The Met Makes Its Images of Public-Domain Artworks Freely Available through New Open Access Policy (New York, February 7, 2017)—Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, announced today its adoption of a new policy: all images of public-domain artworks in the Museum's collection are now available for free. Public Domain Images are explicitly placed in the public domain. You can use all public domain images from this site for whatever you want, use it freely for personal and commercial use. Public domain images for kids, parents, students, teachers, professors, webmasters, all creative artists and everyone else who need copyright friendly pictures. Public domain vectors - download vector images, svg cut files and graphics free of copyright. You can use our images for unlimited commercial purpose without asking permission. Ancient greek short hairstyle vector clip art public domain vectors illustration graphics. Free PNG Images. Free PNG Images Millions of PNG Images, Backgrounds.

This page is out of date. A better, more up-to-date page listing resources for finding free images is on Wikimedia Commons, Commons:Free media resources/Photography.
WikiProject Resource Exchange

Public domain image resources is a copy of the master Wikipedia page at Meta, which lists a number of sources of public domain images on the Web.

Public Domain images should be marked with the Public Domain Mark 1.0. Public Domain Mark enables works that are no longer restricted by copyright to be marked as such in a standard and simple way, making them easily discoverable and available to others. The Public Domain Mark is recommended for works that are free of known copyright around the world. These will typically be very old works.[1]For a creator to release his/her works into the public domain legally they must use the creative commons CC0 license which gives creators a way to waive all their copyright and related rights in their works to the fullest extent allowed by law.[2]The presence of a resource on this list does not guarantee that all or any of the images in it are in the public domain. You are still responsible for checking the copyright status of images before you submit them to Wikipedia.

Please read the policy on image use and etiquette at: Wikipedia:Image use policy.

See also:

  • FIST – Free Image Search Tool

General collections[edit]

Public Domain resources should have either the Public Domain Mark 1.0 or the CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication mark visible. Non-Public Domain resources should not be added to this list. Listing is ordered alphabetically.

