Locating good audio and visual resources for students to use on their multimedia projects can be tricky. It is important to help students navigate the area of attribution and copyright.
I have started to collect resources for my students that either don’t require attribution (eg. public domain) or are Creative Commons licensed. All of the resources listed here do not require the students to register or give up personal information to download and use. I am using the following symbols to designate their licensing and usage:
©️ = Attribution needed
✅ = No attribution needed
I have just started collecting resources, so come back regularly to see the updated page. If you find a link no longer works, please let me know. If you have a suggestion, please let me know and I will give you credit.
Photos
✅ Unsplash: Over 1 million photos sorted by collections and types of images. It will also suggest related images. Lots of quality images.
✅ Pixabay: Over 1 million photos searchable by tags. It will also suggest related images. Lots of quality images.
✅ Pexels: A huge collection of free photos organized by collection and searchable by keywords. Lots of quality images.
✅ Stocksnap: A huge collection of free photos organized by collection and searchable by keywords. Lots of quality images.
✅ Negative Space: Another smaller site with decent images. Categorized and searchable. No choices in size.
✅ PublicDomainArchive: Not a lot of photos here, but searchable by category. Decent images.
✅ Stockvault: Over 133,000 images searchable by keyword and organized into collections and categories. All of the licences allow for educational use without attribution.
✅ MyPublicDomainPictures: A smaller collection, but a lot of unique photos. Many of them more “real life” in subject. No download button, but you can right click and download. Hasn’t been updated in years.
✅ Gratisography: It prides itself on having quirky, unique images. Searchable and organized into categories. Some Shutter Stock images show up in the search, but are marked.
✅ Skitterphoto: A number of unique photos that are searchable and organized by categories. You can even search photos by colours. Simple and clean site to use.
✅ CC0 Photo: All of the photos have been taken by two photographers, so all are unique to this site. Searchable and organized by categories. Searchable by colours as well. More “real life” type of photos.
✅ Splitshire: Over 1000 photos. Mostly high quality. Organized by categories and searchable.
✅ 1 Million Free Pictures: Despite the name, I don’t think there are actually 1 million photos on the site. Almost all of these photos were taken by two amateur photographers, so most of the photos are unique to this page. Searchable and categorized. More “real life” photos.
✅ ISO Republic: A decent amount of stock photos. Searchable and categorized. Only one resolution.
✅ FOCA: Nice site with some decent images. Searchable and categorized. Different resolutions. Can search by colours. Can even edit on the site.
✅ Free Images: Lots of images sourced from other places, so plenty of duplicates from other sites. Searchable, but not categorized or in collections. Various sizes and formats.
✅ Smithsonian Open Access: Loads of historic and current photos from the Smithsonian Institute’s collection. Searchable. Thank you to Jennifer Kirkey for sharing.
✅ Biodiversity Heritage Library: The Flickr album of the Biodiversity Heritage Library has a number of historic images for download. Thank you to Jennifer Kirkey for sharing.
✅ Kivi Photo: A smaller collection of photos, but categorized and searchable. Only one resolution and file is only in JPG.
✅ SplitShire: Around 1100 images with a mix of photos and 3D modelling. Categorized and searchable. Only one resolution and file is only in JPG.
✅ LibreShot: Another smaller collection, but these seem to be unique images and not just copies from other sites. Categorized and searchable. Two file sizes in JPG only.
©️ Morguefile: Over 350,000 images searchable by keyword. A lot more “real life” photos. Quality varies. You need to be careful not to leave Morguefile to one of the sponsored sites.
Vector Images
✅ Pixabay: Can choose to search just for vector images which can be downloaded as vector or raster images. Lots of selection.
✅ PublicDomainVectors: Lots of variety to choose from. Can search by categories, description, or tags.
✅ Free Images: Lots of images sourced from other places, so plenty of duplicates from other sites. Searchable, but not categorized or in collections. Various sizes and formats.
✅ Vector Portal: Lots of vector graphics organized into categories and also searchable.
✅ Black Illustrations: From the website: “Black illustrations is a series of digital designs of black people for your next online project.” Download as a pack in a variety of formats. Thank you to Jennifer Kirkey for sharing.
