Date First Published: 6th March 2023
Topic: Computer Systems
Subtopic: Computer Software
Article Type: Computer Questions & Answers
Difficulty: EasyDifficulty Level: 3/10
Learn about where to find copyright-free images in this article.
Most images that you find on search engines, such as Google and Bing, which come from other websites are subject to copyright, meaning that you need the copyright holder's permission to use them publicly. Nearly everyone needs images for their websites and not everyone can take images, so copyright is an important thing to consider when using images publicly. As of now, there are plenty of sites that offer copyright-free images that you can use.
There are lots of paid stock photo sites out there where you can pay a monthly fee and download a specific number of images per month and use them publicly after downloading, but why pay when there are so many free stock photo sites? Below are 10 sites where you can get free stock photos that we recommend.
Before using images from free image sites, always read the licence to make sure that it allows you to use the images in the way that you want to.
If you see the word 'royalty-free', it does not mean that the image is free to use. It means that you have to pay a one-time fee to use the image and can then use it as many times as you want without paying a royalty to the owner of the image each time you use it.
Pixabay was launched on 24th November 2010 and is a community of photographers who share copyright-free images, illustrations, vectors, videos, and music. There are over 2.7 million images and all of them are freely useable under the Pixabay licence. The content from Pixabay can also be used commercially and does not require you to attribute the author. You do not need an account to download images and all you have to do is search for the image you are looking for, find one, choose the size, and then the download will start.
Pexels is a free stock photo site that was launched in 2014 and contains over 3.2 million stock photos and videos, all of which are freely useable. New high-resolution photos are added every day and all published images are released under the Pexels licence. According to the site, Pexels "helps millions of designers, writers, artists, programmers and other creators to get access to beautiful photos that they can use freely which empowers them to create amazing products, designs, stories, websites, apps, art and other work".
Unsplash is a site that provides high-quality, free stock photos. It was founded in 2013 and has over 265,000 contributing photographers with a library of over 3.48 million images. It has been cited as one of the world's leading photography websites by Forbes. In March 2021, Unsplash was bought by Getty Images.
All photos are covered under the Unsplash licence. This gives people the right to copy, modify, and distribute the photos for free, including commercial purposes, without the photographer's permission or attribution. The Unsplash licence prohibits the selling of unaltered photos.
Freepik provides free images, illustrations, and vectors and was founded in 2010. You can find the free images from the filters option on the site when performing a search. These images are freely useable, but if you are a free user, you have to provide attribution. Some images are premium, meaning that you have to sign up for a paid subscription to download them.
Vecteezy is a provider of digital imagery which provides millions of free images, videos, and illustrations. They are free for both personal and commercial use, but if you are a free user, you have to provide attribution. Some content on this site is 'pro' content, meaning that you have to sign up for a paid subscription to download them.
Flickr is an image hosting site that allows anyone around the world to share photos. Anyone can contribute by signing up for a free account. In order to find pictures that you can use, you will have to filter by 'creative common', 'public domain' or a similar licence as not all users on Flickr have given permission for their images to be used publicly, especially images that say 'all rights reserved'.
StockSnap is a provider of thousands of high-quality, copyright-free images for a variety of uses that do not require you to attribute the author. All photos on StockSnap are free to use, modify, and distribute for both personal and commercial use. New photos are added on a daily basis that are free from copyright restrictions.
Wikimedia Commons contains a massive library of millions of freely useable images, videos, sounds, and other media. The library is maintained by volunteers. Wikimedia Commons uses the same wiki technology as Wikipedia as anyone can edit it. The licence information for each file can be found on the description page and contains information on how the image can be reused and distributed. Some images, like the ones licensed under the Creative Common licence require attribution.
FreeImages provides a library of hundreds of thousands of photos, illustrations, vector graphics, and icons that can be used free of charge. The aim of this site was to create a platform where creative people could exchange their photos for inspiration or work. In some cases, you might need to attribute the authors when using images from FreeImages. The licence covers a wide range of image uses, although it does list multiple unacceptable use cases which are quite common for a lot of other free image sites, like selling unaltered copies on other stock photo sites.
Canva is an online graphic design platform which also provides free stock photos that you can use publicly. You can find the free stock photos in the 'photos' tab when creating a design and can create custom graphics on the image that you can use and resize, crop, and add other effects. These images are free for both personal and commercial use and none of the image licences require attribution.
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