Copyright Friendly / Creative Commons Media: Copyright Friendly/Creative Commons Media

We would like to give special thanks to the creator of this guide.

This guide was originally created by Joyce Valenza for her Spartan Guides.  Deb Morin has made some edits and modifications. Thanks for allowing us to share this wonderful guide with our students.

• Flickr's Creative Commons Portal: Browse through the images provided by Flickr users who have chosen to offer their pictures under a Creative Commons license. A Flickr Advanced Search also allows you to search for these images easily.
• Flickr Storm (select appropriate Creative Common license from pull-down menu)
• FlickrCC Blue Mountains Displays attribution
• Simple Flickr CC Search
• Compfight: A Flickr Search Tool
• Cavalcade of Public Domain Resources (Royalty-free & Creative Commons sources)
• Picdrome Public Domain pictures. Copyright-free pictures under Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication license CC0.
• Wylio: all-in-one picture finder and re-sizer made specifically for bloggers
• Alegri Photos Public domain and Creative Commons images
• Copyright-friendly WebList and Thumbnail list
• Veezzle:free stock photo search engine, indexing free photos from big communities such as SXC, RGBStock, StockVault
• Flickr Free Use Photos Photo sharing, no attribution necessary
• Beholdcc Use the boxes before you search to select licensing
• Creative Commons A multimedia CC search, searches across Google, Flickr, Yahoo!, BlipTV, SpinXpress, and OWL Music Search, allowing searchers to specify a search for media to use to modify or for commercial purposes
• Shahi Visual Dictionary (check for licensing, many are CC and Wiktionary)
• Flickr: The Commons (contributions from major institutions)
• Cepolina Photo
• openphoto: Free stock images. Use categories on the right to browse or click on search in the top bar
• BurningWell (public domain, high resolution photos)
• 25 Free Stock Photo Sites
• Photl
• Free Images Collection (No Copyright, High Resolution, Free Images)
• Wellcome Images (medical and social images)
• 26 Places to Find Free Multimedia for Your Blog
• Creativity103.com (abstract backgrounds)
• Photos8 (public domain photos and backgrounds)
• Sevenload.com
• VADS: Free Art and Design Images for Education (Read Terms of Use)
• US Government Photos and Multimedia Most materials is in the public domain, but read the disclaimers.
• Library of Congress Photo Stream on Flickr Goals--To increase access to publicly-held photography collections and to provide a way for the general public to contribute information and knowledge. (Check for licensing on individual images.)
• Wikimedia Commons: A database of 14 freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.
  • Images by type
  • Wikimedia Commons-Images-Science
  • Wikimedia Commons-Images-Nature
  • Wikimedia Commons-Images-Society
• Free Digital Photos
• PhotoPin (Use images below listed as CC!)
• Pics4Learning Copyright friendly images for education
• GetMedia
• MorgueFile provides the public and creative community with free photos..
• Free Pixels:images may be used for both personal and commercial purposes under the limitations of this license
• Free Photos Bank
• stock.xchng
• PD Photo
• Public Domain Pictures - high resolution photos and illustrations under public domain license
• Public Domain Images Public domain images (copyright friendly -safe images), royalty free stock photos. All photos on this site are top quality high resolution public domain images, explicitly placed in the public domain.
• FreeFoto.com
• 4 Free Photos - collection of over 700 free images offered by the photographer
• Free Photo 1
• OurMedia
• FreeMediaGoo
• AnimalPhotos.info
• CarPictures.cc
• Images for Education (for UK higher ed.)

Clipart

• WP Clipart
• Black and White Clipart
• OpenClipArt.org
• Public Domain Clipart
• Clipart ETC (University South Florida)

Other portals (some subject-specific)

• Smithsonian Flickr PhotoStream
• PBase World Gallery (amateur photos organized by country)
• Digital Librarian Images (check for licensing)
• Flickr-Related Tag Search (not all CC)
• Free Military Photos
• GeekPhilosopher
• American Memory Collection: Library of Congress. (click on "Photos and Prints" and check the "Copyright and Restrictions" section for each collection)
• American Memory Maps Collection
• America From the Great Depression to World War II: FSA/OWI 1935-1945 American Memory collection
• Art Images for College Teaching
• Centre for Bioscience ImageBank
• Daguerreotype Portraits and Views 1839-1864
• Department of Agriculture Image Gallery
• Department of the Interior Photo Resources Library
• Graphic Maps.com
• Great Images in NASA (GRIN)
• Incomptech - Royalty Free Music; Search by Genre or "Feel" of Music
• Images of American Political History
• Internet Moving Images Archive (read Conditions of Use)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (Please read copyright info)
• NARA's Search Tools
• NARA's (National Archives and Records Administration) NAIL Search
• NASA Image Exchange
• NASA Multimedia Gallery
• NASA's Planetary Photojournal
• National Health Museum(AccessExcellence)
• NIH Image Bank
• National Library of Medicine: Images from the History of Medicine
• Picture Collection Online (New York Public Library)
• NOAA Photo Library (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
• NOAA - National Marine Sanctuaries Media Library
• Public Health Image Gallery
• Picturing the Century: 100 Years of Photography
• Selected Civil War Photographs
• Springer Images (scientific images with liberal licensing, read the Copyright restrictions)
• Training Reference: Images for Learning Materials
• US Air Force Link: Photos and Art
• US Fish and Wildlife Services Images
• US Geological Service Photographic Library
• US Navy Images
• USDA Historical Photos
• UTOPIA (UT Austin) Portrait Gallery (historical figures)
• Pics4Learning
• University of Cambridge List of Freely Available Images Links
• EduPic Graphical Resource - Free Photographs and Graphics for Education
• National Parks: DIgital Image Archives