✅ unDraw: Loads of illustrations. Many with people in them. Download as SVG or PNG. Thank you to Jennifer Kirkey for sharing.
©️ Vector4Free: Lots of vector images to choose from. A variety of licences, most requiring attribution.
©️ Vecteezy: Images organized into various categories and are searchable. Some are pro images and can’t be downloaded without a pro account. Can search by just free images. Always requires attribution.
©️ Vector Maps: Loads of world and country maps that can be downloaded in multiple formats.
Icons
✅ UXWing: Icons organized into sets or can be downloaded individually. Can be downloaded as PNG or SVG. Find related icons.
✅ Iconmonstr: Fantastic icons that are searchable. Can be downloaded as SVG, EPS, PSD, or PNG files. There is even an icon font that can be downloaded.
✅ SimpleIcons: Very nice collection of icons that can be downloaded as SVG files.
✅ Aiconica: Over 1100 icons divided into categories. Can be downloaded as PNG or GIF and in different sizes and colours.
✅ MapKeyIcons: A smaller set of icons designed for map use. Can download as SVG or PNG.
✅ Open Iconic: A group of icons that can only be downloaded as a set. Icons are available in various sizes of PNG or SVG.
✅ SJJB Map Icons: A large set of map icons available as SVG or PNG including various sizes and colours. Can only be downloaded as a complete set. Not easily sorted.
©️ Flaticon: Really nice icons organized into sets and searchable by keyword. Can be downloaded as SVG or PNG in various sizes. Lots of colour icons as well. Needs attribution.
©️ Icons8: High quality icons in sets or searchable by keyword. Colour or black. Download as PNG, SVG, or PDF. Needs attribution.
©️ The Noun Project: Extensive selection of icons searchable by keyword. Needs free account or paid account. Free account holders need to give attribution. Thank you to Anna Bartosik for sharing.
Audio
✅ SoundJay: Sound effects organized into 10 main categories. Can download as WAV or MP3. No attribution needed.
✅ PacDV: Sound effects organized into 10 main categories. Can download as MP3 file. No attribution needed.
✅ FreePD: Lots of music you can download as MP3 files. Organized into 10 categories. No download button, but you can download by right-clicking on the playing audio.
✅ YouTube Audio Library: You can sort the audio for files that don’t need attribution. Lots of audio files. Can be used outside of YouTube as well. Music and sound effects. Download as MP3 files.
©️ SoundBible: Lots of sound effects that are searchable. Various licences. Some are attribution free. Download as MP3 or WAV.
©️ Freesound: Lots of sound effects and music loops. Various licences. Some are attribution free. Various file types.
©️ dig.ccMixter: Lots of music, loops, and sound effects. Various licences. Some are attribution free.
©️ Bensound: Lots of royalty-free music searchable by tags or categories. All require attribution. Download as MP3.
©️ Free Music Archive: Lots of music that is downloadable as MP3 files. Various licences. Some are attribution free.
Video
✅ Life of vids: Not the largest collection, but still lots of quality video clips. Can be downloaded in various resolutions. Searchable and organized into collections.
✅ Pixabay: Thousands of free stock videos searchable by keyword. Can be downloaded at different resolutions. Lots of quality footage.
✅ Pexels: Thousands of free stock videos searchable by keyword. Can be downloaded at different resolutions. Lots of quality footage.
✅ Coverr: Lots of quality video clips that are searchable and organized into themes. One resolution.
✅ Vidlery: Fun animated clips that can be searched by theme or keyword. Only one resolution. Some download with image as well.
✅ Splitshire: Some free stock videos. Nice quality. Only one resolution.
✅ ISO Republic: Not a whole lot of stock footage, but decent quality. Only one resolution. Searchable.
✅ FOCA: Not a whole lot of videos, but decent quality. Can even search by colour. Categorized.
✅ Videoplasty: Not a whole lot of videos in the free section, but nice animations. Needs free registration. Thank you to Nathan Devos for sharing.
©️ Mazwai: A decent amount of stock footage with various licences. Find related clips or search by tags.
©️ Videvo: Not all of the videos are free. Attribution is needed. Lots of stock footage.
©️ Videezy: Not all of the videos are free. Attribution is needed. Lots of stock footage.
Nathan Hall 