Open licensing explained

There are six CC licenses, plus the category of Public Domain, designed so that content creators have options in identifying any restrictions on how they want their work to be used. Each CC license is comprised of one or more of four license elements: attribution, share alike, non-commercial, and no derivatives.

Attribution (BY)

This element means you must attribute the content you use to the author of the work.

Share Alike (SA)

The Share Alike element means if you adapt work with an SA license, your adaptation must be licensed under the same, or a compatible, license.

NonCommercial (NC)

As you might expect, this element means you cannot use the work for commercial purposes. What matters here is the use to which the work is being put, not the user. In other words, you need to consider whether the use is for a commercial purpose, not whether the user is a commercial entity.

No Derivatives (ND)

The ND designation means you may adapt the original work but cannot share the adaptation (though you can share the work in its original form). An example of an adaptation of a written work would be translating it to a different language; correcting punctuation would not be an adaptation. An example of an adaptation of an image would be layering it with another image or changing its color; gathering images into a collection is not an adaptation. ND can be tricky so we highly recommend reviewing the legal code (see below) before using content with this license.

Please view the content in all three tabs below.

License Types
Combining Licenses
Things to Consider

Creative Commons Licenses Defined

The following is a list of the different license types, from most to least permissive.

The human-readable deed (the link for each license type below) is a summary of—but not a replacement for—the legal code. In other words, the deed does not explain everything you need to know before using licensed material. We strongly encourage you to read the legal code (which you can access from the deed page), not just the deed, before using CC-licensed resources.

The Creative Commons License Options

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

CC BY: This license allows 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 the creator

CC BY-SA: This license allows 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 identical terms. CC BY-SA includes the following elements:

BY – Credit must be given to the creator
SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms

CC BY-NC: This license allows 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 the creator
NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted

CC BY-NC-SA: This license allows 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. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms. CC BY-NC-SA includes the following elements:

BY – Credit must be given to the creator
NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
SA – Adaptations must be shared under the same terms

CC BY-ND: This license allows 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 the creator
ND – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted

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

BY – Credit must be given to the creator
NC – Only noncommercial uses of the work are permitted
ND – No derivatives or adaptations of the work are permitted

CC0 (aka CC Zero) is a public dedication tool, which allows creators to give up their copyright and put their works into the worldwide public domain. CC0 allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, with no conditions.

Combining Licenses

Perhaps surprisingly, not all CC licenses are compatible with each other. For example, the Attribution-Share Alike and Attribution-NonCommercial Share-Alike licenses are in opposition to each other in terms of commercial use of the content.

If you're remixing content, it's important to verify the differing licenses don't conflict. Use the chart below as a guide.

Creative Commons licensing compatibility chart

Helpful Tips

Make sure the license associated with a particular resource grants permission for what you want to do.
Pay attention to what, exactly, is being licensed.
Provide attribution (even if not required by the license).
Do not restrict others from exercising rights under the license.
All CC licenses terminate automatically when you fail to comply with its terms.

Click on "next" to move forward ↓