Teknivals are large-scale free parties that take place across Europe every summer where many sound systems gather together and play for thousands of people for several days or weeks. They are a larger scale version of free parties and emerged in early 1990s, when acid house parties were banned in Great Britain and sound systems started to travel Europe. One of the most famous of these sound systems is Spiral Tribe, which was at the forefront of the free party scene in Europe.

Teknivals are organised by the sound system community, and any sound system which turns up can set up and play. As well as local sound systems many of the larger sound systems can spend the summer travelling from one tekinival to the next before returning to their home country for the winter. While some teknivals are one-off events there are teknivals that take place every year; the biggest such as the ones in France or Czechtek in the Czech Republic, can attract up to 40,000 visitors.