Copyright-free Images and Music
Use Appropriate Images and Music Legally!
Most pictures and music are protected by a copyright, meaning the original author wants to be able to control how their creations are used publicly. If an image or music is copyright protected, you must obtain permission from the original artist to use their work in your project.
Watch the video below for an explanation of copyright, fair use, and what standards you must meet to use copyrighted work under "fair use".
***According to Fair Use, you must CITE THE SOURCE for any works you did not create yourself. Many of the sites will tell you how to do so for media used from their site. In most cases:
- Images - display "(c) Author, Publication Date" near the bottom of the image
- Audio/Sound - display "(c) Title, Author" on the screen sometime while the audio is playing
*NOTE: Some of these sites may now be blocked by our updated Internet filter. Thanks for being patient while we try to work on the problem.
Images
- Google Image Search → Search Tools → Usage Rights
- Under “Usage Rights” choose the way you are planning on using the image. This will filter to only show you images you have permission to use in that way.
- WikiCommons
- Creative Commons Search (links to other websites)
- Discovery Education (You already have an account. Username: StudentID#@k12.friscoisd.org // Password: birthdate (mmddyyyy)
- Pixabay.com (may be blocked for students)
- Pics4Learning.com
- PublicDomainPictures.net
- FreeFoto.com
- PhotoTakeout.com
- National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Photo Library (mostly animals, landscapes, plants, etc.)
- Great Images in NASA (library of images - space related)
- NASA Images
- FOBO: From Old Books.Org (Pictures, Engravings & Extracts From Old Books)
- US Fish & Wildlife Service National Digital Library
- Library of Congress Digital Collections
- National Archives Catalog
- Smithsonian Institution Public Domain Images
- New York Times Public Domain Archives
- Google search for Copyright Free material
- Your Own Pictures
- "The Best Online Sources For Images" [article] --http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2008/10/11/the-best-online-sources-for-images/
Audio / Sounds
- http://www.soundzabound.com
- This is your best option!
- FISD pays for a subscription to their service, so its legal to use.
- To log in from home use "libertyhigh" and "soundz"
- http://www.mobygratis.com/ (over 150 tracks the musician Moby has made available from his huge catalog of music.)
- Internet Archive - Audio Archive (This library contains recordings ranging from alternative news programming, to Grateful Dead concerts, to Old Time Radio shows, to book and poetry readings, to original music uploaded by our users.)
- Public Domain Information Project (Public Domain Music Library has thousands of 1922 or earlier books, hymnals, periodicals, and sheet music.)
- Lit2Go (Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format.)
- Jamendo Music
Or create your own music!
SoundTrap (free, create through website)
GarageBand (on Macbook or iOS devices)