Quietest Window Air Conditioners

These ACs from Frigidaire, GE, Midea, and other brands can keep things cool and quiet while you sleep

By Allen St. John and Tim Barribeau

Updated May 28, 2024

When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more.

Midea U MAW08V1QWT air conditioner in window frame — U-shaped air conditioners like this Midea can run quieter because they use your window to block out noise.

While a quiet air conditioner is nice during the day, it’s especially important at night when you’re trying to sleep. That’s why, in addition to grading air conditioners on how quickly they cool a room, we rate the noise levels of every model we test, on both low and high settings.

In this article

Quietest Window ACs for a: Small Room Midsized Room Large Room
How CR Tests Air Conditioners
How to Pick the Right Window AC

The good news is that today’s air conditioners are legitimately quieter than models from only a few years ago, according to Chris Regan, who heads CR’s air conditioner testing program. And that’s because of a couple of important innovations.

To start, there are U-shaped models that not only let you open and close your window with the unit installed but also put a windowpane between you and the noisy compressor. Inverted U-shaped models drape over the window sill, like a bath towel, but the effect is the same. Your wall generally does a better job of buffering sound than the flimsier insulating materials that come with a conventional window unit.

Quietest Air Conditioner for a Small Room

These top-rated models are made to cool 100- to 250-square-foot rooms and rate well for low noise indoors. These window air conditioners produce about 5,000 Btu of energy.

Quietest Air Conditioners for a Midsized Room

These window air conditioners are made for 250- to 350-square-foot rooms. Some of the highest-scoring models also include features like LED displays and remote controls.

Quietest Air Conditioners for a Large Room

These ACs are designed for 350- to 550-square-foot rooms, like home offices and living rooms. While the models emit 10,000 Btu and are larger in size, they still run quietly.

How CR Tests Air Conditioners

Consumer Reports uses a sound meter to test air conditioner noise levels on both high and low settings, which provides an objective volume measurement. But that’s only part of our extensive test program.

We evaluate room air conditioners in a custom-built climate-controlled chamber. We test three sizes of window ACs—small, medium, and large—and adjust the size of the chamber based on the room size each air conditioner is designed to keep cool. We crank the temperature in the chamber up to 90° F, then measure how long it takes each AC to lower the temperature by 10° F.

We also gauge how well an AC holds the set temperature and how easy it is to use the controls.

In addition to our performance tests, we survey more than 6,000 CR members about the brands of room air conditioners they purchased new between 2012 and 2022. Based on their responses, we rate each brand for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. And we have good news: Room ACs are one of the most reliable products we test. To see the full results, read “The Most and Least Reliable Room Air Conditioners.” And to see the Overall Score for all the models we test, go to our air conditioner ratings.

How to Pick the Right Window Air Conditioner

Part of finding an air conditioner with a tolerable noise level is choosing a unit that’s designed for your room size. An oversized air conditioner might sound tempting for maximum cooling in a small space, but it may also run louder than you’d like.

A small room may only need a small air conditioner with a cooling capacity of 5,000 to 6,500 Btu, while a 500-square-foot living room, especially one with south-facing windows, will likely need a more powerful unit that can pump out 10,000 Btu or more. Be sure to get out a tape measure to figure out the square footage of the area you need to cool before you decide what to buy.

Once you’ve decided which air conditioner to buy, be sure you know how to install it correctly. Not every type will fit into every type of window (casement windows are generally a no-go), and you may want to consider using a support bracket, especially if you live several stories above the ground. If you rent your living space, there are additional considerations. If you’re not able to put a unit into a window, a portable air conditioner may be a fallback option.

Allen St. John

Allen St. John has been a senior product editor at CR since 2016, focusing on digital privacy, audio devices, printers, and home products. He was a senior editor at Condé Nast and a contributing editor at publications including Road & Track and The Village Voice. A New York Times bestselling author, he's also written for The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Rolling Stone. He lives in Montclair, N.J., with his wife, their two children, and their dog, Rugby.

Tim Barribeau

Tim Barribeau is a freelance writer and service journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area who has covered everything from pets to style to printers. Over the past decade, he has had bylines in Wirecutter, the New York Times, Technology Review, the Wall Street Journal, and a number of publications that no longer exist—and now Consumer Reports.