Finding & Using Online Images

Creative Commons & Public Domain

Creative Commons licenses allow creators to indicate how they want their works to be shared without having to ask special permission. There may still be requirements for using the work. The most common requirement is ATTRIBUTION (giving credit to the original creator). The creator can also decide whether the work may be used for COMMERCIAL purposes (making money) or noncommercial use only, and whether to allow DERIVATIVE works (remixing).

Works in the PUBLIC DOMAIN are not protected by copyright law. They may be used by anyone without permission and nobody can own them. Often this is because they are older and the copyright has expired. Many works created by government agencies are also in the public domain.

Additionally, there is something called PUBLIC DOMAIN DEDICATION or CC0, in which the creator or copyright holder gives up all rights to the work so others may use it without any restriction, as though it were in the public domain.

This guide will show you how to find and use images and other media with Creative Commons licensing or in the public domain for your school or personal creations. Remember, it is always YOUR responsibility to determine the copyright status of any media you use, even if the site appears in this guide.

Creative Commons licenses allow creators to give permission for their intellectual property to be used in a variety of ways. Click the image to learn more.


Source: Kathleen Morris

Finding Copyright Free or Friendly Images

Creative Commons offers a search tool for finding images with copyright-friendly licensing:

You can also search for CC-licensed images on sites like Flickr or even using advanced search tools through search engines like Google. However, it is up to you to verify that the images you find were in fact licensed by the actual copyright holder (see Reverse Image Searching below).

Popular Sites for Copyright Free or Friendly Images

Government, Museums, & Cultural Institutions

Many museums and cultural institutions offer photographs, artwork, and other media that are in the public domain or otherwise available for use. Many images and other media created by US government agencies are in the public domain unless otherwise indicated.

Popular sites for finding free images online. Click the image to learn more.


Source: Kathleen Morris

Reverse Image Searching

Sometimes users tag images as being public domain or licensed for reuse but they are not the copyright holders. How can you tell? One way to figure out where an image originally comes from is to use a reverse image search such as TinEye or Google.

Or just right-click on an image you find on a website and select Search Google for Image for a quick reverse image search. This is also a great way to fact-check images you see in social media, etc.

Citing Images

Like other information taken from outside sources, any images you did not create yourself should be CITED in academic work.

To cite an image of a work of art that exists physically in the world, such as a painting, sculpture, or photograph in MLA format, include the artist's name, the name of the work of art (in italics), the date of creation, and the institution/museum and city where the image is housed. For example:

Magritte, René. The False Mirror. 1929, Museum of Modern Art, New York.

If the image is only available on the web, include the artist's name (if it is posted via a username, use the username), the title of the work (in italics), and then the citation format for a website (the name of the website, the URL, and the date of access). If you use a search engine like Google to find an image you will need to click through to its original source in order to cite it correctly.

Magritte, René. The False Mirror. 1929. MoMA, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/78938.

See the Ask the MLA section of the MLA website or the MLA handbook for more information and examples.

We also recommend using our school subscription to NoodleTools for assistance citing images.

If you are using an image in a multimedia project such as a slide show, poster, video, website, etc, a less formal citation may be appropriate. Creative Commons offers these suggestions for citing CC-licensed works. You do not need to refer to the CC license when you cite media in MLA format.

Finding & Using Other Media

It is a little more challenging to find copyright friendly or public domain sound and video to use in multimedia projects, but it CAN be done! These sites can help:

Creative Commons licenses give permission for intellectual property to be used in a variety of ways.

Popular sites for finding free images online.