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GeezerVison is showing creativecommons.org — Sharing Openly, Sharing Globally - Creative Commons

Established in 2002, the CC licenses make it possible for everyone around the world to share knowledge, creativity, and culture, legally and freely.

Read our Guidance on CC Licensing in an AI ecosystem for an explanation of what CC licenses currently can and cannot do in relation to AI, and more information on the broader work we’re doing to address needs that fall outside the scope of copyright licensing.

Licenses for the global public good

CC licenses are a global digital public good and part of the essential infrastructure that makes sharing online possible. Today, there are tens of billions of CC-licensed works across the internet, spanning education, science, culture, and art, and more.

CC licenses do more than function legally—they express values. The CC icons, now recognized around the world, represent openness, collaboration, and participation. For example, the CC logo is so ubiquitous it is part of the permanent design collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Like the public infrastructure we rely on every day, such as roads and public schools, the legal and technical infrastructure behind CC licenses requires ongoing maintenance, updates, and support. Unlike most public infrastructure, however, CC licenses are not funded by taxes or user fees. As a public good, they depend on the support of the community that relies on them.

Help support the CC licenses infrastructure.

Donate Today

Used by leading platforms and institutions worldwide

Logos of organizations who utilize CC licenses. Logos shown: Flickr, YouTube, Internet Archive, Free Music Archive, Vimeo, MIT Open Courseware, Europeana Think Culture, Wikipedia, Bandcamp, Sketchfab, Wikimedia Commons, Tribe of Noise, and Skills Commons.

Why Use a CC License

Without CC licenses, copyright offers only two extremes: “all rights reserved” or “no rights reserved.” That doesn’t reflect the many ways creators want their work to be shared.

Creative Commons licenses offer a standardized, legally-sound way to grant permission in advance, so that creators can clearly communicate how their work may be used, without negotiating individual permissions every time. This enables access to knowledge by offering a “some rights reserved” option for content that would otherwise be closed off.

Most creators share a basic belief: that knowledge and creativity grow through sharing, not locking it away.

In the age of AI, much of how content is used by AI systems falls outside what our licenses can govern, because this use often sits outside what copyright, and therefore any CC license, was built to address. We’ve published Guidance on CC Licensing in an AI ecosystem to explain exactly what our licenses can and can’t do in this environment. That gap is also part of why we’re building CC Signals, a framework to give licensors more granular control over how their work is used by machines.

The CC Licenses

There are six different license types, listed from most to least permissive here:

  • CC BY

    This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY includes the following elements:

    BY
    Credit must be given to you, the creator.

  • CC BY-SA

    This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under  the same or a compatible license. CC BY-SA includes the following elements:

    BY
    Credit must be given to you, the creator.
    SA
    Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

  • CC BY-ND

    This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY-ND includes the following elements:

    BY
    Credit must be given to you, the creator.
    ND
    No derivatives or adaptations of your work are permitted.

  • CC BY-NC

    This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC includes the following elements:

    BY
    Credit must be given to you, the creator.
    NC
    Only noncommercial use of your work is permitted. Noncommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation.

  • CC BY-NC-SA

    This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only if attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under the same or a compatible license. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements:

    BY
    Credit must be given to you, the creator.
    NC
    Only noncommercial use of your work is permitted. Noncommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation.
    SA
    Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

  • CC BY-NC-ND

    This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only if attribution is given to the creator. CC BY-NC-ND includes the following elements:

    BY
    Credit must be given to you, the creator.
    NC
    Only noncommercial use of your work is permitted. Noncommercial means not primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation.
    ND
    No derivatives or adaptations of your work are permitted.

Multilingual Support

The deeds and legal codes of the CC licenses are translated into over 45 languages.

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