How to Find Open Licensed Images with Creative Commons’ search engine

Would you like to find openly licensed images such as those under the Creative Commons system ^{[1] X Research resources} and/or public domain images to illustrate your articles? This article will show you how to do that.

Table of Contents

Introducing Creative Commons’ search engine

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/7/79/CC-Search-Top-Original-2.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Original-2.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/7/79/CC-Search-Top-Original-2.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Original-2.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:198,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:314,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}

Find tools. To get the Creative Commons search engine, go to: http://search.creativecommons.org/.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/6/66/CC-Search-Top-Components-2.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Components-2.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/6/66/CC-Search-Top-Components-2.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Components-2.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:251,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:398,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}

The components. Creative Commons’ search engine includes the following components:

Enter Your Search Query : Enter your search query. This is the search field where you will type in any search term you want.
I want something that I can… : I want something that I can… This is where you select the different Creative Commons licenses for the image you want to select by checking and/or unchecking the corresponding boxes. There are 2 cells:
- Box 1: use for commercial purposes : use for commercial purposes. If you want the search results to be available for commercial use, then check this box, otherwise uncheck it.
- Box 2: modify, adapt or build upon : modify, customize, or build upon. If you want the search results to be editable, customizable, and build a derivative work based on the original image, then check this box, otherwise uncheck it.
Search using : Search using. This is where you will conduct a search by term and by license selection in the sections above by selecting one of the boxes with the small rectangle below. You’ll see those little rectangles arranged in rows and columns. Each of these boxes has a link to the search command of each corresponding website on the Internet, which likely contains the images you want to search. Using the Creative Commons search engine, you may obtain openly licensed and/or public domain images from the following websites:
- Flickr . This site currently only returns search results when in the ‘ Enter Your Search Query ‘ box you type in an English search term.
- Google Images . This website will return search results regardless of whether in the ‘ Enter Your Search Query ‘ box you type in a search term in English or Vietnamese .
- Open Clip Art Library . This site currently only returns search results when in the ‘ Enter Your Search Query ‘ box you type in an English search term.
- Pixabay . This site currently only returns search results when in the ‘ Enter Your Search Query ‘ box you type in an English search term.

Carry out the search steps

Type your search term in the ‘ Enter Your Search Query ‘ field. Let’s say you want to find flower images:

To search all the pages listed above, type in the English phrase : ‘ flower image ‘.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/1/1a/CC-Search-Top-Searching-En.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Searching-En.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/1/1a/CC-Search-Top-Searching-En.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Searching-En.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:252,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:399,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}
To search on the Google Images page that supports Vietnamese , type the phrase: ‘ flower image ‘.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/8/8d/CC-Search-Top-Searching-Vi.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Searching-Vi.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/8/8d/CC-Search-Top-Searching-Vi.png/728px-CC-Search-Top-Searching-Vi.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:251,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:397,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}

Select Creative Commons licenses for the results. Let’s say you select both cells. In this case, you have selected images with CC BY and/or CC BY-SA licenses, because they:

both commercial and
both modifiable, adaptable, and built on top of the original images.

Conduct a search. Perform your search by selecting and clicking the small rectangle you want in the rows below the phrase ‘ Search using ‘, for example:

Click on the small rectangle Flickr :
- If the search term is typed in English , the results will be returned.
  
  {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/a/a9/Flickr-Say-Yes-En2.png/728px-Flickr-Say-Yes-En2.png”,”bigUrl” :”/images/thumb/a/a9/Flickr-Say-Yes-En2.png/728px-Flickr-Say-Yes-En2.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:201,”bigWidth”: 728,”bigHeight”:318,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1% BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self </a>n</p></div>”}
  - Notice the search results screen, in the upper menu, it says ‘ Commercial use and mods allowed ‘. It properly represents the requirements you selected for the resulting images in the previous step.
- If the search term is typed in Vietnamese , it will not give the correct results, instead there are images that have nothing to do with the phrase you want to search for, ‘ flower images ‘.
  
  {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/7/72/Flickr-Say-No-Vi.png/728px-Flickr-Say-No-Vi.png”,”bigUrl” :”/images/thumb/7/72/Flickr-Say-No-Vi.png/728px-Flickr-Say-No-Vi.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:200,”bigWidth”: 728,”bigHeight”:317,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1% BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self </a>n</p></div>”}
Click on the small rectangle Google Images : Regardless of whether the search term is typed in English or Vietnamese , you will get a screen full of flowers as a result.

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/b/b8/Google-Images-Say-Yes-En.png/728px-Google-Images-Say-Yes-En.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/b/b8/Google-Images-Say-Yes-En.png/728px-Google-Images-Say-Yes-En.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:176,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:278,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}
- Notice the search results screen, in the upper menu, it says ‘ Labeled for reuse with modification ‘, even though the search term is English or Vietnamese . It properly represents the requirements you selected for the resulting images in the previous step.
  
  {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/7/72/Google-Images-Say-Yes-Vi.png/728px-Google-Images-Say-Yes-Vi.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/7/72/Google-Images-Say-Yes-Vi.png/728px-Google-Images-Say-Yes-Vi.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:176,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:279,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}
Click on the small rectangular box Open Clip Art Library :
- If the search term is typed in English, the results will be returned.
  
