Finding Usable Materials
Developed in partnership with the University of Michigan Library Copyright Office.
This document is a resource for faculty, staff, and students to learn where to find content they
can easily use, remix, and share without worrying about copyright restrictions. Not all content
that can be found online is free or available to use in your digital course materials, and so this
document presents a variety of websites that host materials that are free to use either without
attribution or with just a single attribution.
Much of this use is facilitated by Creative Commons licenses. To learn more about Creative
Commons licenses, check out the U-M Library Copyright Offices’ libguide on Creative
Commons and Academic Innovations’ How to: Attributions guide.
Note: Just because a piece of content appears in one of the resources below, does not
guarantee it is OK to use. Always be sure to verify that the license of any content you wish to
reuse is appropriate for your work.
Photographs & Images 2
Pixabay 2
Unsplash 2
Openverse 3
Flickr 3
Wikimedia Commons 4
Google Image Search 4
Pexels 5
Everypixel 5
Freepik 6
Stock Up 6
Altphotos 7
Icons & Emojis 7
The Noun Project 7
Twitter Emojis 8
Freepik 8
Iconmonstr 8
Books & Textbooks 8
HathiTrust Digital Library 8
Journal Articles 8
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) 8
Video 9
Youtube 9
Vimeo 9
Mazwai 10
Pexels 10
Audio 10
CC Mixter 10
Freesound 10
MusOpen 10
Free Music Archive 10
Openverse 10
Musical Scores 10
International Music Score Library Project ("IMSLP") 10
Mutopia Project 11
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Photographs & Images
If you’re interested in using images that focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, and
📣 justice, take a look at the resources listed in the DEIJ Open Image Bank.
Pixabay
Pixabay is a large collection of photos, illustrations, and vector graphics that have all been
dedicated to the Public Domain. Content from the Public Domain can be used freely and without
attribution.
(Note: Watch out for sponsored images at the top of the search results page, which are not free
to use)
Unsplash
Unsplash is a large collection of photos that can be downloaded and used for free. They are
licensed under the Unsplash License, which is similar to CC0 (Public Domain) in that it allows
users to use photos for free, for personal or commercial purposes, without attribution.
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(Note: Watch out for sponsored images at the top of the search results page, which are not free
to use)
OpenverseOpenverse
This robust index searches through >600 million works from various collections. All content is
licensed under CC or public domain. Convenient options exist to search for images or audio,
and filter options enable granular selection of only particular types of licenses as needed (such
as only CC BY-SA works). Because Openverse indexes from various sources, quality variations
are expected.
● Go to https://wordpress.org/openverse/
● Search for your term
● All image and audio results will appear. Select either horizontal button at the top of the
results to narrow results to images or audio only
Flickr
Many of the photographs on flickr have been shared by their authors under the terms of
Creative Commons licenses with just a single attribution. To find these images:
● Go to http://www.flickr.com/
● Search for the item you are looking for
● Where it says “Any license” click the drop-down menu and select “Modifications Allowed”
Your search results will now include only CC licensed content you can use.
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Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons hosts all of the images that can be found on Wikipedia. As an openly
licensed resource all of the images are made available under a Creative Commons license or
exist in the public domain. This site is great for finding images concerning everything from
scientific processes to actors to emojis. To find these images:
● Go to http://commons.wikimedia.org
● Search for the item you are looking for
● All results will be content you can use
Google Image Search
The Google Image Search feature can be customized for finding openly licensed images. To
find these images:
● Go to https://images.google.com/
● Search for the material you want
● Click Tools
● Under “Usage Rights” select “Creative Commons Licenses” in the drop down menu, then
your searches will yield openly licensed images.
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Pexels
Pexels is a well-designed and user-friendly stock photo and video library containing a variety of
high-quality, professional materials. Pexels has its own license, which allows use and even
modification without attribution. However, it places some additional restrictions: identifiable
people should not be depicted in a bad light, and use should not imply endorsement by people
or brands that may be included in the imagery, in addition to the usual restrictions on resale and
redistribution.
● Go to https://www.pexels.com
● Search for the material you want
● All results will show up—be aware of ads, which are laid out as smaller thumbnails in a
2x2 grid. In the below screenshot, two cut off ads at the bottom center
Everypixel
Everypixel is a stock search engine that indexes 50 agencies. It contains a mix of free and paid
works, so make sure to toggle the drop down to Free only before you perform any search (it
defaults to Free & paid). Sponsored options are interspersed with all results, but are highlighted
in their own section. Photos can eventually be downloaded from the underlying indexed site
(such as Unsplash).
● Go to https://www.everypixel.com/
● Toggle the dropdown that reads Free & paid to select Free only
● Search for the item you are looking for
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Freepik
Freepik is an image bank that offers paid and premium materials. Variety is its forte—images
include photos, illustrations, vectors, and other graphic design elements. Make sure to use the
drop down to restrict your search to Free works. If you do not narrow your search, a crown icon
indicates Premium items interspersed in the results. Attribution is required.
