Photos Music Video
Finding Creative Commons and Public Domain Photos
(Use the links above to find sources for different media types.)
Unsplash
550,000+ high resolution photos that can be used for free. No restrictions. Attribution is not required (though is appreciated). From their license page: "More precisely, Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash. This license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service."
https://unsplash.com
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
Nearly 30M images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States. Find thousands of primary source documents. All resources are licensed Creative Commons, free for use with attribution.
https://dp.la/
Integration and Application Network
University of Maryland's HUGE libraries of images and symbols. Literally thousands of free images and scalable vector graphics to support science education. Use with their required attribution, or pay a small fee if you would like to use an image without attribution. Register for free downloads.
http://ian.umces.edu/
The Noun Project
More than a million Creative Commons icons and symbols created by the global community.
https://thenounproject.com/
Wikipedia: Public Domain Image Resources
Wikipedia has a huge list of collections of public domain images here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Free_media_resources/Photography
The Ultimate Directory of Free Image Sources
Check out this list for many additional sources not listed below.
http://theedublogger.com/2014/07/09/the-ultimate-directory-of-free-image-sources/
Flickr
There are many photos available under a creative commons license on the Web. One place to easily locate them is on Flickr. You can read more about Flickr's Creative Commons licenses here: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/.
Flickr Creative Commons Free Pictures Group
The CC Free Pictures group on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/groups/creative_commons-_free_pictures/pool/) collect high quality images for use in creative works. Currently this collection has 14,000+ images.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) is a wonderful source of copyright-free and Creative Commons images. It is particularly useful for finding historical images. Simply click on any image you find in Wikipedia and it will bring up a page with all of the source information listed. Many of the images are in the public domain.
Wikimedia Commons
The Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) is a huge database of more than 6 million media files that are freely usable, either because they are within the public domain, or because they have Creative Commons licenses. The site includes images, sounds, video, and more.
British Library Public Domain Images on Flickr
The British Library has just uploaded more than 1,000,000 public domain images on Flickr. While they are still working on categorizing and tagging them, there is much here to be found (http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/)
Google
When doing a Google image search, you can click on the Tools link to access "Usage Rights." Setting Usage Rights to one of the "labeled for reuse" options will bring back images with Creative Commons licenses. You will have to first enter a search term and conduct an initial search before the Tools link appears above the search results. (http://images.google.com)
Public Domain Images
Public domain media are those that no longer hold copyright protection, usually because it has expired. This website provides public domain images, royalty free stock photos, and copyright friendly free images. Images on the site are not copyrighted and have no rights reserved. All pictures on the site are explicitly placed in the public domain, free for any personal or commercial use. (http://www.public-domain-image.com/)
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive (https://archive.org) has millions of image, video, audio, and text files in the public domain. They are organized into categories and easily searchable.
Pixabay
Find and share photos online. Huge database of images that you can use in your projects without restriction. Even attribution is not required. (http://pixabay.com/)
Smithsonian Institution Flickr Channel
This is the Smithsonian Institution's collection of historic photos in its beginning stages. Watch this site as it grows. The Smithsonian is working hard at making its materials findable and usable. Many of these photos are copyright friendly, but be sure to check the copyright status of each image before you use it. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/sets/)
Getty Images
Getty Images has recently made its catalog of more than 35 million professional images available, free, for non-commercial use. Use Getty's embedded images search tool to search the library and access the embed code for individual images. Every image you embed in your own website, blog, or social media application will include an attribution to the photographer and a link back to Getty Images. If you need permission for commercial or other uses, click link to be taken to the Getty site where you can pursue additional options. (http://www.gettyimages.com/Creative/Frontdoor/embed)
Morgue File
Morgue File is a large database of high resolution, free stock photos for use in all of your design projects. The photographers ask that you give them credit (if you wish) but there are no fees. (http://morguefile.com/)
31 Free Public Domain Image sites
This website includes many additional public domain image sites not listed on this page: https://99designs.com/blog/resources/public-domain-image-resources/
Unsplash
550,000+ high resolution photos that can be used for free. No restrictions. Attribution is not required (though is appreciated). From their license page: "More precisely, Unsplash grants you an irrevocable, nonexclusive, worldwide copyright license to download, copy, modify, distribute, perform, and use photos from Unsplash for free, including for commercial purposes, without permission from or attributing the photographer or Unsplash. This license does not include the right to compile photos from Unsplash to replicate a similar or competing service."
