Usage rights
Take advantage of the usage rights filters on the Advanced Search and Advanced Image Search pages to find web content (such as text, videos, or images) you can reuse, share, or modify.
Anyone can browse the Web, but usage rights come into play if you're looking for content that you can take and use above and beyond fair use. Site owners can use licenses to indicate if and how content on their sites can be reused.
Find all types of reusable content using the Advanced Search page
The usage rights filter on the Advanced Search page shows you pages that are either labeled with a Creative Commons license or labeled as being in the public domain. There are the different usage rights options available:
- Free to use or share - Your results will only include pages that are either labeled as public domain or carry a license that allows you to copy or redistribute its content, as long as the content remains unchanged.
- Free to use, share, or modify - Your results will only include pages that are labeled with a license that allows you to copy, modify, or redistribute in ways specified in the license.
- If you want content for commercial use, be sure to select the appropriate option containing the term commercially.
If you're looking for reusable images, use the Advanced Image Search page. In addition to images labeled as being under the Creative Commons license or in the public domain, the usage rights filter on this page also shows you images labeled with the GNU Free Documentation license.
In the Usage Rights drop-down, select one of the following options:
- Labeled for reuse - Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and/or modify the image in ways specified in the license.
- Labeled for commercial reuse - Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes, in ways specified in the license.
- Labeled for reuse with modification - Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy and modify the image in ways specified in the license.
- Labeled for commercial reuse with modification -Your results will only include images labeled with a license that allows you to copy the image for commercial purposes and modify it in ways specified in the license.