  • Avopix.com – More than 155,000 absolutely free photos under Creative Commons CC0 (Public domain) – free for personal and commercial use, no attribution required.
  • British Library Over a million images, taken mostly from illustrations in 17th, 18th and 19th Century books, released into the public domain, as announced on the British Library blog. Metadata about the images and the books from which they come is also available for download on Github.
  • ClipartSpy – Over 2.9 million public domain/CC0 clipart images from popular galleries.
  • Clker – Easy to search public domain images, directly usable in openoffice.org
  • Davalign PDI – A growing collection of public domain landscape photographs.
  • Devostock.com Over 160,000 free professional images for commercial use.
  • Dreamstime Public Domain Photos – A selection of 100.000 public domain photos.
  • Duion.com Archive of pictures, mainly for texture-creation, all Images are under CC0 (Public Domain) license.
  • Flickr Public Domain Search – About 6 million Public Domain images (link is to search filtered by 'CC0', 'No known copyright restrictions' and 'U.S. Gov't Works'). Includes British Library.
  • Focus Fitness – Free health and fitness stock photos. For personal and commercial use.
  • For Free Photos About 2.000 public domain images.
  • Free-Images.com – More than 12 Million Public Domain/CC0 stock images, clip-art, historical photos and more. Excellent Search Results. Commercial use OK. No attribution required. No login required.
  • Freeimages.red – More than 4000 free high quality photos under Public Domain license CC0.
  • Freejpg Free Image Bank for Commercial and Editorial Use.
  • FreeQration.com – Over 2,500,000 public domain(or CC0)images, illustrations and vectors under Creative Commons License CC0. All curated free images are ready for private and commercial use, no attribution required. Also FreeQration has been producing and updating Free, model released images around 200,000 images are available and more than hundreds model released images are updated weekly.
  • Free Stock Photos – Free Stock Photos – licensed with CC0.
  • Free Stock Photos 17 free stock photo sites.
  • FreeStockPhotos.biz A large collection of Public Domain, GNU, Creative Commons & custom licensed stock photos and clip art. (Beware, CC images is not Public Domain).
  • FreeVintageillustrations.com – Free public domain illustrations, postcards, advertisements, and book illustrations produced before 1923.
  • Good Free Photos – All public domain pictures of mainly landscape but wildlife and plants as well
  • Imageric.com – Thousands of absolutely free photos, vectors and videos under Creative Commons CC0 (Public domain) – free for personal and commercial use, no attribution required.
  • LibreShot.com – High-resolution and natural looking photos in Martin Vorel's free stock photo site. Website is divided into several different categories including business, close up, traveling (Mongolia, Thailand, Europe), animals, plants and nature photos. All pictures are licensed under CC0 – Public domain. No need to indicate the source / No registration / For commercial use.
  • MarblePics – All photos can be used for personal, commercial or editorial purposes without attribution (CC0 license).
  • Needpix - library of more than 1.5 million free, or so-called Public Domain Photos and Illustrations licensed with CC0.
  • One Million Free Pictures – All pictures covering various topics are released into public domain. These pictures are originally created by the owner, therefore these pictures can be used for personal and commercial use.
  • Open Galleries A community source of free photography, hosting several galleries with photos from all over the world.
  • PDPics.com Public domain photo collection with about 7400 high resolution pictures up to 6000x4000. All images licensed under CC0 license.
  • PD Poster Public domain posters.
  • PhotoDorks – An exclusive collection of public domain stock images.
  • Photos-public-domain.com – Small collection of 5000 images released into the public domain. Mostly textures, other stock images as well.
  • PhotostockEditor Free High-Resolution Images For Personal & Commercial Use. New Pictures added Weekly.
  • Picdrome – growing Public Domain picture collection: no copyright, licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication.
  • Pickupimage.com Large collection of high-quality free stock photos and public domain pictures.
  • Picjumbo — free stock photos Safe source of modern stock photos (updated daily) directly from photographers (no reshared photos from other sources).
  • PixZoyd.com – Nice collection of mostly outdoor photos that are Public Domain and Royalty Free under the Creative Commons CC0 – free for private and commercial use, no attribution required.
  • Pond5 Public Domain project 80.000 photos, videos and sound clips – free for private and commercial use [3].
  • Public Domain Files Public domain pictures and clip art.
  • Public Domain Footage – Public domain archival stock footage and newsreels.
  • Public-Domain-Photos.com About 5.000 public domain images.
  • Smithsonian Institution – Open Access – 2.8 million Free Public Domain images available.
  • Public Domain Pictures A large collection of high-quality pictures for free. Possibility to contact the authors for original files. (For some photo you have to be 'premium membership' a.k.a. you have to pay !).
  • Public Domain Review – A Blog by the Open Knowledge Foundation to easily access public domain resources.
  • Rawpixel.com - rawpixel.com has a section where they curate over 7,000+ public domain illustrations. Many are from their own collection of vintage publication. They also dedicate a portion of their photos under CC0, you can find those images using the tag CC0.
  • RepublicDomain.com is a place for free public domain photos and desktop wallpapers.
  • ShareTextures.com Over 800 PBR textures under CC0 (public) license.
  • Skitterphoto.com Daily added free to use and modify photographs, published under Creative Commons CC0 license (no rights reserved).
  • Snappygoat.com – 13,990,108 Free Public Domain/CC0 Images from multiple sources. Single search for images from Wikimedia Commons, Pixabay, Flickr, British Library, NYPL and others. Full image downloads without login or restrictions. Includes a meme maker.
  • SoulPhotos – Continuously growing public domain photo collection, released under Creative Commons CC0 – free for private and commercial use, no attribution required.
  • TexturesForFree.com - is a library of high resolution and quality textures and backgrounds from various categories - signs, fabrics, sky, buildings, ground, roads, nature, sea, wood, water, tiles, soil, walls, rocks, doors, debris, concrete, bricks, bokeh, etc). All licensed Creative Commons CC0.
  • Topers Photos A collection of original and edited photos using various photo applications. These photos are dedicated by the creator into the public domain. It does not require credits but a backlink to the photo blog is appreciated.
  • Viintage.com – Thousands of vintage graphics, ephemera, and vintage advertisements that are in the public domain – free for private and commercial use.
  • Wikimedia Commons hosts over 6.2 million public domain or CC0 images. With over 44 million total uploaded files (of all licence types; as of January 2018), it is the largest free 'images-only' repository. Commons is the primary repository of media for all Wikimedia projects. Media on Commons can be used readily on all Wikimedia projects, just as if the media were uploaded to the projects directly. Media tagged with the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark can be found here: commons:Category:CC-PD-Mark. CC-Zero marked images can be found here: commons:Category:CC-Zero.

US government resources[edit]

  • Smithsonian Institution – Open Access – 2.8 million Free Public Domain images available.
  • US Library of Congress digital image archive. (Some images are still under copyright, so caveat emptor.)
  • http://terraserver-usa.com/default.aspx – free public access to a vast data store of maps and aerial photographs of the United States originating from USGS. {{PD-USGov-USGS}} may apply to such images.
  • http://visualsonline.cancer.gov/ -Great resource for electron microscopy and histological images. Includes general biomedical and science-related images, cancer-specific scientific and patient care-related images, and portraits of directors and staff of the National Cancer Institute.
  • USDA Agriculture Research Service Image gallery A 'complimentary source of high-quality digital photographs available from the Agricultural Research Service Information Staff'.
  • US Census Bureau Photo Services[dead link] – media 'are free to use in news media and public information products' but are not in the public domain. Photo credit is requested, commercial use not allowed; see site for licence terms.
  • http://www.defenselink.mil/multimedia/ – Current US Department of Defense publicly released image
  • https://www.dimoc.mil/http://www.defenseimagery.mil/ (formerly http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/) – US Department of Defense Visual Information Center (high-resolution US military imagery; use with {{PD-USGov-Military-DVIC}} license template.)
  • The Congressional Pictorial Directory – also available in book form.
  • Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center Photographic Section
  • History of Medicine at the National Library of Medicine. Most but not all of the exhibitions are PD. Clicking on 'Metadata' near the bottom of the page will generate a popup window with information that includes rights usage for each page.
  • http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov – Congressional sites have a broad variety of public domain images, especially photographs of representatives and senators.
  • http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml – A portal to US government images and photos. 'Most of these images and graphics are available for use in the public domain'
  • MedPix Medical Image Database Hosting by Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The terms of use of the site state that the original submitter may retain copyright. Nearly all of the submitters are US government physicians. The status of the submitter is available to verify that an individual image is in the public domain.
  • Oakland Public Library. Not all are PD! The image detail page will state the status, PD images will be clearly marked 'Public domain'.
  • http://srufaculty.sru.edu/david.dailey/public/public_domain.htm – Scanned and colorised etchings claimed to be PD images.
If any page or image seems missing, replace http://www.sru.edu/depts/cisba/compsci/dailey in its URI with http://srufaculty.sru.edu/david.dailey/
  • http://content.lib.washington.edu/costumehistweb/index.html – This collection includes 417 fashion plates from 1806–1914 from some of the leading fashion journals of the time.
  • Archives Library Information Center Includes many collections of photos from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Subject-based collections[edit]

Ordered by subject, alphabetically:

Art[edit]

Note: Accurate photographs of two-dimensional visual artworks lack expressive content and are automatically in the public domain once the artwork's copyright has expired (which it has in the US if it was published before 1923). All other copyright notices can safely be ignored.

  • http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ – The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) is an American art catalog compiled by the Smithsonian Institution. It has many reproductions of American paintings. However, it is known to have a number of factual errors, so it should be used with great care.
  • https://www.artrenewal.org/ – Images of the works of more than 2,600 realist painters, many in the public domain; check catalogue for dates of works and artists. Note: Accurate photographs of two-dimensional visual artworks lack expressive content and are automatically in the public domain once the painting's copyright has expired (which it has in the US if it was published before 1923). All other copyright notices can safely be ignored.
  • http://www.thefamousartists.com – Growing resource with biographies and selected works of artists whose works are all in the public domain.
  • http://www.getty.edu/art/ – 10000 images of Getty Museum[4] There is also search page
  • https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection- The Metropolitan Museum of Art's online gallery includes public domain images of artwork. Choose 'open access' search option.

Automotive[edit]

2019
  • The Crittenden Automotive Library. Not all are PD! The image detail page will state the status, PD images will be marked 'Public domain' or by year of publication if before 1922.

Clip art[edit]

Clip art, in the graphic arts, refers to pre-made images used to illustrate any medium. Clip art is generally composed exclusively of illustrations (created by hand or by computer software), and does not include stock photography.

  • http://www.wpclipart.com – exists to maintain and grow an online collection of artwork for schoolkids and others that is free of copyright concerns as well as safe from inappropriate images. To ensure these qualities, no direct user-uploaded images are allowed. This is one of the largest collections of public domain images online (clip art and photos), and the fastest-loading. Maintainer vets all images and promptly answers email inquiries.
  • Open Clip Art – This project is an archive of public domain clip art. The clip art is stored in the W3C scalable vector graphics (SVG) format.
  • Public Domain Clip Art- 25,000+ Public Domain Clip Arts (good for printing). Categorized & searchable.
  • Public Domain Vectors- Categorized and searchable vector graphics in public domain
  • Clip Art/Public Domain at Curlie (a list of links to sites with public domain clip art)

Computer-generated[edit]

  • http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/mapit/ – Automatic public domain map generating program
  • PAT public domain maps: world, regional, country state (US, CA, AU)

History[edit]

  • http://ushistoryimages.com – Public domain images from United States history.
  • http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ammemhome.html Library of Congress American Memory site (Check copyright information for the separate items before deciding to use them!)
  • http://www.exclassics.com/newgate/ngillus.htm Images from The Newgate Calendar. Mostly crimes and criminals from the 18th century. Also other works at http://www.exclassics.com
  • http://www.fromoldbooks.org/ Collection images scanned from various old books that are now in the public domain. Searchable. Used to be under http://www.holoweb.net/~liam/
  • http://www.john-leech-archive.org.uk/ John Leech sketch archives 1841 until 1864 from Punch magazine The page states they are long out of copyright and that they are believed to be public domain.
  • http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/ Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library's online collection of digital images. Most will be {PD-art}. 90,000 images from rare books and manuscripts, search by keyword.
  • http://digitalgallery.nypl.org New York Public Library. Over 700,000 images scanned from books. Including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more. There is a per-image usage fee even for public domain images.
  • http://www.oldbookillustrations.com/ Images scanned from old books. States that images on the site are the works of artists who '...have been dead for over seventy years, which makes them part of the public domain in many countries'. Searchable by keywords.
  • 'The Secret Museum of Mankind' – collection of anthropological photographs published in a 1935 book without copyright. Scanned and released under a CC-NC license, but images should be public domain, at least in the US, since they are faithful reproductions of PD images.

