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Public Domain and Creative Commons Resources for Video, Audio, and Still Images

Resources for finding royalty-free video, audio, and still image content.

Finding Public Domain & Creative Commons Media

In the process of creating an audiovisual project or presentation, you may find that you'd like to include video, audio, or still image content that you didn't (or couldn't) create yourself.  At the same time, it's important to make sure you don't violate the copyright of other content creators.

This guide will help you find and correctly attribute public domain and Creative Commons media for your project or presentation.

File:A possum and a movie camera 1943.jpg - Wikimedia CommonsA Possum and a Movie Camera, 1943.  Australian War Memorial collection.  Source: Wikimedia Commons.  Public Domain.  

Frequently Used Resources

  • Creative Commons Search - search a range of sites hosting Creative Commons-licensed video, images, and audio, including CC-licensed Vimeo and YouTube content.
  • Pixnio – A large collection of high resolution public domain images. Free for personal and commercial use, no attribution required.
  • ccMixter - Thousands of hours of Creative Commons-licensed music, searchable by genre, instrument, and type of CC license.
  • Freesound.org - A collaborative database of sound effects licensed under Creative Commons.  Free to use, account login required.