Also of interest:

• Photo Tampering Throughout History
• Sound Map of the World
• iStockphoto
• Dreamstime (free and low cost stock images)

• Jamendo: a community of free, legal and unlimited music published under Creative Commons licenses
• Free Music Archive
• Audionautics
• Macjams
• Mobymusic
• MobyGratis
• FreeSound
• Dewey Music
• homezero Copyleft released works of art, WEB RADIO.
• JewelBeat
• Opsound Copyright friendly sound "Listeners are invited to download, share, remix, and reimagine." click on genres
• Open Music Search Find Copyleft, Creative Commons, Open Source, and Public Domain works.
• ccMixter : creative commons music
• Free Sound Effects and Loops - Free sound effects and music loops .wav files for download
• Creative Commons Audio
• Podsafe Audio: Creative Commons music
• Royalty-FreeMusic.com
• Weezic: Your place to play classical music. Grab your instrument, print your sheetmusic and hit play to be accompanied by the whole orchestra.
• ArtistServer.comOver 7,000 free audio files
• Free-Loops.com Sound effects, vocal loops, drum loops, more
• SoundDogs.com
• Soungle.com - Royalty Free Sound Effects (FX) Library for Download
• NewGrounds Audio
• AudioFarm
• FreeProductionTracks
• Magnatune
• Simuze
• BeatPick
• CASH Music
• SectionZ
• Opsound
• PACDV (sound effects)
• Jamglue
• Splice
• Internet Archive’s Netlabels Collection
• Sonnyboo
• Soundclick
• Jamglue.com Mix tracks, sound effects
• TribeOfNoise.com Social networking among independent artists uploading their music under Creative Commons 3.0 by-share alike license
• Freesound.org Sound samples licensed under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License
• Musopen! Online library of public domain music
• Shambles: Sound Effects and Music Comprehensive portal collection by Chris Smith
• SpinXpress
• Adam Curry's Podsafe Music Network
• Educational CyberPlayGround: Get Music Downloads Links to portals and useful guidance
• Open Source Audio from the Internet Archive
• SoundSnap
• Public Domain 4U (lots of blues)
• Incompetech Royalty Free Music
• Mutopia (public domain sheet music)
• Owl Music Search includes many Creative Commons songs
• Purple Planet Music (Royalty free music)
• Find Sounds Search engine for sounds
• Partners in Rhyme: Free Sound Effects
• Partners in Rhyme: Free Music Loops
• Partners in Rhyme: Free Midi Files
• Soundzabound Music Library
• Classic Cat (classical music)
• eClassical.com
• WavList.com
• SoundsaboundMusic Library>
• Royalty Free Music Downloads
• ProjectPlaylist
• Free Sounds Digital Audio Tools, Sound Sample Collections, Open Music Resources
• RoyaltyFreeMusic
• Opensonics Open Music Community News & Copyleft Media Resources
• Wikimedia Commons Sound
• Wikimedia Commons Music

Make your own

• JamStudio
• Soundation
• Aviary Music Creator

Video

• Internet Moving Images Archive (read Conditions of Use)

American Memory Collection

NARA (National Archives and Records Administration)

USA.gov Photos & Images

National Archives Presidential Libraries and Museums

Wikimedia Commons

Flickr: The Commons

Library of Congress Photo Stream on Flickr

Picturing the CenturyImages of American Political History

University of Texas's Portrait Gallery
NYPL Digital Gallery (Some of the images in the Digital Gallery may be subject to third party rights such as copyright and/or rights of privacy/publicity)
Smithsonian Flickr PhotoStream

EASE History (includes many Federal gov't images)
Internet Archive Moving Images
National Parks Service Imagebase
American Memory Timeline for Teachers

Artifact and Analysis (Smithsonian)
Copyright-friendly images and sound Pathfinder

Important: Always check licensing on individual photos before using!