Roblox oof
Video game sound effect
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Roblox oof (also known simply as "oof") is a sound effect that plays when a player dies or resets in the online video game platform Roblox. It originated from the 2000 video game Messiah and was later adopted by Roblox as the platform's default death sound. The sound became an Internet meme due to its humorous nature. Video game composer Tommy Tallarico claimed ownership of the copyright to the sound in 2019 and stated that its use was copyright infringement. Tallarico also claimed that he had personally created the sound, despite Messiah's credits also crediting Joey Kuras, a sound designer then employed by Tallarico, with designing the game's sounds alongside him, and the sound effect's metadata crediting Kuras with its creation. Roblox removed the sound from the platform as a free asset in July 2022, though an agreement was reached to offer it as a paid one. In November 2022, British video essayist Hbomberguy published an exposé that disputed Tallarico's claim that he had created the sound effect. In July 2025, Roblox announced that it would bring back the "oof" sound in a video posted on its social media accounts, nearly three years after its removal and replacement.
Origin
The original sound was first used in the 2000 computer game Messiah by American video game developers Shiny Entertainment and Interplay Entertainment, with video game music composer Tommy Tallarico and sound designer Joey Kuras, then an employee of Tallarico's, credited for designing these kinds of sound effects.[1][2][3][4] Tallarico has at times claimed that Kuras created the sound, that it was a collaboration between the pair, and that he created it himself.[2][5] In June 2019, Tallarico noted that the sound effect's metadata credited Kuras, indicating its origin in Messiah.[6] Hbomberguy found in his own investigation that the metadata solely credited Kuras and not Tallarico, though he did not consider this definitive proof that Kuras had created the sound alone.[7]
History
2019–2022: Copyright dispute
In 2019,[8] the American video game developer Roblox Corporation was contacted by the owner of the action-adventure video game Messiah,[9] and was later involved in a copyright dispute with American video game composer Tommy Tallarico.[10][11] Tallarico claimed Roblox obtained the sound effect from an illegal sound effects website and was using it without his permission.[4] Roblox denied this in a public statement, saying that the sound had instead come from a CD-ROM of stock sound effects which the game's original creators had purchased for use.[12] An agreement between the two was later reached around late 2020.[13] In July 2022,[14] Roblox made a post addressing a new update on Twitter, saying "Related to sounds, due to a licensing issue we have removed the "oof" sound from Roblox and have created a replacement default sound which launches today".[9][15] They removed the sound after the release of the Developer Marketplace, and re-implemented it as a purchasable sound asset for 100 Robux.[8][16] Tallarico made four sound design libraries.[13] In November 2022, British YouTuber and video essayist Harry Brewis, also known as Hbomberguy, published "ROBLOX_OOF.mp3",[7] a video essay which documented and disputed many claims Tommy Tallarico had made concerning his career, including being the creator of the "oof" sound effect at the heart of the Roblox legal dispute.[5][17]
2025: Return of the "oof" sound
On July 18, 2025, Roblox officially announced that the original "oof" sound would return on the Roblox Creator Hub. Roblox uploaded a video on Twitter showing a character walking toward the camera before exploding into pieces, accompanied by the classic "oof" sound.[18]
Reception and legacy
News outlets such as BBC Newsround, have described the "oof" sound effect as "iconic", "hugely popular", "well known in the Roblox community" and as having been used in "countless memes and videos".[3][14] In late 2020, after its licensing agreement, Tommy Tallarico described the "oof" sound as "one of the most iconic pop culture audio clips of the 21st century," and referred to himself as the "oof guy".[11]
After the "oof" sound was removed in 2022 which replaced with the default sound, the removal of the sound was met with mixed reactions from the community, with players expressing that the "life" in Roblox had been "sucked out".[15][19] The replacement sound effect was also criticized by The Verge, which viewed it as "some sort of guttural grunt" and "weird".[14]
In July 2025, after its comeback announcement, Windows Central have noted that they were "glad to see the 26-year-old audio live on once again in Roblox".[18]