  {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/2/2e/OpenClipArt-Say-Yes-En.png/728px-OpenClipArt-Say-Yes-En.png”,”bigUrl” :”/images/thumb/2/2e/OpenClipArt-Say-Yes-En.png/728px-OpenClipArt-Say-Yes-En.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:238,”bigWidth”: 728,”bigHeight”:376,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1% BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self </a>n</p></div>”}
  - Notice the search results screen, in the menu at the bottom of the results page, when you hover over the link that says ‘ License ‘ you will see the words ‘ Openclipart is 100% Public Domain ‘ (Openclipart 100% is public domain). Since all Open Clip Art Library images are in the public domain, you can certainly use them under any circumstances. It properly represents the requirements you selected for the resulting images in the previous step.
    
    {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/7/71/Open-ClipArt-Bottom-Public-Domain.png/728px-Open-ClipArt-Bottom-Public-Domain.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/7/71/Open-ClipArt-Bottom-Public-Domain.png/728px-Open-ClipArt-Bottom-Public-Domain.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:202,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:320,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}
- If the search term is typed in Vietnamese , no results will be returned, instead an error message will appear.
  
  {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/9/9e/OpenClipArt-Say-No-Vi.png/728px-OpenClipArt-Say-No-Vi.png”,”bigUrl” :”/images/thumb/9/9e/OpenClipArt-Say-No-Vi.png/728px-OpenClipArt-Say-No-Vi.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:100,”bigWidth”: 728,”bigHeight”:158,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1% BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self </a>n</p></div>”}
Click on the small rectangle Pixabay :
- If the search term is typed in English, the results will be returned.
  
  {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/d/d7/Pixabay-Say-Yes-En.png/728px-Pixabay-Say-Yes-En.png”,”bigUrl” :”/images/thumb/d/d7/Pixabay-Say-Yes-En.png/728px-Pixabay-Say-Yes-En.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:168,”bigWidth”: 728,”bigHeight”:266,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1% BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self </a>n</p></div>”}
  - Notice the search results screen, in the menu at the bottom of the results page, there’s the phrase ‘ Free Images ‘. It properly represents the requirements you selected for the resulting images in the previous step.
    
    {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/1/10/Pixabay-Footer-Free-Images.png/728px-Pixabay-Footer-Free-Images.png”,”bigUrl” :”/images/thumb/1/10/Pixabay-Footer-Free-Images.png/728px-Pixabay-Footer-Free-Images.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:251,”bigWidth”: 728,”bigHeight”:398,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1% BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self </a>n</p></div>”}
- If the search term is typed in Vietnamese , no results will be returned, instead a message not found. Pixabay even reminds you to use English in your not found messages.
  
  {“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/3/3b/Pixabay-Say-No-Vi.png/728px-Pixabay-Say-No-Vi.png”,”bigUrl” :”/images/thumb/3/3b/Pixabay-Say-No-Vi.png/728px-Pixabay-Say-No-Vi.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:281,”bigWidth”: 728,”bigHeight”:445,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1% BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self </a>n</p></div>”}

Check the license and/or usage rights of the resulting image

Open the selected image in a new tab. Right-click the image you want to select in the search results screen to open it in a new tab on the web browser.

Check the license again. Please double check the license and/or usage rights of each image you intend to download for use. The way to check may be the same or nearly the same as described in Find licensed images open with the Google Images tool.

With search results from Flickr :

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/c/cb/Flickr-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png/728px-Flickr-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/c/cb/Flickr-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png/728px-Flickr-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:236,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:374,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}
With search results from Google Images :

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/b/b3/Google-Images-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png/728px-Google-Images-Check-Image-Usage- Rights.png”,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/b/b3/Google-Images-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png/728px-Google-Images-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png”, “smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight”:222,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:352,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/ index.php?title=B%E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”>Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}
With search results from Open Clip Art Library : No need to check, as 100% of its images are in the public domain.
With search results from Pixabay :

{“smallUrl”:”https://www.wikihow.com/images_en/thumb/1/16/Pixabay-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png/728px-Pixabay-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png” ,”bigUrl”:”/images/thumb/1/16/Pixabay-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png/728px-Pixabay-Check-Image-Usage-Rights.png”,”smallWidth”:460,”smallHeight “:227,”bigWidth”:728,”bigHeight”:360,”licensing”:”<div class=”mw-parser-output”><p><a href=”/index.php?title=B% E1%BA%A3n_m%E1%BA%ABu:cc-by-sa-nc-3.0-self&redlink=1″ class=”new” title=”Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self (page chu01b0a u0111u01b0u1ee3c viu1ebft)”> Bu1ea3n_mu1eabu:cc by sa nc 3.0 self</a>n</p></div>”}

Once you are sure about the license of the image, download it to use. The download method may or may not be the same as described in the article Find licensed images open with the Google Images tool.

Advice

There are also other sites and other ways to find and download publicly licensed and/or public domain images available on the Internet that you are free to use.
Many pages containing images do not support Vietnamese search , in other words , they do not work with Vietnamese , and you will have to type in the search words in English . However, not all sites are like that, as evidenced by Google Images, you can search for any image in Vietnamese .

Steps

Introducing Creative Commons’ search engine

Carry out the search steps

Check the license and/or usage rights of the resulting image

Advice

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