Written by the team that builds Luten, so we are not neutral about it. Updated 6 November 2026.
Green noise is a loose name for steady noise with extra level around the middle of the frequency range. It has no fixed definition: we found no standard for it, and the sources below place it anywhere from around 500 Hz to about 2,900 Hz. Wikipedia has a short clip labelled green noise that you can play. To make your own, you can try the Equalizer in Background Sounds on iPhone, or Audacity on a computer. Luten has nothing labelled green noise.
Most noise colours are borrowed from light. Wikipedia says the habit began with white noise, and that other colours followed, often because the spectrum resembles that colour of light. Brown is the exception: it is named after Brownian motion.
So nothing about the sound is green. The name describes where the level sits across frequencies. Frequency is heard as pitch and measured in hertz (Hz): low numbers are rumble and high numbers are hiss. In nearly every use we read, green means somewhere around the middle.
No. Wikipedia files it under informal names. It says the International Electrotechnical Commission defines white and pink noise, and US Federal Standard 1037C defines white, pink, blue and black. Green isn't in either list as Wikipedia gives them. Here is who says what.
Wikipedia's 500 Hz comes from Wisniewski's FAQ. Cook's range starts more than three times higher. Read any exact figure as one author's choice.
White, pink and brown are each described by one slope across the whole range. Green is described by a region instead.
Two files made to the definition of brown noise should measure alike. Two files called green noise may not. See our page on white, pink and brown noise for those colours.
None of these is the official version, because there isn't one.
The Wikipedia article has a short clip labelled as Wisniewski's version. The file is marked public domain, and the uploader doesn't say how it was made.
The Apple pages we read don't use the name green noise. They describe an Equalizer that changes the levels of chosen frequencies, on iOS 26 or later. Apple's steps come to this:
Apple's pages don't say where the middle is on the grid, and they don't describe this as a way to make green noise, so go by ear.
Audacity says it is free and open source, and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. Its noise generator offers white, pink and Brownian, so green is up to you. These steps follow Wisniewski's description.
Turn your volume down before you press play.
A search of Google's help pages turned up nothing on green noise when we looked, so we can't point to a built-in way. Use the clip, a file you made, or a video or app.
YouTube, the App Store and Google Play all have videos or apps using the name. The label is the maker's, and the titles we looked at don't say which version they mean. Judge by ear.
Luten has nothing labelled green noise. The noise colours it names are white, pink and brown, and we don't claim any of them is green. If you want green noise by name, use one of the ways above.
Sleep and focus sounds, on iPhone and Android. Free to download, with an optional subscription that starts with a 7 day free trial.
The name is real and widely used. What is missing is one agreed definition, so two people can mean different sounds by it.
There is no one answer, because versions differ. Wikipedia has a short clip labelled green noise that you can play and judge for yourself.