● Go to https://www.freepik.com
● Toggle the dropdown that reads Images to select the Free square checkbox
● Search for the item you are looking for
Stock Up
Stock Up contains >25k images, mostly CC and some public domain. It indexes photos from
about 30 different sites. Searching for anything in Stock Up will retrieve results across different
sites. Hover over a result to check where the photo is from. Clicking on a result takes you
directly to the link on the underlying indexed site, where you can download the image and read
more detailed license information.
● Go to https://stockup.sitebuilderreport.com/
● Search for the item you are looking for
● All results from indexed sites will appear in a grid, and you can click on the results to
download from the original source
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Altphotos
This small (>3k photos) collection contains high-quality CC0 images. The collection is fairly
diverse but leans toward more nature and leisure themed offerings.
● Go to altphotos.com
● Search for the item you are looking for
● All results will appear
Icons & Emojis
The Noun Project
The Noun Project has a large collection of modern and cleanly styled clip art images that can be
used with attribution per the Creative Commons Attribution license. Please make sure you
include a link to the icon.
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Twitter Emojis
All of Twitter’s emojis are licensed under a CC BY license, meaning you can use them in any
way you want as long as you credit them back to Twitter. Wikimedia has collected nearly all of
the 3000 Twitter emojis and has made them easy to browse and find via Google search.
Freepik
Freepik is an image bank that offers paid and premium materials. Make sure to use the drop
down to restrict your search to Free works and Icons. Attribution is required for all icons.
Iconmonstr
Iconmonstr is a growing collection of 4500+ free monocolor vectors that can be used without
attribution. Icon colors can be changed before downloading.
Books & Textbooks
Open textbooks are textbooks that are made available under the terms of a Creative Commons
license. The books can be downloaded as PDFs (and other digital formats) and used as you
need them in your project. Hard copies of the books can be purchased through print-on-demand
services for a small fee. A few of our favorite open textbook libraries are Openstax CNX ,
College Open Textbooks , and Open Textbook Library .
HathiTrust Digital Library
HathiTrust contains over 6.5 million open access and public domain books, journals, federal and
state government documents, and dissertations scanned from the shelves of North American
research university libraries.
● Go to www.hathitrust.org
● Search for your subject matter or title using the Catalog search
● Look for items that say “Full View”
● Under "About this Book" verify that the rights information says public domain or Creative
Commons license
● Download a full pdf by logging in with your U-M uniquename
Journal Articles
There are many Open Access Journals covering all academic disciplines. Your U-M Library
subject specialist can help you identify Open Access Journals and readings that can be used for
your project, including being used in an online course or other learning experience.
Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
DOAJ is an online directory that indexes and provides access to quality open access, peer
reviewed journals. It allows you to browse and search within your area of interest for articles that
can be made available to learners.
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Video
Youtube
Some videos on Youtube have been given an open license by their respective authors. You are
free to include and adapt these videos, with attribution. To find these videos:
● Go to http://youtube.com and perform a search
● Click “Filter” and under “Features” select “Creative Commons”
Vimeo
Some videos on Vimeo have been given an open license by their respective authors.
Depending on the license, you are free to include and adapt these videos, with attribution. To
find these videos:
● Go to http://vimeo.com and perform a search
● On the left side of the page under “License” you can check each of the license
categories we can use:
○ CC BY
○ CC BY-NC-SA
○ CC BY-NC
Mazwai
A collection of stock video footage that’s all available under a CC BY 3.0 license (requiring
attribution only) or the open Mazwai license (allowing all uses with no attribution, as long as the
clips aren’t distributed on their own).
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Pexels
Pexels is a well-designed and user-friendly stock photo and video library containing a variety of
high-quality, professional materials. Pexels has its own license, which allows use and even
modification without attribution. However, it places some additional restrictions: identifiable
people should not be depicted in a bad light, and use should not imply endorsement by people
or brands that may be included in the imagery, in addition to the usual restrictions on resale and
redistribution.
Audio
CC Mixter
A library of openly licensed songs and soundtracks for videos, podcasts, and commercial
projects.
Freesound
A selection of openly licensed sound effects.
MusOpen
Provides recordings, sheet music, and textbooks to the public for free, without copyright
restrictions.
Free Music Archive
Provides curated CC licensed music of all genres.
Openverse
This robust index searches through >600 million images and audio from various collections. All
content is licensed under CC or public domain. Filter options for audio enable granular selection
of audio category (e.g., news, sound effects, music), extension (e.g., MP3, FLAC), and
particular types of licenses (e.g., only CC BY-SA). Because Openverse indexes from various
sources, quality variations are expected.
Musical Scores
International Music Score Library Project ("IMSLP")
IMSLP offers over half a million free musical scores licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Within
scores, you can search the categories below. Remember to attribute the copyright holder in
order to comply with the CC license terms.
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Mutopia Project
Mutopia Project offers exclusively public domain and CC-licensed sheet music for download and
use. Mutopia can be searched using the homepage shortcuts or the advanced search box
shown below.
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