Help:Public domain image resources

This page is kept for historical interest. Any policies mentioned may be obsolete. If you want to revive the topic, you can use the talk page or start a discussion on the community forum.

There are a number of sources of public domain images on the Web.

Wikimedia research resources

GFDL resources
Public domain resources
Public domain image resources
Free image resources
Free sound resources
Non-PD resources
Maps
Bibliographies

Shortcuts:
WP:PDI,
WP:PDIR,
WP:PDIMG

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.

General Collections

Ordered by size of collection, largest first:

Wikimedia Commons hosts only freely licensed images, sound files, and other media. With over 13 million uploaded files, (as of June 2012), it is the largest free "images-only" repository. It contains many public domain images. 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. Public domain media can be found in many categories, such as commons:Category:CC-PD-Mark or commons:Category:CC-Zero.
Snappygoat.com- 12,748,290 Free Public Domain/CC0 Images from multiple sources.
LibreShot - A collection of public domain (CC0) photographs taken by photographer Martin Vorel. Photos are divided into categories and can also be searched. All photos are in Hi-Res.
Pixabay - 100,000 public domain photos and cliparts, exclusively under Creative Commons CC0 - free for private and commercial use.
Public domain vector images - growing database of public domain vector graphics.
PD Photo - Large collection of mostly public domain photos. Read the license for each picture before use; also, model releases may not have been obtained for all photos.
Photos Public Domain Thousands of high quality public domain photographs free for any use, with no restrictions. Collections included are: textures, animals, nature, and a variety of stock images for any use, including commercial.
PDPics.com Public domain photo collection with about 6500 high resolution pictures up to 6000x4000. All images licensed under CC0 license.
Picdrome - growing Public Domain picture collection: no copyright, licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. All unique items are free to download and use, without restriction. No registration, no attribution required.
The Wonderlusters - Free high-resolution travel photographs from all over the world under Creative Commons.
Alegri Photos - Public domain and Creative Commons images
Public-Domain-Photos.com
4 Free Photos Public domain images.
Free Stock Image Site Collection of public domain stock images.
Montenegro Photo Free images of Montenegro (Former Yugoslavia).
PD Poster Public domain posters
RepublicDomain.com is a place for free public domain photos and desktop wallpapers.
Public-domain.zorger.com features scans of art from pre-1922 books and various photos, free for any use]
Phototeria.com The site presents a large Collection of Public Domain images only. It's very easy to navigate Phototeria.com which benefits not so experienced users or young folks.
Reusable Art - An ever-growing collection of vintage drawings, illustrations and photographs from books, magazines and other printed materials. Original publication information is included with each image for copyright verification. All images meet or exceed the Berne Convention standard for a creative work to be in the public domain.
Karen Whimsy's Public Domain Images - Scans of engravings and other artwork from a personal collection of old books, magazines, and post cards. Updated regularly.
Word Processor Clipart - Public Domain clipart optimized for use in word processors. Browsable via site treeview and thumbnail pages. Complete collection also downloadable from ibiblio.
Project Gutenberg - 12,000+ books, only a few illustrated, but the number of illustrated books increases from week to week. There are thousands of PD images available.
GIMP Archive - 32,000+ Royalty-free photos, organized by keyword.
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.
clker - Easy to search public domain images, directly usable in openoffice.org
Open Domain - public domain images from various sources in one-a-day blog format.
Logo Design Web Stockphotos - Small but growing public domain stock photos released by photographer.
Free Photos - Small personal photographic collection dedicated to the public domain.
Images of pages of a 1914 book of puzzles
ImgMart.com - Collections of free high resolution royalty free indian stock images for personal and professionals use.
Public Domain Footage - Public domain archival stock footage and newsreels.
Public Domain Clip Art- 25,000+ Public Domain Clip Arts (good for printing). Categorized & searchable.
Public Domain Depot A collection of public domain photos and resources with many original photos from the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
Free Images Collection A collection of free, copyright-free, high resolution images.
Open Galleries A community source of free photography, hosting several galleries with photos from all over the world.
http://photo-sleuth.blogspot.com/ - Articles providing old photographs with sourced research as to their origins and history.
The Best Copyright-Free Photo Libraries -search for images on government sites
http://www.unclesamsphotos.com a detailed directory of the US Government's public domain image galleries
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/links/clipart.html (a lengthy list of categorised links to other public domain image sources, many of those links don't work though)
Clip Art/Public Domain A list of links to sites with public domain clip art from DMOZ
XPASE Public Domain - A directory of various public domain resources.
Vacations.info - Travel related photos
The Public Domain Review - A Blog by the Open Knowledge Foundation to easily access public domain resources.
Easy Stock Photos - Royalty free stock photos, pictures, images and information in the public domain - Collection of public domain photos organized by category in image galleries.
FreeStockPhotos.biz A large collection of Public Domain, GNU, Creative Commons & custom licensed stock photos and clip art.
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 !)
SchoolPhotoProject.com - Collection of daily subjects royalty-free stock photos made available for students and general public. (99% of photos are totally free and only a few photos you need to pay to download them)
My Public Domain Pictures - A growing collection of amateur pictures released into public domain. You can use their pictures for any purpose and they do not require anything in return. Their collection includes travel pictures, pictures of animals and plants, background designs and many more being added everyday. They also include a collection of high resolution public domain pictures segregated according to topics including etchings of public domain pictures. The site also includes macro photography.
Good Free Photos -- Hundreds of free photos of landscapes, textures, plants and more. All free for personal and commercial use.
Toper's Photos - Toper's Photos is a collection of photos taken by the creator from his trips around the United States as well as from outside the US. All photos in this collection are released into public domain so readers may use these photos for personal or commercial purpose. Photos are classified according to subject such as Animals, Plants, People, Places, Statues, etc,. More pictures are added everyday so this collection is gradually growing in number. Photos are high resolution so you will find high quality images in this collection.
Public Domain Images and Textures -- A collection of Pictures and Textures released under public domain that can be used for personal and commercial use.
1 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.
Stockpile Images - download public domain photography with no subscription required.
Photostock - beauty free stock photos.
Freejpg Fondos - download Hundreds of public domain stock photos. 4K and HD sizes.
FreeSVG.org - over 50,000 SVG images in public domain

