Permission Free Resources: Find Images, Audio, Text, and Video

Creative Commons Image Search

• Use the search box to access openly licensed images on Google Images, Flickr, or Pixabay. You will need to search each site separately through the CCSearch box (it doesn't search across all platforms.)

Digital Public Library of America

Internet Archive Audio

Jamendo

LibriVox

Creative Commons Audio Content Directory

Internet Archive Moving Images 

Prelinger Archives

Creative Commons Films

OpenFlix: Public Domain Movies

CORE, the Open Access Repository for the Humanities

OAPEN Library

Project Gutenberg

Hathi Trust Digital Library (not everything is permission free)

Wikibooks

Google Books (not everything is permission free)

Directory of Open Access Journals

Directory of Open Access Repositories

Use this guide to find material that you can freely use, share or modify beyond what the Fair Use Doctrine (and other exceptions) usually allows.

"Permission-free" usually means works that are either out-of-copyright and in the public domain or are licensed for use with a Creative Commons license.

Just a refresher...Copyright law gives authors/creators the exclusive right to do (and to authorize others to do) the following:

* To reproduce the work
* To prepare derivative works
* To distribute copies of the work
* To perform the work publicly
* To display the work publicly

If your use of someone else's work falls into these categories, you can rely on certain exceptions (such as Fair Use), but if the exceptions don't apply, you usually need to get permission. There are works--especially on the web--that are either out-of-copyright (i.e. in the public domain and don't require permission) or are already licensed for re-use. This guide will help you find those kinds of material.