First go to your main Steam window, and click on Library. Find Team Fortress 2 in your list, and right click it. From the pulldown menu, select Properties.

From here a window pops up, click on the Local Files tab, and then click "Browse Local Files..."





From step one, double click the /tf/ folder, then the /custom/ folder. If it does not exist, create it.
Inside the /custom/ folder you should create a new folder and name it whatever will help you remember that this is for your custom sounds.
For example, let's say I name my folder "RTFM", once I open it I should be in
Inside that folder you create the folder named "sound".
Inside /sound/ you create the folder named "ui"
We're now at
This is where you put the hitsound/killsound file.
For Hitsounds you name themFor Killsounds (hitsounds on death) you name them
If you are replacing some other file you must similarly create the correct directory for that specific file's path.

Many sounds are saved at different sampling rates to preserve high quality or to save on disk space. One of the most common problems I've run in to with sounds downloaded from places like Gamebanana is that they are saved at a sampling rate of 48,000Hz, when the most TF2 will accept is 44,100 Hz. Resampling the sound at 44,100 in Audacity or Goldwave will allow it to play in TF2.

You should take a minute to maximize the volume of your sound effect if you open it with an audio manipulation program, as once you're in a game the only thing you can do is lower the volume of the audio clip. If you don't hear the lamentations of the hitsound over the sound of you crushing your enemies and seeing them driven before you, it may as well have not played. If your file is intended to be used in a soundscape you can also individually reduce the volume inside the soundscape definition file.

If your sound is meant to repeat you can take advantage of the .wav Cue system, which creates a new start point for the looping sound. I take advantage of this when I make custom soundscapes so I can have an intro that leads into a stable song loop that never needs to repeat the intro sequence. TF2 will read them when deciding where to loop to on looping sound effects.

Access the Advanced Options menu from the main screen of TF2 by clicking the button in the bottom right corner. Under the Combat Options section there's a number of options about your hitsound.

If you want to use a custom hitsound or killsound, you must check the top checkbox, and if you want to use a killsound for killing blows you must check the second checkbox.
Volume and Pitch should be modified to your personal preference.

This is caused by resaving the sound file without deleting the automatically created sound.cache file in the sound directory inside the custom folder where the sound is saved. The first time you play a sound TF2 creates this file to let it know exactly how long the sound is supposed to last, what format it's in, and other information. If the sound itself changes and the cache doesn't, it'll use the old cache information to try to play the sound, resulting in garbage.

Activates hitsounds
Changes the killing hitsound to killsound.wav
Very important if you want to have a killsound, set to 0 if you want to only use hitsound.wav

Sets the hitsound to the basic hitsound.wav file, very important if you want to hear your replacement. The second one is similar, but for the killsound.

Sets the volume of the hitsound and killsound respectively, maximum value is 1.

The overrides when something other than -1 set the pitch for their respective sounds. 100 is standard pitch.


Sets a delay between instances of the hit sound firing. Useful if your sound is long and you play pyro, but generally set to 0 to play the sound once for every instance of damage.