These days you might come across a number of websites with royalty-free videos and other media, but choosing among them can be a bit difficult. This spike in stock media websites is in part due to the success of YouTube as a platform.
The global average time spent on YouTube has reached 27 hours and 26 minutes as of 2023, right after TikTok. The same study also says that YouTube is the third most used social media platform right after Whatsapp and Facebook.
As of 2024, YouTube is home to 826 million shorts, and 3.9 billion videos. Creating videos and uploading them on YouTube has become a whole lot easier. The high usage of royalty-free videos has also become quite evident as well. Which is why, here’s a list of 13 websites for royalty-free videos. Let’s get started!
1. Pexels
Pexels offers high-quality and completely free stock photos and videos that are licensed under the Pexels license. All media on this site are tagged, which makes them searchable and also easy to discover.
Type in a keyword or explore popular search topics like Rain, Food, or Christmas.
It’s never too early to start working on that Christmas-themed video, right?🎄
Pexels also features a Leaderboard consisting of users with the most views on their uploaded media in the past 30 days.
Pexels is best for
Creators looking for an extensive library of photos.
Pexels pricing
All photos and videos are free to use.
2. Pixabay
Pixabay is home to 2.7+ million high-quality, royalty-free videos, pictures, and music.
All media on this site are released under the Pixabay License, making them safe to use without giving credits or asking for permission from the artist. You even have the liberty to use it for commercial purposes.
Isn’t that amazing? nods vigorously
But that’s not all! This website also offers illustrations, gifs, vectors, and sound effects.
All you need to do is type in the search query, apply a filter from the drop-down (images, videos, and more), and hit enter. And in case you don’t have a particular category in mind, you can simply filter by Editor’s Choice, Latest, or Trending.
Pixabay is best for
People looking for nature or cityscape media.
Pixabay Pricing
All media on this website are free to use.
3. Videvo
Videvo offers thousands of free stock videos (footage and motion graphics) as well as audio (music and sound effects).
This includes 30-second clips with no watermarks where attribution is required, as well as 10-second clips with watermarks but no required attribution.
All media in the Videvo library fall under the following licenses:
Videvo Standard License: Use the clips without attribution but avoid redistributing the footage.
Videvo Attribution License: Credit the clip’s creator in your work.
Creative Commons 3.0: Can share and edit the clip, but you need to credit the creator and highlight the changes.
Browse through 30+ video categories and 35+ music genres and moods today to create your next YouTube video. 😬
Videvo is best for
Background, green screen, and VFX-related media.
Videvo pricing
Videvo offers 50,000+ free stock media, including video clips, animated backgrounds, and more.
It also supports three premium plans. The plans start at $7.99/month for five premium downloads.
Create Effortless YouTube Videos With Fliki
While other tools are interesting but what if there’s a tool that offers a library of free stock media along with a video editor and a lot more?
Fliki is a powerful text-to-speech and text-to-video app that helps you create audio and video content using AI voices.
It has a built-in library of over 6 million royalty-free videos and images to effortlessly create audio-visual content. You can choose among images, video clips, background audio clips, avatars, templates, and much more.
Fliki also offers more than 2000 life-like AI voices, 77+ languages, and much more.
Interested to know more? Explore other features here.
4. Mixkit
Mixkit provides a gallery of royalty-free videos, music, sound effects, and video templates.
Here’s a quick view of their categories:
Stock Video: Filter by categories by Drone shots, Nature, Animals, and Abstract. Narrow it down further with sub-categories. For instance, Nature has sub-categories like Sky, Sea, Beach, Clouds, and more.
Stock Music: Search by Genres like Country and R&B, Moods such as Happy and Upbeat, or Tags like EDM and Gym. 🏋🏾
Sound Effects: Use sound effects like Notifications (Alarm, Beep, Phone Ring), Human (Applause, Voices), Transition (Swish, Glitch), and more.
And the best part?
It also offers various templates, including templates for YouTube branding, end screen, in-video subscribe button, and more.
Mixkit is best for
Stock media related to nature, animals, and backgrounds.
Mixkit pricing
All media are free to use.
Check out our blog on the Best Stock Music Sites of 2024!
5. Coverr
Coverr has an extensive catalog of thousands of free stock videos that have been viewed 1.1 million times and downloaded more than 5 million times each month. You can use these media anywhere.
This free stock footage website offers 25+ video categories that can be sorted by Popular and Latest.
So how do you use it?
Simply, click the download symbol on the video and choose the quality you want. Or you can even embed it directly on your webpage. You don’t need to signup or mention credits.
What could be easier than this, right?
Coverr is best for
YouTubers interested in aerial, travel, and technology-related shots.
Coverr pricing
All videos are free to use.
6. MotionElements
Whether it's video, music, images, gifs, or sound effects, MotionElements has a catalog of over 7 million royalty-free videos, and other media.
Sort of like a one-stop solution for catering to the needs of video creators!
Dive into the “Free stock” category to find 4000+ HD videos available to download for free. You can download up to five pieces of footage every week.
Or, select a category and type in the search bar to find all related videos. Use the sidebar to filter the results by resolution, color, and price.
MotionElements is best for
YouTube channels related to education, beauty, wellness, and business.
MotionElements pricing
MontionElements has over 4000 free stock content that can be used with an editorial license.
It also offers three premium plans. You can buy media only when needed, pay through pre-loaded credit, or subscribe for $16.50/month.
7. Videezy
Videezy is one of the largest stock media communities in the world. It boasts a library of thousands of HD and 4K videos.
Use Videezy media for personal as well as commercial use and provide attribution based on the license type. Most footages are royalty-free for both personal and commercial use but don’t forget to check each licensing info before using.
