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Copyright-friendly Multimedia Images and Audio

Multimedia Links for Images, Graphics, and Audio

When you use images and audio files for your presentations, you need to respect the intellectual property rights of the original creators of those works. This means using copyright-free images, and royalty-free audio. The links below can help locate them.

Don't forget the BEST place to look for images, photos, charts, maps, video, audio clips, etc. is in our databases (on our research page)! You will find many curricular-related ones that compliment your research, and each one has the complete MLA citation already formatted! Our subscription gives you license to use them for school projects.

Using Google Images

Many (but not all) of the photos found in Google Images are copyrighted. Be sure to click on the Search Tools menu and select Usage Rights to search for images labeled for reuse.

​How to cite an online image in MLA format...Remember, websites won't have a citation done for you like the databases do.

MLA 8 format for digital image found online--handout from EasyBib.

See the Citation Tools and Help page for links to other citation creators. Just be sure to choose  digital image and fill in each box.

Resources--Where to Find the Good Stuff!

The links below will take you to other great resources, but you will need to create your own citation for each image or audio clip you use. These citation tools help make it quick and easy.

 

Copyright-free Images or Creative Commons Images for Educational Use

  • Pics4Learning  a safe, free image library for education. Teachers and students can use the copyright-friendly photos and images for classrooms, multimedia projects, web sites, videos, portfolios, or any other project in an educational setting. Contains citation.

  • PhotosForClass​ a safe image search using Flickr that creates a citation (not MLA)  for the image when you download it.

  • Pixabay  Free images from the public domain. Be sure to choose the ones under the set in the ad box at the top of your search results page.

  • FlickrStorm  Use the advanced search feature to find pictures which have been granted permission to use copyright free under Creative Commons.

  • Flickr Use the advanced search feature to find pictures which have been granted permission to use copyright free under Creative Commons.

  • CC Search  a meta-search tool from Creative Commons

  • Wikimedia Commons a database of freely usable media files

  • Compfight an image search engine tailored to efficiently locate images for blogs, comps, inspiration, and research.

  • FreeMediaGoo.com  The images may be used for commercial or personal use in print, film, TV, Internet or other media. 

  • Dreamstime Free Stock Photos A great source for free high-resolution Royalty-free and public domain images.

  • Veezzle  Use the advanced search feature to find pictures which have been granted permission to use copyright free under Creative Commons.

  • MorgueFile Free photo archive.

  • Behold Image search.

  • Public Domain Images royalty free stock photos and copyright friendly free images. Not copyrighted, no rights reserved. All pictures on this site are explicitly placed in the public domain, free for any personal or commercial use.
    StockFootageForFree is a website dedicated to providing completely free stock footage and stock video from around the world that can be downloaded instantly and incorporated into any type of video editing project–personal or commercial.

  • Copyright (free) Resources

  • Dreamstime  download high quality Royalty-Free images for as low as $0.20/image or free.

  • 4Free Photos  offers public domain and free stock images that are able to be previewed and downloaded and used in presentations at no cost.

  • Wikimedia  Wikipedia’s image files are stored here and most of the pictures are copyright friendly.

  • Free Digital Photos.net allows you to have free low-res photos which are perfect for multimedia projects.

  • Free Foto allows you to use their pictures for free provided you credit the site.

Creative Commons Images