stopsound @a silences all online players, /stopsound @p just the nearest one, and a player name affects only that player. Sound playback happens on each player's own client, so everyone else keeps hearing the world normally.
Need to start a sound instead of stopping one? Or browse more Minecraft tools:
