BFE explained: What Is Boyfriend Experience?

Every once in a while I am craving the company of a loving boyfriend.

He is hot, always knows just what to say, and, frankly, is a pretty damn good catch.

Meet my boyfriend. His name is BFE.

BFE stands for ‘Boyfriend Experience’ – movie-like audios that simulate the feelings of being with a boyfriend through cuddles, whispers, snuggles, comforting moments, and kisses. There’s a significant emphasis on the emotional connection between you, the listener, and the ‘audio-boyfriend.

Let me tell you more: what exactly BFE is, why people love it and where can you find your own?

The origins of BFE

How does a tiny internet niche become mainstream content consumed by millions all over the world?

from escort service to wholesome audiobooks

Actually, BFE (boyfriend experience) conventionally was an escort service. Meaning, a woman would pay an escort to pretend to be her boyfriend. This was supposed to be more meaningful than just paying the escort for intimacy.

I don’t know if it ever worked out that way, but I imagine you would feel pretty empty after an encounter like that.

But romantic audio creators soon found a way how to create the same wholesome feelings and actually make you feel good about yourself.

The boyfriend experience was transformed into role-play audios, and BFE audios were born – a fusion of wholesome romance movies and entertaining audiobooks.

So, nowadays, BFE audios go hand in hand with the broader category of NSFW role-play audios. This type of content is not a new concept and has been around for at least a decade, but the pandemic helped boyfriend audios rise to the surface from an unknown internet niche and become a lot more mainstream.

Boyfriend audios during Pandemic loneliness

The pandemic exponentially accelerated the popularity of the NSFW ASMR genre, propelling both NSFW and BFE audios into the mainstream.

For example, the most popular role-play audio subreddit, ‘Gone Wild Audio,’ almost doubled in size in 2020. As of writing this article, it has grown by almost 4 times, increasing from 350k members in January 2020 to 1.3M members in August 2023 (source).

The number of Gone Wild Audio subreddit members has grown 400% since 2020

BFE audios were a great way for women to recapture some of the human emotional connections we craved so much during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.

While the pandemic is over, BFE audios remain a popular way to entertain those who still crave a bit more romance in their lives.

BFE as a response to internet dating culture

In addition, internet dating has led to more casual romantic connections, leaving us craving something deeper and more meaningful. BFE (boyfriend experience) audios, in this context, help satisfy these cravings.

But what exactly are BFE audios?

In the simplest terms: BFE (boyfriend experience) makes you feel like your boyfriend is there with you in the room. Talking to you. Cuddling with you. And doing other boyfriend things.

The best way to understand what BFE audios are is to listen for yourself.

For example, this BFE YouTube video transports you to a cold evening that you spend with your boyfriend, wrapped up in cozy covers, having a cup of delicious hot chocolate with the fire crackling in the background.

I suggest you go and listen to it, but I’ll do my best to explain what BFE audios are in more detail here as well. The main features that constitute a BFE audio are immersion, storytelling, and role-play.

role-play element in bfe audios

Let’s start with role-play, as it’s the most distinctive feature.

If you imagine BFE audios as audiobooks, they’re not quite like that. BFE audios are dialogue-based, not narrative-based.

There’s one voice actor handling the role of the boyfriend, but there’s no girlfriend present in the recording… because the girlfriend is YOU.

The audio boyfriend speaks directly to you, leaving pauses for you to respond (in your mind or out loud, whichever you prefer).

So, to you, it sounds exactly like your boyfriend is talking to you.

Initially, it might feel a bit strange, but it’s one of those things you need to try a few times before becoming addicted.

Immersion

It feels like you are INSIDE the BFE story. Instead of being a spectator as is the case in movies and books, you become a participant.

This effect is achieved through conversational dialogue and special sound effects, creating an audio movie-like experience.

Essentially, you assume the role of the girlfriend. The audio contains only the boyfriend’s dialogue, allowing him to speak directly to you. When he asks you a question, he leaves a pause for you to respond.

BFE audios are akin to a mix of a movie, a podcast, and an audiobook.

You will hear the kisses and cuddles. You will hear him whisper sweet words in his ear. You will almost FEEL his breath on your neck as he leans in to place gentle kisses on your skin.

The voice and sound effects are so convincing, you will become a participant in the story and feel like you are genuinely inside the scenario.

storytelling

Boyfriend experience emphasizes domestic and simple scripts, rooted in the desire to create relatable and heartfelt experiences. These types of scenarios tend to tap into feelings and situations that you would commonly encounter in your daily life.

For example, mundane activities like cooking together, cuddling on a lazy day, or having conversations while walking create a sense of comfort and nostalgia.

These scenarios evoke feelings of warmth and familiarity, making the experience more relatable and enjoyable.

Imagination also becomes a crucial companion as you listen to these audios. The story is laid out before you, but the nuances, emotions, and details come alive within your imagination. Thus, the scenes, characters, and scenarios become vivid and deeply personal.

Why Listen to Boyfriend Experience Audios?

Companionship

It is Saturday night, but I didn’t feel like going out tonight.