Specific periods[edit]

  • Child Labor in America 1908 – 1912 by Lewis W. Hine
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum Thousands of on-line, copyright free photographs of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, The Great Depression and the New Deal, and World War II.
  • Photos of the Great War many images of World War I, scanned in from public domain resources. Slight usage notice, which is probably compatible with GFDL (requires attribution and link, as does GFDL, requests e-mail notice of usage).
  • The Heritage of the Great War has several colour pictures from World War I (likely all PD, since the effort taken to scan/reproduce them probably fails to qualify for being a derivative work).
  • World War II Poster Collection over 300 posters issued by US Federal agencies
Public Domain Images Performing Arts Page 2

Ireland[edit]

  • http://www.ireland-information.com/public-domain-photographs-of-ireland/freephotosofireland.htm Thousands of Public domain photographs of Ireland, Irish history, scenery, castles, landscapes, etc. as well as photos of items that can be applied to any project: animals, houses, buildings, etc.
Public Domain Images Performing Arts Page 2

Literature[edit]

Art In The Public Domain

  • http://archive.org – Scanned-in books, maps, manuscripts, and historical documents; Public Domain; available in a number of formats including epub, kindle, and daisy; Searchable.
  • http://openlibrary.org – Project of the Internet Archive to provide a web page for every book.
  • http://books.google.com – Scanned-in books & historical documents. Keyword searchable. Great source for diagrams/illustrations. (not all public domain, many still in copyright) Books google believes are in the public domain are available for download as pdf. see Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp.
  • http://gutenberg.org – Scanned-in books. Searchable.
  • http://catalog.hathitrust.org – Scanned-in books from partner universities. Searchable.
  • http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/ – Scanned-in books from partner Spanish universities. Searchable.

Logos and flags[edit]

  • http://www.wpclipart.com/flags/index.html 436 flags, countries listed alphabetically, also US State flags, historical and others. All in PNG format.
  • https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html CIA World Factbook

Mexico[edit]

  • PlayaDelCarmenMexico.org Public domain photos of Playa del Carmen.

Public Domain Artwork Images

Music[edit]

  • FreePD.com – sells original public domain music
  • The Mutopia Project – (not only) public domain sheet music

Public Domain Images Backgrounds

New Zealand[edit]

  • Free New Zealand Photos Free photos of New Zealand under Creative Common license.

Postage stamps[edit]

Religion[edit]

Art
  • http://www.theworkofgodschildren.org Collection of high-resolution images of the Roman Catholic saints, religious symbols and related imagery. All pictures have been released into the public domain.
  • http://www.coolnotions.com/PDImages/pd_StoryOfTheBible.htm Collection of Public Domain pictures from the Bible.

United States[edit]

Florida[edit]

  • Florida Historical Society Contains historical photographs of Florida.
  • Florida Memory Project Contains Public Domain images taken in Florida.
  • State of Florida Library Contains many photographs and documents dealing with Florida.

Search engines[edit]

  • Bing.com – Has an Advanced Image Search, that offers images in different resolutions and also categorizes images. Allows free querying of the bing Image Search API up to a certain limit per day.
  • Everystockphoto.com – Searching over 4.3 million public domain and creative commons photos including Wikipedia and NASA. Free user accounts with drag and drop collections, and other features.
  • Google Image Search – Advanced search can search for free licensed or PD works. By default, Google does not filter based on license. Add the following (without quotes) to your search URL to display only images with licensing appropriate for Wikipedia: '&tbs=sur:fmc'
  • Stockjo.com – Collection of Free Stock Resources
  • Wayback Machine Search 150 Billion web pages preserved by the Internet Archive.

References[edit]

Public Domain Images

  1. ^'About the Public Domain Mark — 'No Known Copyright' – Creative Commons'. Creative Commons.
  2. ^'About CC0 — 'No Rights Reserved' – Creative Commons'. Creative Commons.
  3. ^Jonathan Shieber. 'Pond5 Issues 80,000 Free Media Assets With The Launch Of Its Public Domain Project'. TechCrunch. AOL.
  4. ^'Open Content Program (The Getty)'. Retrieved 2013-11-14.

Public Domain Art Images

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