Openverse: Search 800 Million Free Images and Audio Files

Openverse (formerly Creative Commons Search) is the most powerful search engine for freely reusable creative content on the internet. Maintained by the WordPress Foundation in collaboration with Creative Commons, Openverse indexes over 800 million images and audio files from dozens of sources—Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, museum collections, government archives, and independent contributors—all licensed under Creative Commons terms that permit free reuse.

For artists, designers, educators, and content creators who need legally clear imagery for reference, collage, backgrounds, educational materials, or inspiration, Openverse provides a single search interface that aggregates content scattered across the internet into one discoverable resource. Instead of searching individual platforms separately, you search once and find relevant content from every major CC-licensed source.

How It Works

Multi-Source Aggregation

Openverse doesn't host content itself—it indexes and links to content hosted across dozens of platforms and archives. A single search returns results from Flickr, Wikimedia Commons, the Smithsonian, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NASA, and many other sources. This aggregation is Openverse's core value: discovering freely reusable content that you would never find by searching individual platforms.

License Filtering

Every search result displays its specific Creative Commons license—CC0 (public domain), CC BY (attribution required), CC BY-SA (attribution + share-alike), CC BY-NC (non-commercial only), and other variants. Filters allow you to search for content under specific license types, ensuring that the content you find is legally appropriate for your intended use.

Attribution Generator

For content requiring attribution, Openverse generates properly formatted attribution text that you can copy directly into your project. This simple tool eliminates the confusion about how to properly credit Creative Commons content—a common concern that sometimes discourages people from using CC-licensed material.

For Artists Specifically

Reference Material

Openverse is an excellent source of reference photographs for painters and illustrators. The vast index includes millions of landscape, portrait, animal, architectural, and still life photographs that can be used as painting references. The variety of sources means you'll find angles, subjects, and compositions that don't appear in curated stock photo libraries.

Public Domain Art

Museum and archive sources contribute high-resolution scans of historical artwork—paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs that are in the public domain. These digital reproductions can be studied, referenced, printed, and incorporated into new creative works without restriction.

Understanding Creative Commons Licenses

Openverse's value is inseparable from the Creative Commons licensing system it searches. Understanding the different CC license types is essential for using Openverse content correctly:

CC0 (Public Domain Dedication)

The most permissive option—the creator has waived all rights, placing the work in the public domain. No attribution required, no restrictions on use. CC0 content can be used for any purpose, including commercial applications, without any obligations.

CC BY (Attribution)

The work can be used for any purpose, including commercial, provided the creator is credited. This is the most common CC license and the minimum requirement for most free content. The attribution generator in Openverse makes compliance straightforward.

CC BY-SA (Attribution-ShareAlike)

Like CC BY, but derivative works must be shared under the same or compatible license. This "copyleft" provision ensures that creative works built on CC BY-SA content remain freely available to the community.

CC BY-NC (Attribution-NonCommercial)

The work can be used freely for non-commercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires separate permission from the creator. This license is common for content that creators want to share freely while retaining commercial rights.

CC BY-ND (Attribution-NoDerivatives)

The work can be shared and used with attribution but cannot be modified or built upon. This is the most restrictive CC license and limits use to sharing the original work unchanged.

The Audio Library

Openverse's audio search indexes Creative Commons-licensed music tracks, sound effects, field recordings, and spoken word content from sources including Freesound, Jamendo, ccMixter, and other audio platforms. For podcasters, video creators, and multimedia artists who need royalty-free audio content, this aggregated search eliminates the tedious process of searching individual audio platforms separately.

The audio search supports the same license filtering as the image search, allowing creators to find audio content that matches their specific licensing needs—whether they need CC0 content for commercial projects or CC BY content for personal use.

The Technical Architecture

Openverse is an open-source project maintained by the WordPress Foundation, with its source code publicly available on GitHub. This open-source nature ensures transparency about how the search works, how content is indexed, and how licensing information is verified. The community-driven development model means that improvements, bug fixes, and new source integrations are contributed by developers worldwide.

The platform indexes content through API integrations with source platforms rather than web scraping, ensuring that licensing metadata is accurately captured and that content creators' licensing choices are faithfully represented in search results.

Openverse vs. Google Image Search

While Google Image Search includes a Creative Commons filter, Openverse provides several advantages for finding freely reusable content. Openverse's license information is more reliable because it pulls licensing metadata directly from source platforms rather than inferring it from web page content. The attribution generator simplifies proper crediting. And the dedicated focus on CC-licensed content means every search result is genuinely reusable, eliminating the mixed results that Google's CC filter sometimes produces.

Who Benefits Most

Educators and students who need images and audio for presentations, research projects, and educational materials will find Openverse provides legally clear content that can be used in academic contexts without copyright concerns.

Bloggers and content creators who need imagery for articles, social media posts, and web content will find Openverse's vast index provides options beyond what curated stock platforms offer.

Artists seeking reference material will find the aggregation of museum collections, Flickr photography, and Wikimedia content provides a uniquely diverse source of visual reference spanning historical artwork through contemporary photography.

Multimedia producers who need both images and audio for video projects, podcasts, and presentations will find Openverse's combined image and audio search streamlines the asset-gathering process.

The Bottom Line

Openverse is the most comprehensive search engine for freely reusable creative content. Its massive index of over 800 million images and audio files, clear Creative Commons licensing information with convenient attribution generation, multi-source aggregation that discovers content across dozens of platforms, dedicated audio search, open-source transparency, and the backing of the WordPress Foundation make it an indispensable tool for anyone who needs legal, free imagery and audio for creative, educational, or commercial projects.