Governmental Resources

Google repository of LIFE images hosts a large repository of LIFE images; Time Warner, Inc. claims blanket copyright to everything but this is simply untrue. (see here and also see here) Anything more than 120 years old (i.e. - before 1892) is generally safe. (exception is if the original author died less than 75 years ago--45 years after these PD pictures have been taken--, the author lived in a state with Common law copyright, and the name of the author is known---and in that case Time itself is most likely in copyright violation.) You must remove the watermark if you use the larger image.
TotallyFreeImages.com - Totally free public-domain images - This is the largest archive on the Internet with over 494,000 hi-res professional-grade royalty-free images, 100% public-domain and acceptable for use with Wikipedia. (collection from government sources)
USCITES.gov - Endangered species photos, illustrations and video provided by the U.S. Delegation to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (commonly referred to as CITES)
http://www.archive.org/details/USGovernmentDocuments Government Documents scanned by the Internet Archive
NPS Historic Photograph Collection - National Park Service
http://images.fws.gov/ - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service imagery
images.google.com - use the advanced search feature to return images from the site or domain ".gov". {{PD-USGov}} may apply to such images.
http://images.usace.army.mil/main.html - United States Army Corps of Engineers Digital Visual Library
U.S. Library of Congress digital image archive. (Some images are still under copyright, so caveat emptor.)
http://nationalatlas.gov Lots of .GIF image maps, such as Congressional District maps, all in the public domain.
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Photo Gallery
U.S. Antarctic Program Photo Library
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."
U.S. Census Bureau Photo Services - 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 DoD publicly released image
http://www.dodmedia.osd.mil/ - DoD 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.
NOAA Photo Library
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"
USDA Online Photography Center
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Pathology and histology slides made by the US Government.
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.
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
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.