You might be thinking… wouldn’t that mean a lot of work? 🥲
Luckily, you can easily filter the search results using the handy toolbar on the left-hand side of the page – filter by license type, resolution, and format.
Videezy is best for
Backgrounds and after-effects templates.
Videezy pricing
Videezy has three paid plans. The premium plans start at $19/credit.
8. Dissolve
Dissolve is a hub of over 3.6 million high-quality stock photos and video clips. Each footage is described in a few words and also suggests more clips from the same shoot. You can also browse further based on keywords.
It consists of two platforms:
Dissolve Premium: A hand-picked library of the best videos and images related to relevant themes like technology, architecture, and business.
Need help with research?
This premium platform also provides an on-demand curated folder of clips or photos based on your requirements, like specific shots, aesthetics, or themes.
Dissolve Creators: A free media stock consisting of uploads from creators in the Dissolve CreatorsTM community. Search through thousands of files or pick from ‘Most Popular’ or ‘Most Recent’ uploads.
Dissolve is best for
Dissolve works with companies like Discovery, Netflix, and Deloitte. So, professionals can find some exclusive footage here.
Dissolve pricing
Dissolve has based its pricing on per clip or photo basis. Video clips start from $29, and images start from $5.
9. Dareful
Dareful, previously known as Stock Footage 4 Free, is a small library of royalty-free videos curated and shot by Joel Holland, creator of VideoBlocks.
Though the number is small, all clips on this stock media site are royalty-free and in HD and 4K quality.
It’s the quality that counts, not the quantity! ✨
Dareful clips are licensed under CC4.0 (Creative Commons 4.0). This means you're free to share as long as you give appropriate credit and indicate changes.
What kind of footage can you find?
Browse all clips at once or filter by categories such as mountains, sunrise, time-lapse, bokeh, and more.
Dareful is best for
YouTubers who need aerial, travel, and nature-related footage.
Dareful pricing
All video clips are free to download.
10. SplitShire
Primarily a stock image website, SplitShire, is a private collection of tons of stunning images. It also features a small stack of videos.
Daniel Nanescu, the man behind the lens, describes it as a side project to share the photographs, which were otherwise in his hard drive gathering dust.
These stock images and videos don’t carry any copyright restrictions or attribution requirements.
Apart from YouTube videos, you can use these photos:
In your blogs and websites.
To print on t-shirts and canvases.
On book covers and music artworks.
In software applications and other personal and commercial projects.
Splitshire is best for
Creators who are interested in aerial, drone, or outdoor clips.
Splitshire pricing
All photographs and videos are free to use.
11. Pond5
Pond5 is home to 33 million royalty-free videos. Whether you’re looking for footage, music, after-effects, illustrations, 3D models, or sound effects, Pond5 has you covered!
Did we mention that you can upload a file to search for similar footage?
Woah!
Here’s how you can do that:
Click on the upload image icon in the search bar.
Choose to match the composition or color.
Drag and drop your file or upload it manually.
That’s it! You have your results. 🥳
Pond5 is best for
Slow-motion videos, silhouettes, and product mockups.
Pond5 pricing
Pond5 has two pricing structures: pay per item and subscription. Premium plans start at $199/month for videos and $25/month for music tracks.
12. Vidsplay
Vidsplay consists of over 400 high-definition, royalty-free videos. Plus, new and unique videos are added every week to the library.
You’re free to use these clips for personal as well as commercial productions.
Each video comes with a detailed description of its attributes like duration, resolution, format, and frame rate.
Additionally, Vidsplay has some interesting collections of videos like society, production elements, transportation and traffic, and space. 🚀🪐
Vidsplay is best for
People looking for general footage. You can even find lots of background and texture-based clips.
Vidsplay pricing
All videos are free to use.
P.S. don’t forget to add a clear credit link to Vidsplay.com either in the end credits or the description of your YouTube video.
13. Storyblocks
With over a million royalty-free assets, Storyblocks provides a library of footage, music, template, photo, and more. It also features an in-built video editor called Maker.
With this editor, you can:
Add clips from the Storyblocks library.
Import your own media.
Customize transitions, fonts, and overlays according to your branding.
Download or directly export to other social media platforms.
Additionally, this stock media site also includes a plugin for Adobe Premiere Pro – allowing users to search, download, and create videos from their editing tools.
Storyblocks is best for
Creators and businesses looking for an all-in-one solution.
Storyblocks pricing
Storyblocks offers three pricing plans. The plans start at $15/month when billed annually, and you can download up to five HD footage, music, photos, vectors, and illustrations.
Start Streamlining Your YouTube Content Creation Today!
Cameras. Lighting. Location. A lot goes into a perfect video.
What about adding voice to your videos? If you're short on time or resources to record your voiceovers, consider using text-to-speech tools for youtube videos.
While you can always create your videos from scratch, it can be challenging to do so at times.
However, you can count on stock media sites to find the right image, video clip, or music for your YouTube videos.
Final words
We hope that you’ve read and enjoyed our blog on the top 13 websites for royalty-free videos. All the aforementioned tools are highly capable in their respective domains. Creating videos for YouTube through stock footage is a common practice. What you need to do now is find the right website that suits your needs the best.
FAQs
You can find copyright-free videos for YouTube on various stock media websites like Pexels, Pixabay, and Videvo, etc.
Not all YouTube videos are royalty-free. However, there are many stock media websites that offer royalty-free videos specifically for use in YouTube content creation.
YouTubers often get video clips from stock media websites that offer royalty-free content. Platforms like Pexels, Pixabay, and Videvo provide a diverse range of videos that YouTubers can use in their videos.
