Copyright & Licensing for Student Creators

Images
 

Best Bets for Images
 

• Creative Commons Search Tool
  Search websites for images you can share, use, and remix. Each image record includes an "Attributions" tab.

• Flickr
  1 Billion+ photos. Filter by topic, color, usage rights, date, size and more. Use license dropdown menu in search results to limit results to images with Creative Commons licenses. 

• Google Images
  Search keywords or even upload an image. Once you have your results, click the tools and use the "usage rights" drop down to limit to "Creative Commons licenses." You may also limit by word, color, image size, image type, etc.

• Pixabay
  Free images or videos that you can use freely without attribution. Unlike other large stock media sites all licensed CC0 (Public Domain). 

• Wikimedia Commons
  Images, sounds, and video clips are free to copy, use and modify as long as you follow conditions specified by the author. License conditions of each individual media file can be found on its description page.

Other Great Sources for Images
 

• Disabled and Here
  Images featuring disabled Black, Indigenous, people of color (BIPOC). Includes images of LGBTQ+ community. Licensed CC BY.

• EDUImages
  Images of real preK–12 students and educators. Predominantly students of color. Licensed CC BY-NC.

• The Gender Spectrum Collection
  Stock photo library featuring images of trans and non-binary people. Licensed CC BY-NC-ND.

• Images of Empowerment
  Photo library of women's daily life and work from around the world. Licensed CC BY-NC.

• The MET (The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

  Images of Artworks in the Public Domain.

• Nappy
  Beautiful images of Black and Brown people. Library is free for commercial and personal use. Licensed CC0 (Public Domain). 

• New York Public Library Digital Collections

  Select "Search only public domain materials."

• The Noun Project
  Diverse and extensive collection of icons to communicate any idea. Available as PNG or SVG. CC0 (Public Domain) and CC BY licenses. Free plan requires attributions.

• Open Peeps
  Hand-drawn, mix-and-match illustrations. Licensed CC0 (Public Domain).

• Pexels

  Free images to be used for any legal purpose. Some images licensed CC0 (Public Domain).

• PICNOI
  Stock photo library with images of people of color. Licensed CC BY.

• Unsplash
  1 million+ high resolution images. Free usage. Attribution requested.

 
Videos
 

Best Bets for Videos

• Pixabay
  Free images or videos that you can use freely without attribution. Unlike other large stock media sites all licensed CC0 (Public Domain). 
   
• Videvo - Video 
  Free stock videos, motion graphics, and music for use in any project.  Can be used in personal and commercial productions. Clips licensed CC 3.0 must be attributed. 
   
• Vimeo Creative Commons

  After YouTube, Vimeo has one of the largest collections of Creative Commons licensed videos. It providing tools to find these videos fast enough to matter, and has a designated collections page exclusive to Creative Commons videos.

• YouTube (Filter by Creative Commons)
  Millions of Creative Commons-licensed videos (among their billions of video collections). Most videos with a Creative Commons License are licensed CC BY. The key is filtering them to isolate the Creative Commons-licensed ones. The link shows you how to do this.

Other Video Sources

• Open Video Project
  Repository of digitized video content for video, multimedia retrieval, digital library, and other research communities. Check the digitization organization in video descriptions to see if the content can be remixed.
   
• Wikimedia Commons
  Images, sounds, and video clips are free to copy, use and modify as long as you follow conditions specified by the author. License conditions of each individual media file can be found on its description page.

Music and Sound
 

Best Bets for Music and Sound

• ccmixter
  Community music site featuring remixes and samples with Creative Commons licenses. You are free to upload, download, and sample music and stems on this site and share the results with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Each submission is marked clearly with the license that applies to it. Licensed CC BY, CC BY-NC and sliding scale, royalty free. 

• digccmixter
  Search ccmixter by tags, i.e., genre, instrument, and style. Use the "Featured" menu to find music by type of project (film / video games) and type of license. Each song is marked clearly with the license that applies to it. Licensed CC BY, CC BY-NC and sliding scale, royalty free.

• Free Music Archive
  Offers free access to openly licensed, original music. Many curators, netlabels and independent musicians around the world contribute. Very helpful search filters help find music by genre, curator, instrumentation, usage (commercial), and length. Also allows you to choose any of the six Creative Commons licenses and public domain music. Each song is marked clearly with the license that applies to it.

• Videvo - Music and Sound Effects
  Free stock videos, motion graphics, and music for use in any project. Good browse experience by mood, instrument, genre. Fun children's music and excellent collection of sound effects. Can be used in personal and commercial productions. Clips licensed CC 3.0 must be attributed. 

Other Sources for Music and Sound
 

• Jamendo
  Extensive catalog of openly licensed music to stream and download for personal use. Not possible to filter by license type, and Jamendo helps artists license their music for a fee for commercial use. 

• TeknoAXE
  Very large collection of music (over 1200), with new pieces added every week. Free to use everywhere. Attribution required. Licensed CC BY.

• SoundBible
  Large assortment of sound effects for personal and commercial use. Cannot filter by license. Some licensed CC BY and CC0 (Public Domain) for commercial fee. Others are Royalty Free. Check license before use.

• Wikimedia Commons
  Images, sounds, and video clips are free to copy, use and modify as long as you follow conditions specified by the author. License conditions of each individual media file can be found on its description page.

It isn't so simple to know if you can use, share, and remix work you find on the internet. Here are some strategies for finding license information. 

• Look on the content itself.
  Does it display a license? 
   
• Check the very bottom of the website.
  Do you see an "All rights reserved" statement? Does it show an open license or explain terms of use?
   
• Look for a License section of the website.
  Many websites will have a dedicated page with a name like 'License,' 'Copyright,' 'Terms of Use,' or 'Rights.' This is where you will find information about who owns the intellectual property and how you may legally use it.

This guide is for your general information purposes only and not to be construed as legal advice. If you have legal questions, please consult with an attorney.

Unless otherwise stipulated, this guide is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Content on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Content on this page adapted from:

• Intellectual property. (2019, January 29). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:28, September 23, 2019 from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intellectual_property&oldid=6407404.
• Copyright. (2019, September 17). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:31, September 23, 2019 from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Copyright&oldid=6667813.
• Trademark. (2018, October 15). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:31, September 23, 2019 from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trademark&oldid=6278905.
• Patent. (2019, March 1). Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:33, September 23, 2019 from https://simple.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patent&oldid=6461460.

Original works licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.