Always wondered where to find non-copyright or freely available images, videos, audio, etc. for your website, blog, and e-store? WordPress has finally heard us, and is offering a unique search engine – Openverse.
Creative Commons is a non-profit organization, established as a hub for people to share their ideas, knowledge, and creations. They do not have to worry about dealing with infringing copyright laws. Openverse takes it a step ahead, providing all of these creations on WordPress!
Creative Commons provides a way for creators to share their ideas, creations, knowledge, etc. How does it help? As copyright patents or work goes public, it gets rigorous tweaks and experiments, leading to innovation and revolution.
There are many other platforms in line to take the CC search engine’s throne by providing a fluid and seamless experience. Also, there were talks of shutting down CC search. In this perilous time, WordPress came along to acquire and revive the OG – CC search engine.
“The WordPress community has long advocated for a repository with GPL-compatible images, and it’s time to listen to that need. CC Search, a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) image search, is joining the WordPress project with over 500 million openly licenced and public domain images discoverable from over 50 sources; audio and video soon to come. “
Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, and CEO of Automattic
What is The Openverse Project?
Creative Commons Search migrated into WordPress in 2021, as it was facing a tough time staying afloat. They had to match other providers providing free open source images, videos, etc. They wish to become a trusted place for the community to share, create, discover, use, and reuse open-licensed media.
Openverse is the successor to CC Search, launched by Creative Commons in 2019. Its name takes cues from the gamut of two words: “Open” and “Universe.”
Openverse has 600 million+ CC licensed, public domain images, and audio files that are available at no cost at all! It goes a step beyond simple search to aggregate results across multiple public repositories into a single catalog. It also facilitates reuse through features like machine-generated tags and one-click attribution.
All photos in the WordPress Photo Directory are licensed with CC0 public domain tool. Openverse is an open-source search index built on GitHub, whose aim is to index and collect all Creative Commons licensed, open licensed, and public works.
If you’re wondering are creative commons images free to use? The simple answer is yes, creative commons images are free to use, but you need to know there are different licensable images, videos, audio, etc. What licensable images mean is that there are different CC licenses that enable you to use images, videos, audio, etc. on your website. To know more about these licenses and what permissions they hold, read this!
What are the New Features in WordPress Openverse?
- An Interface that Pulls
Openverse gets a new brand image and extensive UI changes for a seamless experience. It makes search easier, enabling you to fetch best results, with added features like filters and categories! fetching you the best results. - Available in a Language You Understand
Openverse is available in 12 languages, with partial translations available in other languages. The community is devoted to getting more languages on board. - Growing Support
Openverse also includes podcasts, music samples, and other audio files from FreeSound, Wikimedia Commons, and Jamendo. So, you get a whole fleet of options to choose from. - A Photo Directory
The WordPress Photo Directory is an all-new source for curated, high-quality photographs. You can use the directory, and also contribute to Openverse! Because without it, you’d need to use Flickr or other sources to submit your work. (which is a hassle in itself!)
What is the Future of WordPress Openverse?
The Openverse team is continuously striving to upgrade and evolve Openverse. Apart from the WordPress Photo Directory, another source called StockSnap has been added to provide high-quality photographs. Photo libraries like EDUimages and Images of Empowerment are also available from Meta Search. This all is geared to create WordPress and WordPress search engine as a one-stop solution for all your content, audio, video, and image needs!
Currently, Openverse only provides search results for images, with audio and video provided through Meta Search. In the coming months, additional media types are coming with open text and audio. This allows WordPress Openverse team to take a step by step approach to achieve the ultimate goal: “To provide access to all 1.4 billion CC-licensed and public domain works on the web.”
The WordPress Openverse project is a part of the WordPress community now and is welcoming contributions from all of us. We have to work together to make it the best openly licensed media search engine on the internet. For more information on how you can contribute, read “Contribute to WordPress.”
FAQs
Openverse is an open-source search index built on GitHub, whose aim is to index and collect all Creative Commons licensed, open licensed, and public works. It is built to offer a repository of millions of CC0 images, videos, audio, etc. to be used by WordPress users for their websites.
Yes and No. There are millions of images, videos, audio, etc. that are available on Openverse. You can find countless copyright free resources, while some you have to give credits for, etc. Read to know more about all the licenses and what permissions it provides the users.
All you need to do is go to Openverse and start your search for the type of content you’re looking for. And once you find the results, you can filter the results based on different licenses as per your need and use!
Yes, the content on Openverse is copyright free, but, you need to check the licenses of different content to see what permissions do they allow. If its a CC0 licensed, you are free to use it, anywhere and however you like!
In a way, yes! Creative Commons is an platform that is a repository for CC licensed content. Openverse has taken over and integrated it into it, thus, taking the platform to the next level by this integration, opening the doors to the large userbase of WordPress!