Subject-based Collections

Ordered by subject, alphabetically:

Art

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.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/
http://bestarts.org - Bestarts.org is an archive of artists, paintings and museums. Biographies and Galleries arranged by art movements, artists, styles and museums.
http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ - The Smithsonian Institution Research Information System (SIRIS) is an American art catalog compiled by the Smithsonian Institute. 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.
http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artistindex.php - 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.

Automotive

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.

Buildings

Public Domain Pictures of Buildings - A growing collection of amateur building pictures taken mostly in the United States. These building photos are released into public domain so these photos are available for download free of charge. There are no requirements when using these building photos.

Delete

Computer-generated

http://pixabay.com/ - Public domain images without any limitation
http://woodshole.er.usgs.gov/mapit/ - Automatic public domain map generating program
http://ian.macky.net/pat/map/country.html - Set of public domain country maps
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/cin/index-e.html - Canadian Illustrated News, 1869-1883

Game Development

http://opengameart.org/ - User-contributed art for game development, such as textures and pixel-art, all under free licenses. Public domain can be searched by checking CC0 in the filter options.

Gold & Silver

http://lucidgold.com/gold-silver-pictures - Pictures of gold and silver coins, bars, and rounds from around the world (mainly US, Canada, Australia, Austria, China, & South Africa).

History

http://ushistoryimages.com - Public domain images from United States history.
http://www.acliparthistory.com - Public Domain images of the History of the World. Also Natural History and Fancy letters suitable for school projects
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/dl_crosscollex/ 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.
America As It Was - a huge resource for vintage postcards in the U. S., organized by state. Any postcard first published in the U. S. before 1978 without an explicit copyright notice is PD. Lots of photos, aerial views, and maps of many U. S. locations.
"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. (Warning: strong 1930's racist P. O. V.)

Specific periods

World War II Poster Collection over 300 posters issued by U. S. Federal agencies
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's Armed Forces Forum (gallery for images taken from the French Ministry of Culture's website) hosts more colour images of World War I (likely all PD, since the effort taken to scan/reproduce them probably fails to qualify for being a derivative work).
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/ 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.

Literature

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.

Logos and flags

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

Mexico

PlayaDelCarmenMexico.org Public domain photos of Playa del Carmen.

Music

FreePD.com - original public domain music
The Mutopia Project - (not only) public domain sheet music

New Zealand

Free New Zealand Photos Free photos of New Zealand under Creative Common license.
DigitalNZ, a repository of reusable images from New Zealand galleries, libraries, archives, and museums.

Postage stamps

Commons:Stamps/Public domain

Religion

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

Florida

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

Michigan

Ann Arbor, Michigan Photos of Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus.

Photographers

See c:Category:Photographers and artists by year of death
- Most works go into the public domain 70 years after the death of the creator. For works first published in some countries like Belarus, Uzbekistan, and Canada, copyright lasts 50 years after the death of the author. That copyright period is longer in some countries, with copyright lasting 99 years after the creator's death in Ivory Coast, 95 years after the death of the creator in Jamaica, and 100 years after the death of the creator in Mexico.

Search Engines

Wayback Machine Search 150 Billion web pages preserved by the Internet Archive.
Google advanced search can search for free licensed or PD works
http://images.google.com - this still requires one to check the copyright status of each image.
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.
PicFindr.com - Searches a hand picked collection of public domain-, free stock photo-, and photo community sites. Includes the ability to search by rights! (whether you need to give credit, ask permission or not)
Spffy.com^{[dead link]} - Searches one billion stock photos and video, including free images, public domain, creative commons, royalty-free and rights-managed.
Recherchephoto.com - Searches public domain, and creative commons photos to use on your website.
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.