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Once you start producing and creating videos you will have an urgent need for images and video content . If you're a Storykit user, you can choose directly from specific stock-libraries. But, sometimes you might have the perfect manuscript yet lacking the necessary assets. We are here to tell you that you can relax – there is an ocean of great and free images and video material on the web, available at your fingertips.
But first, how does copyright work?
Content that is completely free and does not require attribution is the easiest type of material to use when you make a video. It means that you can use the images and the video footage however you want, without even mentioning the name of the creator.
Creative Commons licenses
It is important to respect the copyright licence, regardless of whether you are paying for the licence with money or not. Our tips include several sources that offer content with a CC0 licence. CC stands for Creative Commons, and this licence is often used for creative content which is distributed online. There are different types of licences available, but CC0 means that it is completely free to use and that it does not even require any attribution.
The other licence from Creative Commons you should be aware of is CC-BY licence. In this case you can use the content, even for commercial purposes, but you have to mention the source in a specific way. When you create with Storykit Video Studio you handle this type of content by filling in the ”Credit”-field available for each image or video, and you also have to keep the option ”Credit information” active in the side panel. Read more about the different licences on Creative Commons’ website.
The range of free video content has increased remarkably during the last few years and today it is possible to find very good content with CC0 licence or simple attribution models. The selection of images is even larger. These are some of our favorites.
Sites with free stock video content
1. Pixabay (Video and images)
Pixabay is something of a giant when it comes to free content online with over 2.7 million images and thousands of videos. All photos are released under Creative Commons CC0 and are free to download. Because of the enormous amount of community submissions, the quality of the footage can be a hit or miss. However, you’ll most likely find something that works for you in their large library.
2. Pexels (Video and images)
If Pixabay is one of the largest databases for free images, Pexels is something for the connoisseurs. It currently has over 3 million photos to pick from. Pexels has a clear focus on high quality when it comes to both video and images. Their licence model is CC0, which means that everything is free to use. Pexels is a rewarding site for both images and videos, because they have loads of incredible content available.
3. Videvo (Video)
Videvo is a service which offers hundreds of thousands of premium stock assets. Their material is provided in 1080p HD minimum resolution, and most of their content is now provided in 4K. You will also find lots of great “conceptual” films, called motion graphics, which have a certain abstract quality to them. They work really well as background imagery for content that can otherwise be difficult to find suitable content for. A bonus: you can also find nice royalty-free music here!
4. Videezy
Videezy offers a vast collection of images and video footage in both HD and 4K resolution. Most files are free to download and free to use. However, when searching for videos, any results marked with “Pro” are premium clips that are only available by paying with credits.
5. Coverr (Video)
Coverr is a service which focuses mainly on b-roll footage that is great for a background setting. However, their videos can be used for other purposes as well and they are of high quality. Coverr is a completely free stock footage website that allows you to download and use their stock videos anywhere. All the videos are in HD, and available to download in MP4 format. No sign-up needed, no attribution required.
Sites with free stock images
6. Unsplash: Over 3 million free high-resolution images
Unsplash is something of a giant when it comes to finding great images that are completely free. The site offers over 3 million free high-resolution images. Their licence works like this: no cost, no attribution needed. They offer lots of high-quality images in a variety of genres. Unsplash truly deserves a spot on our list of favourites. If you have a hard time finding a photo for more niche purposes, try Unsplash. You might get positively surprised.
7. Foodies Feed: Visually appealing free food photos
If a site that only has pretty images of food sounds good to you, we suggest that you visit Foodies Feed. Even if they only have around 1700 images, they are all food-related – delicious! Everything has a CC0-licence, which means that it is completely free to download and use as your heart desires.
8. Stocksnap.io: New CC0 images added daily
Stocksnap offers lots of great images with a CC0-licence. Completely free from copyright restrictions. As it is a slightly more unknown site, it increases your chances of finding an image that isn’t over-used. It is a great site with good search tools, but just keep in mind that they mix in hits from Shutterstock – which is not free – in the search results. Several other sites do this as well and it is how they generate their income. The images from Shutterstock are labelled, so you can easily spot them in your search results and choose to go for Stocksnap’s free images instead.
9. Burst: Created for commercial purposes
Burst is a service that is run by the e-shopping platform Shopify, and as such, it has a natural connection to the commercial side of creativity. Burst offers lots of images chosen for their ability to entice the right emotions for sales purposes. Great service and all images are free and require no attribution.
10. Gratisography: Cool boutique site
Gratisography is a slightly smaller site, but they offer gorgeous images that are completely free to use. You can find more unique and weird material on Gratisography that you won’t find anywhere else. It is a great site when you need an image that can truly wow your audience.
The big content platforms
Something we haven’t included in the list above, but is definitely worth taking a look at, is direct searches on the big platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo and Flickr. On those platforms you will find lots of material that you can use. It can be a bit hard to find content that you can use with 100% certainty without breaking any copyright laws. But there are also ways to navigate these sites to find videos and images with a CC0-licence.
YouTube
YouTube offers users to choose a CC-BY licence. This is how you can find those videos: Do a search like you normally would. When you have your search results, click on ”Filter” above the list on the left-hand side. Under the title ”Features” you should see a row marked ”Creative Commons”. If you click on that you will only see videos with a CC-BY-licence.
Vimeo
Browse the Creative Commons licensed videos on Vimeo. Just do a normal search and add a search filter to organise the hits according to their licensing model. When you have entered your search term you can add your filters on the left-hand side. If you click on ”More filters” you will see a list of the available licensing models, including CC0 and CC-BY.
You can also change the settings for the “Mature” content and adjust that however you want. Many people who upload videos and images play it safe and label their content “Mature”, which means that the hits won’t show up in the search results.
Flickr
On the enormous image site Flickr you will find heaps of content with CC0 or CC-BY licence. You can search on Flickr for images posted under the Creative Commons Zero licence.
When you do a search you will see a little menu on the left-hand side on top of the search results, where you can choose your licensing model. The default mode is ”Any licence”. This list of licences can appear to be a bit cryptic at first, but the choice that gives you the most flexibility is the one called ”No known copyright restrictions” (CC0).
Be careful with the licenses
Just a little word of warning – there is a model called CC-BY-SA, which allows you to use the content commercially if you give the proper attribution AND apply the same licence to your own creation. This may not be a good solution if you are working on a project which will be licensed in a different way. But this is of course entirely up to you. Just a heads up.
Let’s continue with 10 more tips!
As mentioned before, there is a huge number of stock websites available – especially if you are looking for free images. So, we want to give you another valuable list; a long list of sites that offer free photo and video material. However, some of them offer only a free trial before you need to pay for the downloads.
When it comes to these sites, we suggest that you give them a go and see for yourself if you find something that is valuable to you. Who knows, you might find a new favorite!
