Every Stock Footage and Creative Commons License Explained

You found the perfect clip. The page says free, or Creative Commons, or royalty-free. You drop it into a monetised video, and a week later there’s a claim, or an email asking where the credit is. Those three labels mean three very different things.

Not legal advice. I’m a creator reading official documents, not a lawyer. Rules differ by country and change over time, so always read the live licence page. Facts here come from Creative Commons, the US Copyright Office, YouTube Help and each site’s own licence page, checked in October 2026.

Quick answer: licences for a monetised, edited video (my advice)

Licence	Monetised video?	Can you edit it?	Credit needed?
Public domain / CC0	Yes	Yes	Not required
CC BY	Yes	Yes	Yes
CC BY-SA	Yes	Yes, but ShareAlike applies	Yes
CC BY-NC / BY-NC-SA	Avoid without written permission	—	Yes
CC BY-ND / BY-NC-ND	Avoid (ND)	No	Yes

Copyright basics

• Copyright is automatic. The US Copyright Office says it protects original works as soon as they’re fixed in a lasting form, such as written down or recorded. Registration isn’t needed for protection, though US works must be registered before you can sue.
• Someone owns it. By default the creator holds the rights, unless they transferred them or made the work as an employee (“work made for hire”). A clip online isn’t ownerless.
• What copyright doesn’t cover: titles, names, short phrases, familiar symbols, and ideas or methods. You can make your own video about the same idea, but you can’t copy someone’s footage.

Fair use is an exception, not a licence

The Copyright Office lists four factors:

Factor	The question
1. Purpose	Commercial, or transformative?
2. Nature of the work	Creative, or factual?
3. Amount	How much was used, and how central is it?
4. Market effect	Does it hurt the original’s value?

There’s no fixed number of seconds you can always use. Only a court can finally decide.

Myths that don’t protect you

These are not permission:

• Giving credit (YouTube lists it as an invalid dispute reason)
• Owning a copy of the work
• Not monetising the video
• Writing “no copyright intended”
• Using only a few seconds

Permission comes from the owner, a licence, public domain status, or a legal exception.

Public domain

Public domain works aren’t under copyright, so you can use them without asking. But a work can be public domain in one country and protected in another.

Works get there in a few ways:

• Expiry: for US works created after 1978, copyright lasts the author’s life plus 70 years, or 95 years from publication for anonymous works and works made for hire.
• Dedication by the owner.
• US federal government works, created by employees as part of their official duties. But a federal site can still include logos, trademarks or permitted images, and people shown may have publicity rights.

Two tools that sound alike:

• CC0 is how a creator gives up their rights, as far as the law allows (with a broad licence as a fallback). It doesn’t waive trademark or patent rights, or other people’s rights, such as a person’s likeness.
• The Public Domain Mark is a label for works already free of known copyright worldwide, mostly used by museums and libraries.

Catches: a new edition, recording or restoration of an old work may carry its own rights. People shown may have likeness rights. And uploaders sometimes get the status wrong, so trace it to a reliable source.

Creative Commons

Creative Commons licences let a creator give the public permission in advance while keeping the copyright. They can’t be revoked: a creator can stop sharing, but copies already out stay under the licence. Always note the version (for example 4.0).

All six licences are built from four elements:

Element	Meaning
BY (Attribution)	You must give credit (all six licences require this)
SA (ShareAlike)	Adaptations must use the same or a compatible licence
NC (NonCommercial)	Not primarily for commercial advantage or money
ND (NoDerivatives)	Only unadapted copies may be shared

From most to least permissive: CC BY, CC BY-SA, CC BY-ND, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-SA, CC BY-NC-ND.

The two that trip creators up:

• NonCommercial: Creative Commons admits there are grey areas, and its 2009 study found people generally rated uses involving online advertising as commercial. My advice: treat a monetised channel as commercial and skip NC material unless the creator agrees in writing.
• NoDerivatives: in the 4.0 legal code, a song used with moving images is always an adaptation, and a creative edit is an adaptation too. My advice: avoid ND for anything you edit.

How to credit (TASL): Title, Author, Source (link) and Licence (link). For video, Creative Commons suggests crediting in the video itself where reasonable and in the description, with links. Don’t credit only the website, and mention changes (for example “cropped from original”).

If you get it wrong: under 4.0, your rights end automatically when you break the terms, but they’re restored if you fix the problem within 30 days of finding out.

What CC doesn’t cover: publicity, privacy and moral rights. A CC clip showing a recognisable person or famous brand may still need a release.

Coming soon: the 6 Creative Commons licences explained, and how to credit correctly.

