Every free license explained

Short answer: “free” content always comes with a license, and the license decides what you may do. The four questions that matter: may I use it commercially, must I give credit, may I edit it, and must I share my result under the same license? This guide answers them for every common license.

All licenses at a glance

Creative Commons (CC) licenses are free, standard licenses that millions of makers use. The letters are building blocks: BY = give credit, SA = share alike, NC = non-commercial only, ND = no changes. The current version is 4.0. Older versions (2.0, 3.0) work mostly the same.

CC0 and public domain

With CC0 (“CC zero”), the maker gives up all their rights, as far as the law allows. You may use the work for anything, commercial too, without credit. It is the most open option there is. Public domain works, where copyright has expired, work the same way. Credit is still a nice gesture, and it helps you prove where you got it.

Watch out: CC0 only covers the maker’s own rights. A CC0 photo of a person does not give you that person’s permission to use their face in an ad. See The risks of free content.

CC BY: free, as long as you give credit

You may do almost anything, commercial use and editing included, as long as you credit the maker properly and mention the license. It is the second most open license. Most problems with CC BY come from missing or incomplete credit. That is a license breach, and then you are using the work without permission.

CC BY-SA: share your result the same way

Same as CC BY, plus: if you make something new with it, you must release your new work under the same license. For a video with CC BY-SA music, that means your whole video must be available under CC BY-SA. Others may then reuse your video too. Fine for a free project, often a problem for client work or a channel you want to protect.

CC BY-NC: non-commercial only

You may use and edit it, but only for purposes that are not mainly aimed at making money. That rules out ads, products, paid client work and sponsored content. Is a monetized YouTube video commercial? The license does not give a yes or no, and opinions differ. Our advice: if your video makes money through ads, sponsors or affiliate links, treat it as commercial and skip NC content, or ask the maker for permission.

BY-NC-SA combines non-commercial with share alike.

CC BY-ND: no changes allowed

You may share the work as it is, even commercially, but you may not share an edited version. Here is the catch for video makers: under CC 4.0, putting music in sync with moving images counts as making an edited version. So ND music cannot be used as background music in your videos. For photos, cropping, filters or text on top also count as changes.

BY-NC-ND is the strictest CC license: only sharing the original, non-commercially, with credit.

Site licenses: Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash

Big free stock sites use their own license instead of Creative Commons. They look like CC0 (free, commercial use, no credit needed), but they come with extra rules. Typical examples:

• You may not sell the work as it is, for example as a print, poster or download, without adding something of your own.
• You may not rebuild a competing stock site with their content.
• You may not suggest that the people or brands in a photo endorse your product.
• Some items have their own extra terms, for example music with Content ID.

These sites have changed their licenses in the past. Unsplash moved from CC0 to its own license in 2017, and Pixabay did the same in 2019. Always check the current terms on the site itself. On NonCopyrighted we show the rules per source in plain words.

Fonts: the SIL Open Font License

Most free fonts, including nearly everything on Google Fonts, use the SIL Open Font License (OFL). You may use the font for anything: logos, websites, videos, print, ads and products. You do not have to credit the font in your design. The rules are about the font file itself: you may not sell the font file on its own, and if you change the font, you must give it a new name. Other fonts are “free for personal use” only. That label means you need to buy a license for commercial work.

Royalty free and “no copyright” music

Royalty free means you do not pay every time the music is used. It does not mean the music is free or without copyright. There is always a license, often with rules about credit, platforms and Content ID. “No copyright music” is a search term, not a legal term. The music is almost always protected, and the license decides what you may do. Read more in Royalty free vs copyright free.

YouTube Audio Library

Music from the YouTube Audio Library may be used in YouTube videos, including monetized ones. Some tracks require credit in the description, which the library shows per track. The license is meant for YouTube: for use on other platforms or in client work, check the terms first. See YouTube Audio Library alternatives.

How to give credit properly

Creative Commons recommends the TASL method: Title, Author, Source, License. Link to the source and to the license when you can.

“Sunset Drive” by Mila Rae (example.com), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)

In a video, put the credit in the description. In a photo on a website, put it under the photo or on a credits page. Also mention it if you changed the work, for example “cropped” or “shortened”. See How to credit music on YouTube for ready-made examples.