https://unsplash.com
Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
Nearly 30M images, texts, videos, and sounds from across the United States. Find thousands of primary source documents. All resources are licensed Creative Commons, free for use with attribution.
https://dp.la/
Integration and Application Network
University of Maryland's HUGE libraries of images and symbols. Literally thousands of free images and scalable vector graphics to support science education. Use with their required attribution, or pay a small fee if you would like to use an image without attribution. Register for free downloads.
http://ian.umces.edu/
The Noun Project
More than a million Creative Commons icons and symbols created by the global community.
https://thenounproject.com/
Wikipedia: Public Domain Image Resources
Wikipedia has a huge list of collections of public domain images here:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Free_media_resources/Photography
The Ultimate Directory of Free Image Sources
Check out this list for many additional sources not listed below.
http://theedublogger.com/2014/07/09/the-ultimate-directory-of-free-image-sources/
Flickr
There are many photos available under a creative commons license on the Web. One place to easily locate them is on Flickr. You can read more about Flickr's Creative Commons licenses here: http://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/.
- Open Firefox or Internet Explorer
- Type www.flickr.com into the address bar and hit Return
- Type in a search term of your choosing and click Search
- Click the arrow next to "Any license" and select the license type you want from the dropdown menu
- The page will reload with only those images with the selected license type
- Click on the picture you want to download
- Click the download icon to select the size you want to download
- Save the file to your computer
- Note citation information (name of picture, and URL)
Flickr Creative Commons Free Pictures Group
The CC Free Pictures group on Flickr (https://www.flickr.com/groups/creative_commons-_free_pictures/pool/) collect high quality images for use in creative works. Currently this collection has 14,000+ images.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) is a wonderful source of copyright-free and Creative Commons images. It is particularly useful for finding historical images. Simply click on any image you find in Wikipedia and it will bring up a page with all of the source information listed. Many of the images are in the public domain.
Wikimedia Commons
The Wikimedia Commons (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) is a huge database of more than 6 million media files that are freely usable, either because they are within the public domain, or because they have Creative Commons licenses. The site includes images, sounds, video, and more.
British Library Public Domain Images on Flickr
The British Library has just uploaded more than 1,000,000 public domain images on Flickr. While they are still working on categorizing and tagging them, there is much here to be found (http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishlibrary/)
When doing a Google image search, you can click on the Tools link to access "Usage Rights." Setting Usage Rights to one of the "labeled for reuse" options will bring back images with Creative Commons licenses. You will have to first enter a search term and conduct an initial search before the Tools link appears above the search results. (http://images.google.com)
Public Domain Images
Public domain media are those that no longer hold copyright protection, usually because it has expired. This website provides public domain images, royalty free stock photos, and copyright friendly free images. Images on the site are not copyrighted and have no rights reserved. All pictures on the site are explicitly placed in the public domain, free for any personal or commercial use. (http://www.public-domain-image.com/)
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive (https://archive.org) has millions of image, video, audio, and text files in the public domain. They are organized into categories and easily searchable.
Pixabay
Find and share photos online. Huge database of images that you can use in your projects without restriction. Even attribution is not required. (http://pixabay.com/)
Smithsonian Institution Flickr Channel
This is the Smithsonian Institution's collection of historic photos in its beginning stages. Watch this site as it grows. The Smithsonian is working hard at making its materials findable and usable. Many of these photos are copyright friendly, but be sure to check the copyright status of each image before you use it. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/sets/)
Getty Images
Getty Images has recently made its catalog of more than 35 million professional images available, free, for non-commercial use. Use Getty's embedded images search tool to search the library and access the embed code for individual images. Every image you embed in your own website, blog, or social media application will include an attribution to the photographer and a link back to Getty Images. If you need permission for commercial or other uses, click link to be taken to the Getty site where you can pursue additional options. (http://www.gettyimages.com/Creative/Frontdoor/embed)
Morgue File
Morgue File is a large database of high resolution, free stock photos for use in all of your design projects. The photographers ask that you give them credit (if you wish) but there are no fees. (http://morguefile.com/)
31 Free Public Domain Image sites
This website includes many additional public domain image sites not listed on this page: https://99designs.com/blog/resources/public-domain-image-resources/