YouTube’s own rules

• YouTube’s CC BY option: in YouTube Studio, open Details → Show more → Licence (on a computer). Only original work, CC BY material or public domain material is eligible, and videos with a Content ID claim can’t use it.
• Reusing CC videos: filter YouTube search by Creative Commons, credit in TASL form, and monetise only if the licence allows commercial use. The label doesn’t guarantee every part of the video (such as music inside it), and YouTube doesn’t mediate disputes.
• YouTube Audio Library: in Studio. Some tracks need a description credit, which the library can generate. YouTube says Partner Program members can monetise them, and downloaded tracks aren’t claimed through Content ID.
• A separate trap: the reused content policy can stop a channel earning money if it repurposes others’ content without significant original commentary, even with permission. Copyright and monetisation are two different questions.

Stock footage and free sites

Royalty-free vs rights-managed:

• Royalty-free usually means you pay once (or by subscription) and can use the clip in many projects without paying again. It doesn’t mean free of cost or free of rules.
• Rights-managed licenses a specific use, priced by duration, region, audience and exclusivity. It’s more common in high-end commercial work.

Coming soon: royalty-free vs rights-managed vs public domain.

Editorial vs commercial: Adobe’s terms say “editorial use only” assets are limited to newsworthy topics, allow only minor edits, need a credit line, and can’t be used in ads, promotions or merchandise without written consent. Check the category before a clip goes near a sponsor.

Even paid licences have limits. Adobe Stock’s standard licence, for example, allows websites and social media with no view limit and up to 500,000 print copies, but not distributing the stand-alone file or selling products where the asset is the main value, like a poster.

A licence isn’t a release. A model release is a person’s permission to use their likeness, and a property release covers private property or artwork. CC0, the CC deeds and Pixabay all leave these to you.

Music is separate. A song involves rights in the composition and in the recording, and a footage licence doesn’t automatically cover music inside the clip.

Subscription libraries (such as Envato or Storyblocks): I couldn’t load their licence pages, so I won’t state their terms. Before you subscribe, check four things: whether monetised YouTube is allowed, whether finished videos stay covered if you cancel, whether downloads must be registered, and what the music rules are.

What free stock sites say

I’m not recommending any of these, only summarising their licence pages. Each page can change, so check it yourself.

Site	Credit needed?	Main restrictions
Pexels	No	No selling unaltered copies, implying endorsement, trademark use, or reselling on stock platforms
Pixabay	No	No selling unaltered content stand-alone, or commercial use of brands and logos; third-party consent is your job
Unsplash	No (but suggested)	No selling images without significant changes, or building a competing service
Wikimedia Commons	Depends on the file	Each file has its own licence on its information page
Internet Archive	Depends	Doesn’t guarantee copyright status, so check each item

AI-generated content

• Can you own AI output? The US Copyright Office’s January 2025 report concludes that prompts alone don’t give enough human control to claim authorship. Using AI as a tool doesn’t disqualify a work, and human-authored parts, arrangements and modifications can be protected.
• Training data: a pre-publication Part 3 on training was released in May 2025, with a final version to follow. The legal picture is still developing.
• YouTube’s disclosure rule: disclose realistic generated or altered content, like a real person doing something they didn’t. You don’t need to disclose animation, minor edits, AI-assisted scripts or cloning your own voice. YouTube says disclosure alone doesn’t affect monetisation.

Content ID claims and disputes

A Content ID claim appears automatically when your video matches something in YouTube’s system. The owner’s settings decide whether it blocks, monetises or tracks the video. YouTube says claims usually don’t affect your channel, and a claim isn’t a strike.

Licensed clips can still be claimed, because a match only shows similarity, not who holds the rights. Your options:

1. Leave the claim in place.
2. Remove the claimed content (mute, trim or replace it).
3. Share revenue (Partner Program members, for music).
4. Dispute it, but only if you’re confident you have the rights.

Disputes go through YouTube Studio → Content → Restrictions → See details → Take action. The claimant has 30 days to respond. Valid reasons include holding the rights, fair use, or a misidentified claim.

Coming soon: got a Content ID claim? Your options and how to dispute.

A safe workflow

Keep a record for every clip: the date, the source link, the creator, the licence and its version, and the video you used it in. Save a screenshot or PDF of the licence page that day, plus any receipt. When a claim arrives, this log is your proof.

1. Decide your use: monetised, commercial, edited.
2. Find the original source, not a re-upload.
3. Read the actual licence, not a summary.
4. Check for people, brands and music.
5. Log it and credit it.
6. Keep the records as long as the video is up.

Red flags: NC material in a monetised video, ND material you plan to edit, “free” with no named source, “no copyright” claims, re-uploads, recognisable people or brands, and music inside a clip.

Put a credits section in your description, with TASL credits and links, and an AI-voice note if you use one.

Five mistakes to avoid

1. Treating credit as permission.
2. Using NonCommercial clips in a monetised video.
3. Editing NoDerivatives material.
4. Trusting a “free” or CC label without finding the original source.
5. Keeping no records at all.

This post is general information, not legal advice. For your own situation, read the live licence pages and ask a qualified professional.