Sharing Openly, Sharing Globally

Four photos, one of a train, a painting of Chakrasamvara, Orion, and a torii gate over a misty lake, are layered with two large colorful C's and an abstract line of black C's, as part of Creative Commons' visual brand

Back to front: "Reading Lines 5513 (EMD GP30)" by Gary Todd, here cropped is licensed with CC0; "Chakrasamvara with His Consort Vajravarahi," here cropped, is in the public domain; "Ionized Carbon Atoms in Orion," here cropped, is in the public domain; "Misty Awakening" by Liza Chan, here cropped, is licensed with CC0

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

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.

In the age of AI and mass scraping of openly licensed content, we haven’t seen the kind of reciprocity that’s necessary to sustain the infrastructure of the commons beyond our licenses. We’re currently exploring frameworks to provide licensors with more granular control over machine usage of data.

Become a patron of the commons by donating to Creative Commons.

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.

Creators choose CC licenses for many reasons:

  •  Share their work widely while keeping credit
  • Encourage remixing, collaboration, and learning
  • Reach global audiences more easily
  • Support open education, research, and culture
  • Build visibility, reputation, and impact

For the public, CC licenses:

  • Eliminate legal uncertainty around reuse
  • Make it easier to find openly usable content
  • Enable lawful remixing, adaptation, and redistribution
  • Support education, research, journalism, and creative work
  • Reduce permission friction across borders

The CC Licenses

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

Multilingual Support

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