I just wanted to tackle the long overdue mountain of laundry piling in my bedroom, cook myself a nice meal, and get comfy with a good book and a glass of red.

But now I can hear a group of friends laughing outside on the street, before heading into the nearby boujee restaurant with colourful cocktails and overpriced shrimp dishes.

I can see a couple snuggling on the couch in one of the windows opposite my building.

And suddenly, it makes me feel lonely.

It makes me want to have a group of friends with whom I can throw my head back in laughter and dance my heart out all night long.

I DO have those friends, but I CHOSE to stay at home tonight and focus on myself. What is wrong with me?

But FOMO ( fear of missing out) is real and feelings like these are so familiar to me. I see others having fun or couples being all over each other and loneliness takes over, although I enjoy being on my own 99% of the time.

What I mean is, sometimes I just want the companionship without actually having to socialise.

And BFE audios are perfect for occasions like that. An audio boyfriend will spend an hour chatting in my ear, keeping me company and keeping the loneliness at bay.

And by the time my pasta carbonara is ready and my laundry pile has halved, I am smiling again, happy with my choice to resist FOMO, rather than facing another morning with a hangover.

BFE is Comforting

Every once in a while I have days where I am:

Stressed about deadlines or finances
Feel like I haven’t achieved enough in my life
Feel sad because of some incidents with my friends or family
Just feel bad for no apparent reason

When life gets tough and you need a little pick-me-up, BFE audios work better than a tub of Ben & Jerry’s (or chocolate in my case). While comfort food feels divine in the moment, it often leave me feeling worse in the end.

However, after half an hour of listening to BFE audios, I feel as if I have my life together again. My self-esteem receives an uplifting boost, and overall, I feel much better.

BFE audios contain elements that help in dealing with various challenges. There are audios designed for comfort during stress, illness, menstrual periods, conflicts with friends, and even issues related to mental health, body image, and anxiety.

Listening to BFE audios is like having a boyfriend who gives you a hug, listens to all your problems, and then rationally helps you put everything in perspective. He always has the right words to make you feel better.

Boyfriend audios are a great sleep aid

For fellow ‘cuddleballs’ like me, the presence of a loving boyfriend offers a weirdly comforting sensation, providing just that extra bit of help needed for a good night’s sleep.

I’ve seen memes on my Instagram feed claiming that our bodies release hormones aiding sleep when we’re physically close to our partners. Now, while we all know memes are the pinnacle of scientific accuracy, I’ll leave it to you to do your own research and determine the veracity of that claim.

bfe helps Curing relationship traumas

Relationships come with both joys and challenges. While they offer warmth, happiness, and companionship, they can also bring about pain and disappointment. For some, past relationships have left deep scars, making the idea of re-entering the dating scene daunting.

BFE audios provide a gentle reintroduction to the comforting aspects of romantic connections. These audios simulate the positive experiences of a relationship, immersing listeners in feelings of intimacy, trust, affection, and understanding.

With BFE audios, those healing from past relationship traumas can gradually rediscover the joys of connection. By focusing on the positive elements of relationships, these audios help alleviate fears shaped by previous experiences.

Types of ‘Boyfriend Experience’ Audios

Boyfriend audios aim to provide comfort, support, or companionship so the storylines often reflect scenarios you would often find yourself in a relationship:

Going to bed together
Domestic moments
Waking up together
Spending time together
Dates

Where to listen to BFE audios?

We compiled the best places to listen to boyfriend audios in a separate article, which I would suggest to read if you want to know where to find the best stuff and how to search for it.

But here is a quick TLDR of where you can find the best BFE audios. BFE audios are on platforms like YouTube, Reddit or Soundgasm. Many recordings are on Patreon and similar platforms.

Best Kept Secret has a catalogue of over 400 audios (some are free, others require a subscription).

Literotica has a few thousand recordings, admittedly of varied quality, but you can definitely find some good audios on the platform, if you know where to look. It’s near impossible to navigate their older audios to find what you like, so we created a list of the best 2,400 audios on Literotica, that you can filter and sort much easier.

You can even find some BFE audios on PornHub but these tend to be mostly NSFW.

And finally…

Do BFE audios actually work?

I wanted to share some things listeners have shared about boyfriend experience audios:

“It was emotional, funny, sexy, and sympathetic ❤️ I could envision the house, the neighbourhood, and this man perfectly in my mind! The sound effects made the immersion 10/10 ❤️“
Boyfriend experience audio listener (Source)

“Your audios have helped me heal so many wounds caused by growing up in religious purity culture. Learning to appreciate my pleasure has been such a gift.”
Boyfriend audio listener (Source)

“IDK, but those Gallo improvs always feel so “personal“, you know what I mean? Like he’s creating them just for us. I just love how he’s spoiling us lately. 🤩🥰”
BFE audio listener (Source)

If you’d also love to listen to “emotional, funny, and sexy” BFE audios, consider joining the Best Kept Secret community, where thousands of women are in the same boat. See you on the other side!

BFE: What Is Boyfriend Experience? The Meaning of BFE explained