About this Page
The media repositories listed on this page include a variety of digital media that is available to use for free. This includes public domain works, Creative Commons-licensed works, and other freely available media. History 506 students might want to consult the "Recommended Repositories" page in this guide for a list of digital media repositories hand-selected as particularly relevant for that course.
Where to find Creative Commons-Licensed Images
Where to find Creative Commons, Public Domain, and other "rights free" or "rights-implied" images.
-
Wikimedia CommonsWikimedia Commons is a media file repository of free images (photos, illustrations, maps, etc.), videos, sounds and other multimedia files. All content is Creative Commons licensed, GNU Free Documentation licensed, or in public domain. Check the Licensing field on each item.
-
Flickr CommonsFlickr Commons is a subset of Flickr that provides access to photos free of copyright restrictions from partnering cultural institutions located throughout the world. These images are designated with a "no known copyright restrictions" statement.
-
Flickr Creative CommonsMany Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license.
-
Internet Archive (Rights-Free)The Internet Archive provides free access to millions of digitized books, images (photos, illustrations, cover art, maps, etc.), texts, audio recordings, videos, and software programs from around the world. Check the Rights field on each item record to identify public domain and Creative Commons-licensed works.
-
Smithsonian Open Access (Main)The Smithsonian provides open access to more than 2.8 million images, videos, and other digital assets from its collections, which have been released into the public domain under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license. Select the Open Access Media checkbox under the Search box to filter on those collections.
-
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Open Access CollectionsThe Met in New York City provides open access under Creative Commons Zero (CC0) to more than 375,000 images of artworks from our collection to use, share, and remix—without restriction.
-
Los Angeles County Museum of ArtNearly 20,000 high-quality images of art from their collection have been released into the public domain and are available to download and use as you see fit (that’s about a quarter of all the art represented on the site). Just look for the “download” option beneath the photo of the artwork.
-
PixabayPixabay is a community of creatives who share copyright free images, videos, and audio files. All content is released under Creative Commons CC0 (public domain), which makes them free to use and modify even for commercial purposes. Attribution is not required.
-
Open Clip Art LibraryOnline repository for high quality public domain vector graphics on the Internet. All graphics submitted to the project should be waived of all rights, including copyright, according to the CC0 Public Domain Dedication.
-
Creative Commons Image Search ToolThis Creative Commons tool searches across more than 300 million images that are openly licensed Creative Commons and public domain works.
-
HathiTrustHathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of digitized publications from libraries and archives around the world. Works designated as "Full View" to the public are open access works in the public domain. Access to publications still under copyright are designated as "Limited (Search Only)" and can only be viewed by cardholders with certain libraries.