Stock Databases
Below is a curated list of databases for finding free images, fonts, video, and audio. There are numerous databases available, but the sites listed below have been selected for their ease of use and extensive collections.
Top Recommendations:
pixabay – This site is curated by a community of creatives sharing copyright-free images, vector graphics, and more. All content is released under Creative Commons CC0, which allows it to be used without permission or credit to the artist. Also available as an app in Canva for easy use.
Pexels – This site provides high-quality, completely free stock photos and videos licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, which allows you to use them without permission or credit to the artist. All media is nicely tagged, searchable, and also easy to discover through their discover pages. Also available as an app in Canva for easy use.
Unsplash – This site offers a library of photographs free for commercial and noncommercial use withononcommercial. Photographs come from both professional and non-professional sources, but the Unsplash staff curates them, and they are always high-resolution.
Other Options:
Biodiversity Heritage Library Images – Over 150,000 Botanical and Animal Illustrations are available for free downloads from the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s Flickr (see original article here).
Flickr CC – This page lists all Flickr photos with a Creative Commons license, sorted by license type. Be sure to follow the specifications for each particular license. (Note: Not all Flickr photos are available for reuse, so be sure to stay within these selected photos!)
Gratisography – This site offers a collection of high-resolution photos for free. The photos are very intimate and unique, far from the typical commercial stock, and of high quality. The photos also have a custom license, similar to Creative Commons Zero (CC0).
MorgueFile – This site is a free photo archive “for creatives, by creatives.” This site has been around since 1996, and is a great archive. All photos found in the MorgueFile archive are free for download and reuse in any work.
PikWizard – This site is a library of photographs and videos created by professionals. There is also a built-in design editor! Note: PikWizard has its own custom license with a sensitive use clause.
StockSnap.io – This site offers beautiful, high-quality stock photos for just about any use you can think of—including commercial usage—for free. With lots of categories and tags, this is a good search engine to use!
Vecteezy – This site is one of the largest vector graphics communities in the world. Many of the files are free to download and, depending on the license, free to use in your projects. A paid account allows you to use these files without attribution; otherwise, be sure to attribute any files used to Vecteezy.
UW–Madison Photo Library – UW–Madison departments, faculty, staff, students, and alums may use any of the images in this library for noncommercial communication about UW–Madison. Requires a UW–Madison NetID login. *Images from this site are not available for use unrelated to UW–Madison.
Additional Links:
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32 Best Sites for Free Stock Photos
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27+ Best Free Stock Photo Sites in 2026
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Public Domain Image Archive
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National Gallery of Art: Free Images and Open Access
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Library of Congress: Free to Use and Reuse Sets
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Creative Commons Search Portal
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BrandSearch: Brand and Logo Data
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Logo.dev Logo Finder
Note about Google Image Search
We recommend using these databases instead of Google Image Search because images found from Google are often copyrighted. Even if you search for images listed under “Creative Commons licenses,” images in that search may have been reused by that site without permission from the original creator. If you choose to use Google Image search, make sure to search for large images and always attribute the source.
Top Recommendations:
Google Fonts – A directory of free web fonts, mixed with some paid fonts. All official Google Fonts are open source and available for use on websites and blogs. Paid fonts will take you to the website where you can purchase the font family.
Fontpair.co – A user-friendly platform designed to discover the best font pairings for your projects. It offers a curated collection of well-matched Google Fonts, making it easy to find the perfect combinations for headers, body text, and more.
1001 Free Fonts – A collection of mostly free fonts. Some are free for personal use, and some are in the public domain. Most can also be purchased for commercial use.
Other Options:
dafont – Another collection of mostly free fonts. Some are free for personal use, and some are in the public domain. Many can also be purchased for commercial use.
Fontspring’s Font Matcherator – This program allows you to upload an image and find comparable fonts. It claims to be more “robust” than the program WhatTheFont (link below) in its search parameters.
Fontstruct – A website that allows you to design and create your own fonts using their online software. Includes a gallery of user-created fonts and competitions to provide ideas and inspiration.
Typetester – This website lets you compare a large selection of fonts side by side, and you can upload fonts straight from your computer. It is perfect for developing websites and testing designs for online media.
MyFonts’ What The Font? – Upload an image to WhatTheFont to find the closest matches in the MyFonts database. MyFonts is also a resource for premium (fee-licensed) and some free commercial-use fonts.
Wordmark – This online app detects the fonts installed on your computer and helps you choose the ideal typeface for your project by comparing them.
Coverr – A collection of stock videos designed primarily as cover videos for websites. All Videos published on this site can be used for free, both for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from, or credit, the Videographer or Coverr.co, although it is appreciated when possible.
Magnific Video – This site offers completely free stock video footage and motion graphics for use in any project. Everything on Videvo is free to use for commercial or noncommercial usage.
Moving Picture Archive – This library contains digital movies uploaded by Archive users, ranging from classic full-length films to daily alternative news broadcasts to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download. *Be sure to check for licensing!
Pexels – This site provides high-quality, completely free stock videos and photos licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, which allows you to use them without permission or credit to the artist. All media is nicely tagged, searchable, and also easy to discover through their discover pages.
pixabay – This site is curated by a community of creatives who share copyright-free videos, images, and vector graphics. All content is released under Creative Commons CC0, which allows you to use them without permission or credit to the artist.
Videezy – This site allows you to share and download Free HD Stock Videos, b-roll, backgrounds, and other cool free video footage. All the videos are free to download and, depending on the license, free to use in your projects.
Vidsplay – This is a collection of completely free stock footage. You are granted non-exclusive rights to use and download their video material without paying royalties for each use.
Bensound – A collection of royalty-free music that is licensed for reuse under Creative Commons as long as it is cited properly.
CC Mixter – This is a community music remixing site featuring remixes and samples licensed under Creative Commons licenses. You are free to download and sample from music on this site and share the results with anyone, anywhere, anytime. Some songs may have restrictions depending on their licenses.
Free Music Archive – The Free Music Archive is an interactive library of high-quality, legal audio downloads directed by WFMU, a freeform radio station. Free downloads can only be used for personal projects.
Free Sound – Freesound has a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, etc. released under Creative Commons licenses that allow for reuse. Be sure to cite files that need attribution under the CC license.
Free Sound Effects – This site contains both free and for-purchase sound effects. Be sure to scroll down and select the Free Sound Effects categories (listed on the bottom left of the site).
Mixkit – This site offers free stock music, sound effects, and videos, with no attribution or sign-up required—the perfect fit for creators at any level.
Pixabay – This site is curated by a community of creatives who share copyright-free audio and video. All content is released under Creative Commons CC0, which allows it to be used without permission or credit to the artist.
Sound Bible – This site offers free sound clips for download in either WAV or MP3 format. They offer free and royalty-free sound effects and clips.
Soundgator – This is a free sound effects library. Users can download sound effects for films, videos, multimedia projects, presentations, apps, games, and just about any other project, but are not allowed to sell, license, distribute, or post the individual sound effects online (i.e., they must be part of a larger project).
YouTube Audio Library – This page contains a large collection of free downloadable music and sound effects. This link will take you to the YouTube Creator Studio for the Audio Library. You must be logged into a Google account to access the audio library.